Charles Leclerc seals clean sweep of Friday with Mexico City GP FP2 fastest lap

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed a clean sweep of Friday practice sessions as the Monegasque went fastest in FP2 at the Mexico City Grand Prix. 

Feature image credit: Ferrari Media Centre

In a similar taste to the United States Grand Prix, Leclerc completed Friday as the fastest driver out on track sealing the quickest time in Free Practice 2 which followed on from his fast lap in FP1. 

The Monegasque pipped both McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ championship contender George Russell by a tenth in the second hour of practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with the second and third-placed drivers only separated by 0.003 seconds. 

After 10 drivers missed out on running in free practice 1, the bulk of them returned to the track as soon as the session got underway. However, Gabriel Bortoleto had immediate trouble in the pits as the Brazilian had power-unit related problems. 

It was not a great start to the session for Haas. Esteban Ocon, who reported issues with his power steering whilst Oliver Bearman, fitted with a new power unit, was forced to limp home for a software fix. Both cars came in and soon returned to the track. 

Who was the fastest FP1 Rookie in Mexico City? 

Within the first 15 minutes, the first red flag of the weekend was flown. This came after the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen tangled in the stadium section, with the Dutchman losing a bit of body work. 

Neither driver wanted to give up track position, unnecessarily. Verstappen quickly ventured into the pits and soon returned after the red flag was swapped for the green. It was an incident which was later determined to be investigated after the session.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, closing into the half-way point of the session, was ordered to stop the car out on track. With Marshals required to get out on the circuit to remove the stranded Ferrari, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. 

As the session resumed and the drivers returned to their programmed runs, Leclerc topped the timing boards once more with a 1m 17.827s, a tenth ahead of Norris and Russell. 

The potential world champion, this weekend, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli found himself down in fourth. 

Additionally, Bortoleto – having been stuck in the garage for the majority of the session – finally managed to head out onto the track with the medium compound tyres, albeit at the bottom of the timing boards. 

FP2 Classification

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1m 17.827s
2. Lando Norris, McLaren +0.103s
3. George Russell, Mercedes +0.106s
4. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.217s
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull +0.311s
6. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull +0.410s
7. Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +0.562s
8. Pierre Gasly, Alpine +0.580s
9. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +0.628s
10. Oscar Piastri, McLaren +0.642s
11. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.685s
12. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +0.769s
13. Esteban Ocon, Haas +0.947s
14. Oliver Bearman, Haas 1.022s
15. Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +1.196s
16. Franco Colapinto, Alpine +1.305s
17. Carlos Sainz, Williams +1.421s
18. Sergio Perez, Cadillac +1.579s
19. Alexander Albon, Williams +1.751s
20. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1.804s
21. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +2.338s
22. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +2.347s

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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.

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.