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<strong>FP2:</strong> Verstappen stays ahead, Mercedes and Ferrari struggle

FP2: Verstappen stays ahead, Mercedes and Ferrari struggle

Published on 26 Oct 2018 22:30
2
By: Fergal Walsh

Max Verstappen has topped the second practice session from Mexico, making it a clean sweep on Friday. The Dutchman was quickest this morning, and his lap time from free practice two was a 1:16.720, which was almost a second up on his lap from this morning.

However, his day of optimism was spoiled towards the end of the session as the 21-year-old pulled over to the side of the track in sector one after he suffered a complete power loss, similar to what happened to teammate Daniel Ricciardo in Austin last Sunday.

Can Max Verstappen win the Mexican Grand Prix? The Red Bull driver is currently 6/4 to win!

Tyre degradation didn't improve from this morning, as the hyper soft tyre wore away extremely quickly once again. The top teams face a conundrum on whether or not they should try advancing from Q2 on a harder tyre, while potentially giving up lap time to cars behind.

Ricciardo came home in second place, as he did this morning. His time was 0.153s behind his teammate, and Red Bull appear to be the fastest team this weekend with its nearest rivals over a second down.

Mercedes and Ferrari continued its struggles from the morning session, with Sebastian Vettel ending the day in fourth. He was sandwiched in between the two Renault drivers of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg, who kept up their impressive pace from this morning.

With big question marks lingering over his future, Brendon Hartley was sixth fastest. The Toro Rosso driver ran with upgrades throughout the day that were put aside during in Austin one week ago.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh, which is the position he needs to finish Sunday's race in to win the championship should rival Vettel take the victory. Behind the Briton was the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who led his compatriot Valtteri Bottas.

Local hero Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten and will be looking to produce a strong result this weekend in front of his home crowd. Action from the track on Saturday gets underway at 10:00 local time.

F1Grand Prix Mexico - Free practice 2

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez - 26 October 2018

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:16.720

21
2

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing

1:16.873

+0.153

32
3

Carlos Sainz jr

Renault

1:17.953

+1.233

35
4

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:17.954

+1.234

42
5

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:18.046

+1.326

36
6

Brendon Hartley

Toro Rosso

1:18.061

+1.341

35
7

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:18.100

+1.380

40
8

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari

1:18.133

+1.413

42
9

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:18.140

+1.420

40
10

Sergio Perez

Racing Point

1:18.167

+1.447

24
11

Esteban Ocon

Racing Point

1:18.485

+1.765

24
12

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:18.733

+2.013

39
13

Charles Leclerc

Sauber

1:19.024

+2.304

39
14

Pierre Gasly

Toro Rosso

1:19.047

+2.327

36
15

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren

1:19.096

+2.376

30
16

Lance Stroll

Williams

1:19.219

+2.499

25
17

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber

1:19.322

+2.602

41
18

Sergey Sirotkin

Williams

1:19.335

+2.615

37
19

Fernando Alonso

McLaren

1:19.543

+2.823

31
20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:19.670

+2.950

35

RogerF1

Posts: 501

A DNF for Lewis would be awesome with SV taking a win, stir it up a bit.

1
Oct 27 2018 - 07:24

F1 News Max Verstappen Valtteri Bottas Daniel Ricciardo Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Sergio Perez Brendon Hartley Mercedes Renault Ferrari

Replies (2)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Bes Red Bull bad at designing reliable carsies, or bes Renault playing tricksies on Woodsie Red Bull, I bes wondersies.
- + 0
- Oct 26 2018 - 22:36
RogerF1

Posts: 501
A DNF for Lewis would be awesome with SV taking a win, stir it up a bit.
- + 1
- Oct 27 2018 - 07:24