Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Russell reassures himself, Leclerc sees red!

It is a half-hour lying session. In fact, Pirelli wishes to prepare for 2023 and offers teams the opportunity to test what will be in effect next year.

As such, the tires are heated, before being installed on the single-seaters, at a maximum temperature of 70°. Let’s recall that the regulations for next year anticipate lowering this temperature to 50°.

Furthermore, in 2024 tires will not be allowed to be placed under heated blankets.

Session interrupted after 33 minutes.

Very lively in FP1 with his teammate Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc starts his FP2 session in the worst possible way. He loses the rear of his Ferrari during a braking maneuver over a kerb, and crashes into the tecpro barriers from behind. Session over for the Monegasque driver.

Resumption for 37 minutes of fast laps.

The testing period on long, race-like relays has been disrupted as a result of Charles Leclerc’s accident. The teams are regrouping to prepare the cars for a series of more efficient laps.

So, the drivers who couldn’t participate in FP1, namely Russell, Tsunoda, Ocon, and Albon, are on the 2022 soft tires. The others are keeping the prototypes provided by Pirelli.

Until this moment of the session, the Mercedes are showing good form with Russell at the top of the timesheet, and Hamilton in fourth. Meanwhile, Tsunoda and Ocon occupy the second and third places. Just ahead of the two Red Bull drivers, Perez is leading Verstappen and the two Ferraris, with Leclerc currently ahead of Sainz.

A studious session, which ends under a red flag.

Finally, the ranking hardly changed throughout the rounds. And before the session was interrupted 2 minutes before its end, due to Zhou’s breakdown in the stadium, we noticed that the grip in this stadium was rather precarious for the rear tires of many cars.

This is how Mercedes continues to demonstrate their strong performance at the end of the season. And it is George Russell who dominates the standings.

The rankings