Verstappen fastest in close Friday practice

MEXICO CITY — Max Verstappen retained his place at the top of the timesheets during the second practice session for this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The three-time world champion, who is chasing a record-breaking 16th victory of the season in Mexico, emerged fastest despite rivals from McLaren and Ferrari closing the gap at the front.

Lando Norris finished the session just 0.119s off Verstappen, while Charles Leclerc was 0.266s adrift of the fastest time. Underlining the likelihood of a competitive qualifying session on Saturday, the top 16 drivers were split by less than one second.

The relatively high altitude of Mexico City, which sits at 2250 metres above sea level, has a tendency to produce surprise results and could help explain presence of Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo in the top four.

Bottas, who is 14th in the drivers’ standings this year, was just 0.269s off Verstappen and nearly half a second faster than teammate Zhou Guanyu in 13th place. The lap time also put him ahead of home hero Sergio Pérez, who only managed fifth place for Red Bull but was still greeted by cheers every time he entered the circuit’s stadium section towards the end of the lap.

Daniel Ricciardo was another star performer from the session, setting the sixth fastest time for AlphaTauri. Ricciardo has only completed one race back in F1 since undergoing surgery on his hand to reset the bone he broke during practice at the Dutch Grand Prix in August.

Lewis Hamilton was the highest-placed Mercedes driver in seventh overall, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in eighth and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in ninth.

Mercedes had hoped to be competitive in Mexico after Hamilton finished a close second to Verstappen at the U.S. Grand Prix last weekend only to be disqualified for a technical infringement after the race. His teammate George Russell set the 10th fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in 11th.

Fernando Alonso appeared to struggle throughout Friday practice and finished slowest of all by the end of the second session. He spun in the high-speed Turn 9 midway through the hour but managed to keep his Aston Martin out the barriers and escape with only damage to his tyres.

Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll also struggled and finished the session 18th fastest.