F1 Mexican GP: Russell tops FP2 as Leclerc crashes
28th October 2022Mercedes’ George Russell topped the timing boards in free practice 2, for the Mexican Grand Prix, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashes out during Pirelli’s tyre test.
How second practice unfolded…
As part of the Pirelli tyre test, where the teams will run prototype tyres ahead of the 2023 season, the drivers and their respective teams were obliged to run Pirelli’s run plan. As such, many drivers were forced to run with unmarked tyres to test out the new tyres.
As such, the session was extended by half an hour to allow for the test. This means drivers will have 90-minutes of running instead of the usual 60-minutes.
Only Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Alexander Albon (Williams) and George Russell (Mercedes) could run their own plans, for an allotted time, before they move onto the Pirelli tyre test. This was due to the drivers being replaced by stand-in rookies for Free Practice 1.
Before the pit exit light went green, to signal the start of FP2, Red Bull’s defending world champion, Max Verstappen, was sat waiting at the pit exit line before he was able to cruise out onto the Mexican circuit.
As the session crossed over its half-an-hour mark, going under the hour, Russell topped the timing board with a 1:19.970, ahead of Tsunoda and Ocon. However, these times were not representative across the field as they were on their own respective runs, on the red-walled soft compound tyres.
Despite a soft tyre run, Albon couldn’t break into the top 10 with his quickest lap. The Williams driver could only managed P13 before he was forced to progress onto the Pirelli test. Whereas, Magnussen remained in P18 on the prototype tyre.
The session was soon red flagged after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc found himself at the barrier at the run-off area at turn seven. There was a lengthy delay to restart the session as the marshals had to remove the stranded Ferrari and repair the Tecpro barrier.
The Monegasque brought out the red flag just under the hour, and the session finally got back underway with 40 minutes left to go.
In the dying moments of the second practice session, the high-altitude looked as though it began to take its toll on Ocon’s power unit as the French driver complained about an issue with the engine under throttle.
In a similar manner to FP1, second practice met a premature end as Alfa Romeo’s Gunayu Zhou was instructed to pull off the track with a suspected hydraulic issue. With only a handful of minutes left on the clock, and a stranded Alfa Romeo to extract, race control brought the session to an early end.
Top three:
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine
That’s it for the article; F1 Mexican GP: Russell tops FP2 as Leclerc crashes! What do you think, do you think there will be an incoming penalty for Leclerc? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- F1 Mexico GP: Sainz tops first practice session amongst red flag stops
- FIA punish Red Bull for 2021 Cost Cap
- Alpine’s protest upheld Alonso returns to P7
- F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Perez or Verstappen for top honours
- F1 United States GP: Verstappen wins as Red Bull secures title
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
