Max Verstappen continued to dominate the Mexico Grand Prix weekend, leading another Red Bull one-two in FP2 while championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only manage seventh.
Verstappen occupied first on the timesheet throughout much of the session. His initial 1m17.437s benchmark on the ultrasoft tyre proved to significantly outpace Ferrari and Mercedes’ hypersoft efforts.
When the hypersoft was fitted to his Red Bull, Verstappen lowered his time to a 1m16.720s edging team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by 0.153s as the pair finished over a second clear of the field.
Reliability concerns did dampen their session, with Verstappen suffering a power shutdown in the closing stages.
Ricciardo also complained about a power unit temperature warning appearing on the dashboard, albeit he was able to continue unaffected.
Nevertheless, Renault powered cars occupied four of the top five spots on the timesheet, as the Red Bulls were joined by Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg who finished in a representative third and fifth respectively.
Sebastian Vettel – the only man who can deny Hamilton a fifth world title this weekend – suffered a scruffy final sector on his first hypersoft qualifying simulation effort.
He improved on his second lap, but could still only manage an eventual fourth on the timesheet.
Hamilton, however, struggled to an even greater extent. He ended up 1.380s adrift of Verstappen and seventh on the timesheet – beaten into sixth place by a stunning effort from Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
After locking up at the heavy braking zone at Turn 1 on his first qualifying simulation attempt, Kimi Raikkonen’s flat-spotted right-front limited him to eighth in the times.
Despite being 1.413s behind the pacesetting Red Bull, Raikkonen’s effort still eclipsed Valtteri Bottas who proved that Mercedes has work to do overnight as he wound up in ninth place.
Renault power may have appeared to be the order of the day, but McLaren’s woes continued. Stoffel Vandoorne ended up 15th and half a second ahead of Fernando Alonso in 19th.
Alonso narrowly avoided the barriers after a trip across the grass at Turn 1 after desperately trying to hold onto track position during his race simulation running.
