Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Livefeed

Live: F1 Mexican GP commentary and updates - FP2

Follow minute-by-minute updates for FP2 ahead of Formula 1's Mexican Grand Prix.

The F1 action continues with the Mexican GP, as the season begins to draw to a close after both F1 world titles were wrapped up by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

But focus has shifted to off-track events, as Red Bull’s F1 cost cap breach for 2021 was announced ahead of practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with the Milton Keynes-based squad given a $7 million fine and a 10% reduction on aerodynamic testing by the FIA.

Aston Martin were also give a $450,000 fine for its F1 cost cap procedural breach from last year.

Carlos Sainz led team-mate Charles Leclerc for a Ferrari 1-2 in FP1, with the Red Bull pair of Sergio Perez and Verstappen behind them in third and fourth.

By: Haydn Cobb, Lewis Duncan, Megan White

Summary

Summary:
  • F1 Mexican GP FP2 devoted to 2023 Pirelli tyre test
  • Russell topped session which was red-flagged twice after Leclerc crashed and Zhou stopped late on
  • Sainz led Ferrari 1-2 in FP1 as session also ended under a red flag
Leaderboard:
  1. Russell, Mercedes
  2. Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
  3. Ocon, Alpine
  4. Hamilton, Mercedes
  5. Perez, Red Bull
  6. Verstappen, Red Bull
  7. Leclerc, Ferrari
  8. Sainz, Ferrari
  9. Bottas, Alfa Romeo
  10. Gasly, AlphaTauri
Status: Stopped
So with that, we'll call time on this live coverage of Friday practice at the Mexican GP. But the fun returns tomorrow, with final practice starting at 6pm BST ahead of qualifying at 9pm BST. Until then, go well!
 
But it was a frustrating session for Leclerc after his early crash which has badly beaten up his Ferrari.
So, that's your lot! Russell is fastest in FP2 having run on the 2022 soft tyres, ahead of Tsunoda and Ocon who were also on the softs. Hamilton topped the outright lap time set on the 2023 test tyres.
Zhou reported a hydraulic failure with his Alfa Romeo as he is told to stop the car. This session will not be resumed with one minute left on the clock.
It looks like there will be another early end to a practice session today. Zhou has come to a stop in the stadium section which has triggered a late red flag.
Gasly leads the lap tally count with 36 trips around the Mexican circuit so far in FP2. There are five minutes to go in this session.
"The engine sounds strange on partial throttle. Let me know if it is OK?" Ocon asks on team radio. He's told all is well, having switched to an older engine between the practice sessions after an issue with his first one when Doohan was in the car.
Meanwhile in the grandstands there are fans showing off hats with model cars and rear wings attached that could rival what the Japanese fans create.
19 of the 20 drivers are on the track completing laps on the unmarked test tyres, with lap times around 2-4 seconds slower than the best lap times from earlier.
The tyre rainbow was the best part of that Pirelli tyre era but the names were odd. Did the superhard even get used? Or was it a mythical tyre that made us giggle?
Do you remember when Pirelli used to call their softest tyres the hypersoft?
 

What's happening on track? Laps. And lots of them. And lots of drivers sliding around.

 

The timesheet looks set, with Russell's 1m19.970s on the softs set to give him top spot.

"Is there any forecast of rain? It is looking ominous in some places," Latifi says over team radio. It definitely is pretty dark out on track.
There are still plenty of drivers slipping and sliding on these tyres, the latest being Verstappen at Turn 1, potentially struggling for optimum temperature on the test rubber.
All the drivers are on the test tyres now, with a little over half an hour to go. We're in for an good, old fashioned tyre test now.

Our GP Racing spy-in-chief had a trackside view of Leclerc's crash:

 
Go, go, go! 38 minutes of FP2 left to run.
And just like that FP2 will get back underway again in one minute's time.
Leclerc's battered Ferrari is eased off the low-loader and returned to the garage. The back-left corner is facing the wrong way, so that'll be a lot of repair work needed.
In other news, Haas has needed to change Magnussen's engine after the car's FP1 chonk out, which means he'll have a five-place grid penalty for this weekend.
Leclerc is back in the Ferrari garage passing out apologetic fist bumps to his mechanics, who are waiting for his car to arrive ahead of a lengthy repair job.
Leclerc's stricken Ferrari has been cleared and the marshals are now tidying up the tecpro barriers at a speedy pace. A restart probably won't be too far away.
Now we're talking, a wave is going through the crowds in the stands from one end to the other. If only there was a name for that.
 
Leclerc appears to be OK as he's out of the car, but his pride will be dented after that.
So that's put a pause on this session as Leclerc's battered Ferrari is recovered and the crash barrier is repaired. Good thing FP2 has been extended to 90-minutes long.
Leclerc has gone into the wall backwards, spinning off at Turn 7, and badly damaged the rear of the car.
Uh oh! Leclerc has crashed and it has triggered a red flag!
 
Half an hour gone in FP2 and Magnussen responds to our calls, as he heads out for the first time in this session and straight on to the test tyre.
Verstappen locks up and goes wide into Turn 4, but avoids any serious drama to rejoin and get going again.
Albon's belated start to the weekend begins, having missed FP1, and he's straight on to the softs. He puts in a 1m22.447s to go 13th and it means we are just missing Magnussen now.
Hamilton nips into fourth place and top test tyre car with a 1m21.509s.
And Ocon makes its a soft tyre 1-2-3, going third quickest, ahead of Perez who leads the 2023 tyre test runners.
Tsunoda, on the softs, slots into second with a 1m20.798s, 0.828s off Russell.
Russell duly delivers, putting in a 1m19.970s to go just the 1.6s faster than the rest. But it is not really a fair fight against the 2023 tyre testers.
Tsunoda and Russell have both come out on the softs for their second runs, so Perez's reign at the top of the times looks set to be short-lived.

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe