Behind Verstappen, the battle for absolute pace appears to be very close in conditions and corner types that somewhat negate the RB19’s usual strengths. And in the long-term exercises at the end of FP2, McLaren seemed to be particularly strong thanks to Lando Norris.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton led the pace for Ferrari and Mercedes respectively, while Aston Martin endured a second tough Friday in seven days following its struggles in the US GP.
So here’s everything we learned in Mexico yesterday.
The story of the day
Verstappen took the lead in FP1 with a time of 1:19.718 minutes, just 0.095 seconds ahead of surprise package Alex Albon and his FW45. Albon even surprised Williams at the start of the weekend with his pace on a track where the team had initially been pessimistic about the prospect of certain points. Perez followed in third ahead of Norris and Leclerc.
But as teams began to understand how their maximum downforce packages and additional body cooling vents worked in the notoriously thin air here, and there were also plenty of slips and spills on the low-grip surface, the biggest story of the opening session was the combined one Fates of the five participating newcomers (excluding Oscar Piastri).
Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman finished 15th for Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen, while Isack Hadjar finished 17th in Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri. Jack Doohan finished just behind while Pierre Gasly sat out FP1 for Alpine, while Frederik Vesti finished 19th in George Russell’s Mercedes.
The use of Theo Pourchaire in place of Valtteri Bottas for Alfa Romeo never really got off the ground as an alarm appeared on his dashboard, coinciding with a long throttle feel at the start of FP1. The problems occurred three more times when he left the pits to try and set a lap time.
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F2 star Bearman impressed Haas in his first FP1 outing
In the end, Haas was very happy with Bearman’s performance alongside regular Nico Hülkenberg in the opening session. Team technical director Ayao Komatsu said he “didn’t make a mistake.” The 18-year-old particularly impressed Haas with his familiarity with the processes and his feedback to the engineers.
Red Bull plans to field its two RB19s in Abu Dhabi FP1 with its simulator driver – and Formula E World Champion – Jake Dennis and Hadjar in order to meet the relevant regulatory requirements. Team boss Christian Horner said in the press conference between FP1 and FP2 that Red Bull was of the opinion that the season-ending session “tends not to have much value for vehicle set-up” for its racing drivers.
So heading into FP2 yesterday, Verstappen and Perez remained together aboard their dominant machines, as they had done in all sessions of 2023 so far, with their efforts in Friday’s second session following the established themes of the season.
This means that Verstappen once again came out on top, while Perez finished behind Norris and Leclerc. Bottas – whose car had now been repaired – also demoted the local hero to fifth place.
In the end, Haas was very happy with Bearman’s performance alongside regular Nico Hülkenberg in the opening session. Team technical director Ayao Komatsu said he “didn’t make a mistake.”
But Perez was unlucky that he “had a yellow flag on my lap” – more on that later – because that meant he didn’t have a fresh kick for soft tires when he tried again a short time later in the middle of FP2. This second attempt ended with him running dangerously far out of the Peraltada. Perez concluded that this was why he “couldn’t get good readings on the soft tires over a single lap” yesterday.
There were two standout elements of FP2. The first was that it rained in the opening minutes and then rained again in the closing stages – not enough to lose laps, but a reminder that rain overnight here can wash away what was lost in rubber.
This can lead to grain formation on the left front tires, which are particularly subject to heavy use in this area. At the same time, teams must keep a close eye on tire preparation in qualifying, which is a significant factor in track development. Before the race, drivers will want to apply as much rubber as possible to reduce tire temperature spikes and thus additional grit on top of typical wear issues.
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Perez “couldn’t get good results on the soft tires over a single lap yesterday.”
The other key takeaway from FP2 was that Aston Martin finished a Friday behind for the second time in a week.
Fernando Alonso “lost the car” when he tried the soft tires in the middle of the qualifying simulation, which resulted in the yellow flag – the Spaniard was a bit of an understatement as he spun dramatically and completely between turns 9 and 10 Incident that he tried with all his might to downplay in further comments (see below).
But with Lance Stroll losing much of FP2 due to a left front medium getting stuck on the other AMR23 and Aston mechanics making big hammer blows trying to remove it, it all left the green team rather in the lurch in qualifying preparation.
The long-distance pace of the medium tires gives McLaren an early lead over Red Bull
During the typical long runs at the end of FP2, the averages recorded by Motorsport.com need to be treated even more carefully than normal, as the low grip surface and low downforce setting trigger many smaller moments for the drivers.
Due to the late rain, drivers also had difficulty maintaining optimal tire temperature as the ambient temperature also decreased at this point. Therefore, all drivers from the leading teams had numerous outlier times, which we had to account for.
But when you look at the FP2 averages over the long term – with all the usual caveats they entail in terms of engine modes and fuel levels – they look very encouraging for McLaren, who have been Red Bull’s closest rival of late out of.
Oscar Piastri had said over the weekend that McLaren expected this location would be “not particularly” suitable for the MCL60, but Norris said essentially the same thing in Austin and was spot on there.
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McLaren’s early one-lap pace put them just 0.12 seconds behind Verstappen with Norris in Free Practice 2
McLaren’s early one-lap pace, which saw him just 0.12 seconds behind Verstappen and Norris in FP2, is due to the Brit averaging his friend on the medium tire long-distance runs he completed towards the end of that session 0.274 seconds per lap.
Another plus point for McLaren is the fact that Norris’ average was over a 15-lap stint and Verstappen’s was driven with at least 11 laps of fuel on board.
However, the hard tire averages – with these two teams being the only ones to use back-to-back the two compounds that will be the choice for best race tire here, coupled with a possible starting stint on soft tires – looked much better for Red Bull. Perez was an average of 0.576 seconds ahead of Piastri over 10 or 14 laps.
Even though it appears to be close to race speed at this point, Red Bull will be relieved that the setup adjustments before FP2 have resolved the issue of the “more or less collapsed front tire” that the team saw in the limited race, according to Helmut Marko long runs in the hotter FP1 opener on Friday.
At the end of FP2, Hamilton was 0.326 seconds behind Norris and 0.052 seconds behind Verstappen at medium distance – his average was 1:23.338 minutes over an eight-lap stint
Measured against the long-distance journeys with medium-weight tires, Mercedes is also ahead in this phase – in a place where the thin air covers the W13’s remaining air resistance deficit compared to Red Bull and the Black Arrows team has something special in its sights here.
At the end of FP2, Hamilton was 0.326 seconds behind Norris and 0.052 seconds behind Verstappen at medium distance – his average was 1:23.338 minutes over an eight-lap stint.
It should be noted that Hamilton’s pace decreased dramatically from the first 1:22 minutes to 1:24 minutes at the end. Meanwhile, Norris was able to keep the time of 1:23 minutes more consistent, while Verstappen actually drove faster laps at the end of his long run than at the beginning.
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Both Hamilton and Russell were unhappy with the balance and grip levels of their cars
Mercedes believes that both Hamilton and Russell were unhappy with the balance and grip levels of their cars, although such comments are fairly typical of both at this point.
The team is currently analyzing the results of its FP2 setup experiments and those it believes worked best for the remainder of the weekend are likely to be selected in qualifying much later today.
Ferrari’s best average long-distance average (both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rode this surface for the FP2 race data collection exercises) was Leclerc’s 1m23.885s. That’s 0.873 seconds less than Norris’ top time. The red team, which quickly fixed a hydraulic problem on Sainz’s car that left him without power steering in FP1, feels it still has a gap to the leaders in both single-lap and race speed.
According to team principal Mike Krack, Aston concluded that his day was “not a true reflection” of his position in the Mexican pecking order because there was no qualifying simulation.
Additionally, thanks to Stroll’s stuck wheel problem, Alonso made it to the team’s only FP2 race. Alonso averaged 1:24.458 in the middle distances, which is a whopping 1.45 seconds slower than Norris and the slowest of the typical 2023 leaders.
Because he narrowly edged ahead of Perez in FP2 and finished fourth in second practice, and felt the Alfa was “pretty good overall” even after Pourchaire’s misfortune, Bottas’ average on the medium tires over 12 laps was 1 :24.041 minutes and beat Alonso.
When it comes to predicted race strategies at this stage, a one-stopper is probably the quickest and most common – although teams are looking early to see how much graining there is before committing to either medium or hard tracks for the latter Stays.
What you say
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Verstappen says he had a better start to the weekend than expected
Max Verstappen: “We look competitive, so that’s good. But there are always a few things to improve. Overall I think it was a positive start to the weekend, probably a little better than I expected. So that’s always good, I guess. You can see that the track is, as always, very slippery and the tires are also very difficult to handle in the long run. So there are a few things we can work on. I find [qualifying] On one lap it will be incredibly competitive and when I look at the race pace again it’s a different story.”
Lando Norris: “A good start to the weekend, it’s almost here. We’ll continue to try to improve, but it’s a good start. I think we’re basically starting the weekend well. We always have a good idea of where to put the car from the start and it’s usually not far from where we want to go, so there’s not much to gain on the weekend.”
“We didn’t show the most competitive long runs, so we focused on trying different setups.” Lewis Hamilton
Charles Leclerc: “It was a positive day overall as we were able to test everything we wanted. We tried all the tires available and worked a little on the setup, although it is clear that there is still a lot to do for tomorrow’s qualifying and the race as it is only Friday. We will analyze all the data we collect and work to take a step forward.”
Lewis Hamilton: “It was a challenging day for me today. The car felt completely different than it did a week ago in Austin and we need to understand why. Since we didn’t show the most competitive long runs, we focused on trying different setups. The track here comes with its challenges, but we have done well here in recent years. So we’re not quite where we want to be tomorrow, but we will work hard overnight to improve and make necessary changes.”
Fernando Alonso: “It was a good day. At the end [I have] I have a good feeling in the car and am trying to understand more about the new aerodynamic package. We focused a lot on the long runs, lots of fuel in the car throughout the day. We weren’t looking for lap times, so we’ll see where we are tomorrow.”
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Aston concluded that his day was “not a true reflection” of his position in the Mexican pecking order