Max Verstappen continued to lead the way in the second practice session of Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix in a Red Bull Racing 1-2 with Daniel Ricciardo behind.
As seen in the FP1 session, it was similar scenes in FP2 as well with the Renault-powered cars excelling in the high altitude conditions in Mexico with Verstappen (1m16.720s) leading the way from Ricciardo (1m16.873s).
They were followed up by Renault’s Carlos Sainz (1m17.953s) in third with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (1m17.954s) in a sandwich of the French manufacturer with Nico Hulkenberg (1m18.046s) rounding out the Top 5 in a much better show from Renault.
Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley (1m18.061s) with the upgrades on his car got himself in a good position in sixth ahead of championship leader Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m18.100s) with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m18.133s) in eighth.
The Top 10 saw Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (1m18.140s) finish ninth with Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez (1m18.167s) behind him. It was again close for the two Force India drivers with Esteban Ocon (1m18.485s) in 11th.
Romain Grosjean (1m.18.733s) ended up 12th in the lead Haas car with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc (1m19.024s) in 13th from Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m19.047s) and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne (1m19.096s).
Williams’ Lance Stroll (1m19.219s) did well to be 16th with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m19.322s) in 17th ahead of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin (1m19.355s), McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (1m19.543s) and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m19.670s).
The tyres played a key role in the second session as well as the hypersoft compound weren’t lasting for a longer period of time which will make it much more tricky for qualifying and the race for the teams in terms of their choices.
It was a fairly trouble-run for majority of the teams but Verstappen had to stop in Turn 1 after his car switched off completely in the corner with few minutes remaining – the problem looked similar to Ricciardo in US GP.
