Friday at the Mexican Grand Prix is always a wild affair thanks to the unique demands of the venue plus the influx of FP1 'rookies', who reduce the track time for a host of Formula 1 regulars. According to The Race, this year is no different: lower downforce with this ruleset at a venue where it's already at a premium, 10 rookies taking the places of permanent drivers, a high-profile Max Verstappen clash, and Ferrari getting the favourite tag means it's been a busy day.
Max Verstappen found himself among the losers after finishing 5th in FP2, having engaged in a fiery battle with Liam Lawson in second practice. Verstappen passed Lawson up the inside of the Turn 12 right-hander, but there was contact, and Verstappen accused Lawson of starting to speed up as soon as he had seen him. They raced side by side into Turns 13 and 14 before Verstappen went off track and eventually moved ahead via contact as they exited the stadium section. Verstappen remarked that when you're fighting for your seat it's not very smart behaviour, noting Lawson's precarious position at Red Bull with Nikola Tsolov impressing in FP1.
Charles Leclerc took the winner's spot by topping both Friday sessions. Even though the gap to Lando Norris behind was just one tenth in FP2, the Ferrari driver had the best long-run pace of anyone. His medium-tyre stint in FP2 was more than a tenth faster than Norris's similar long-run average, though executed on soft tyres, while the next-best driver on medium tyres was Kimi Antonelli, 0.324s off Leclerc's benchmark. Meanwhile, team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended up 11th after having to park his Ferrari around the halfway mark in FP2 due to a loss of power, though he remained positive about the car's fundamental behaviour.
Fernando Alonso landed in the winner's section after taking 12th in second practice. While his seventh place in a rookie-heavy FP1 is taken with a pinch of salt, the FP2 time looked proper, and the Aston Martin might be an outside contender for a Q3 slot come qualifying. On the other side of the garage, Esteban Ocon suffered a frustrating Friday ending up 13th and showing visible friction on the radio with engineer Laura Mueller over tyre strategies, reportedly throwing his gloves on the table in displeasure at the Haas hospitality afterwards.
Lando Norris secured a winner's nod by claiming second, proving not just a cut above Oscar Piastri, but Ferrari's closest challenger on single-lap pace and long runs despite only getting one hour in the car. Elsewhere, Colton Herta endured a disastrous 22nd-place outing after discovering his F1 superlicence points had been taken away due to a corrected error on the IndyCar website, adding to a scrappy FP1 performance. Gabriel Bortoleto also finished 22nd after completing just 12 laps in FP2 as he was confined to the garage for much of the session, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg managed 62 laps.
George Russell grabbed third to take a winner's spot, immediately on it despite missing FP1 and finishing a tenth clear of an under-the-weather Kimi Antonelli in FP2. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the losers in 21st, hamstrung by lost track time after sitting FP1 out and being struck down by the same viral infection affecting team-mate Sergio Perez, ending up three quarters of a second off his team-mate amidst growing speculation around his seat.
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