George Russell dominated FP2 in Mexico City as he made up for lost time missing FP1, while Charles Leclerc’s session ended early after crashing at Turn 8.
The rear of Leclerc’s Ferrari was heavily damaged after his crash caused a lengthy red flag delay as marshals repaired the barriers on the left-hander, taken at around 120mph.
FP1 had been a hotly contested session as the drivers worked hard to complete as much as they could of their scheduled test programs, with FP2 reserved for testing the prototype 2023 Pirelli tires – as was the case in Austin last time.
The only exceptions to the rule were the five drivers who missed the first down – Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon were all able to use 45 minutes to make up for what they missed, all taking the top three spots in the session respectively.
Kevin Magnussen had hoped for the same opportunity, but his car’s engine failure in FP1 with Pietro Fittipaldi at the wheel necessitated the fitting of a new internal combustion engine – leaving him stranded in the garage and stricken with a five-place grid penalty for Sunday. when he finally emerged, he was a new ICE beyond his allowance for the season.
Likewise, Williams’ Alex Albon also wanted to get on the track but spent the first 25 minutes in the garage.
This will no doubt have been a hurdle for them as they seek to get used to a challenge unique to Mexico, the altitude meaning cars and drivers have to work at full capacity with around 20% air density. less – affecting both downforce and drag on the cars.
As we saw in Austin, the FP1 absentees topped the timesheets as they shod 2022 soft tires in FP2, Russell comfortably the choice of the peloton as he became the first driver to drop below the 1:20 barrier for the weekend, clocking a 1:19.970 to lead Tsunoda by eight-tenths of a second.
But the session was cut short due to a crash as Leclerc slid into the wall on the exit of Turn 8, suffering corner oversteer and a spin, heavily damaging the rear of his Ferrari in the process .
Charles Leclerc’s mechanics will probably have a long night ahead of them after this accident.#MexicoGP #F1pic.twitter.com/69XsQmSb1h
– PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) October 28, 2022
He emerged unscathed from the incident, but his Ferrari mechanics will have found themselves with a heavy workload overnight.
The session lasted over 20 minutes while the barriers were repaired and the remaining riders quickly got back on track for the remainder of the session for the Pirelli tire test.
As had been the case in the United States, Pirelli’s prototype compounds were kept secret as the tires were not marked for the session, so it is difficult to read in a competitive order based on the test times of the tires.
Among the 2023 tire runners, Lewis Hamilton was narrowly fastest ahead of the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, followed closely by Ferrari duo Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
As was the case during FP1, the Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari drivers were all very close. The top six riders – including Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – were separated by just 0.192 seconds in the first session, while the gap between Hamilton and Sainz in fourth and eighth was just 0.184 seconds.
The drivers had focused on long runs on the test compounds before the end of the session, which then ended two minutes after Zhou Guanyu stopped in the Foro Sol stadium section of the circuit, citing a hydraulic problem on the team’s radio which stopped its session.
FP2 ranking
1 George RUSSELLMercedes 1:19.970
2 Yuki TSUNODA Alpha Tauri +0.828
3 Esteban OCON Alpine +1.207
4 Lewis HAMILTONMercedes +1.539
5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +1.609
6 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +1.618
7 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +1.648
8 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +1.723
9 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +2.023
10 Stone GASLY AlphaTauri +2.134
11 Fernando ALONSO Alpine +2.367
12 Sebastien VETTEL Aston Martin +2.401
13 Alexander ALBON Williams +2.477
14 Lando NORRIS McLaren +2.768
15 Daniel RICCIARDO McLaren +2.793
16 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +2.870
17 Mick SCHUMACHER Haas F1 Team +2.909
18 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +3.346
19 Nicolas LATIFI Williams +3.350
20 ZHOU Guanyu Alfa Romeo +3.399
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