Max Verstappen wasted little time checking into the top spot on the timing screens in Friday's second practice for this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.
McLaren were once again looking best of the rest with Lando Norris in second from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with Valtteri Bottas a surprise fourth ahead of Sergio Perez despite two brief rain showers during the session.
Slowest of all was Fernando Alonso after the Aston Martin went for a dramatic 360-degree spin 20 minutes into the session, although he did well to keep it off the barrier and avoid damage to the AMR23.
It felt frankly decadent to have three hours of practice available this weekend, after track time was squeezed by the sprint format in Qatar and the United States. Teams had been taking the opportunity to catch up with their testing of new components in FP1, and there had been an unusually high degree of technical reliability issues in the high altitude setting. However Red Bull's Max Verstappen once again rose inexorably to the top - although his margin of under a tenth to Williams' Alex Albon had certainly raised eyebrows in the paddock.
For five drivers, second practice was their first time in action on Friday, as George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas reclaimed their cars after sitting out FP1 in favour of junior drivers. Bottas was hoping that Alfa Romeo had sorted out the brake-by-wire issues that had limited the unfortunate Théo Pourchaire to just four laps on track.
There was a long queue of cars waiting to head out as soon as the light went green at the end of pit lane, with just Verstappen and Albon holding back for a couple of minutes. Most of those heading out were on Pirelli's test tyre compound although it was Daniel Ricciardo who took first honours with a time of 1:20.568s in the AlphaTauri on a set of the current hards. Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc soon pushed him aside on the test tyres, and when Verstappen finally clocked in (also on the test tyres) he was only 0.024s ahead of the McLaren with Albon straight into third ahead of the Ferrari, and then improving to go top by 0.01s next time around.
There was more cloud around over the circuit that there had been for FP1, with the FIA weather system indicating a small chance of rain for the session. Sure enough, it didn't take long before Verstappen was reporting fine rain over parts of the circuit from a black cloud that was moving across. Fortunately it didn't seem to make a significant impact on the pace and performance of the cars, all intent on making the best use of their time on track. The cloud soon moved on, taking the rain with it, and normal service resumed.
Verstappen had pitted and taken on a set of medium tyres, immediately posting a set of purple sectors and moving ahead of the field with a time of 1:19.511s with Leclerc going with him and keeping within a tenth of the Red Bull. Less happy with the situation was Lewis Hamilton, still outside the top ten and complaining "It's a struggle out here - there's no grip" over the Mercedes team radio. Then Oscar Piastri was the first driver to try out the soft tyres, and duly went top by 1:19.163s.
Albon was next on the red-walled tyres, going second despite a snap on the middle sector. At the same time, doing brilliantly to survive a full 360 spin was Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin. He just kept it out of the barriers at turn 9, while Logan Sargeant dispatched the bollard at the apex of turn 2 with extreme prejudice. There were no such dramas for Verstappen, who now moved almost half a second ahead of Piastri with his own first outing on the softs. Norris soon filled that large gap behind the Dutch driver and moved into second, with Hamilton nipping into third and Alpine's Esteban Ocon fourth from Piastri and Albon.
Russell was late to set his time on the softs, and it was only good enough to split Piastri and Albon for P6. There was a surprise to see Ricciardo pop up into third on his run, with Sergio Perez immediately bumping him down a spot with his own effort despite wandering wide at the final turn, putting him just three tenths behind his Red Bull team mate. The local hero was then pipped by Bottas, leaving Leclerc as the final driver to show his hand on the softs - which now put him into third in turn.
With less than half an hour to go and more rain on the horizon arriving just before the end of the session, teams switched to medium tyres to commence race runs. Everyone kept it clean meaning there were no major incidents and no notable changes to the order, with Verstappen's existing best time of 1:18.686s more than good enough to keep him top of the timesheets ahead of Norris, Leclerc, Bottas, Perez, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Ocon comprising the top eight.
Piastri and Russell just made it into the top ten, with Sainz struggling in P11 after being ill yesterday and a hydraulics issue affecting him in FP1. Yuki Tsunoda was 12th quickest in the knowledge that an engine change meant the AlphaTauri will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid. Albon dropped to a disappointing 14th after making no further fast laps following his early high-flying antics. Slowest or all was Alonso, after his dramatic spin meant he didn't undertake a run on the soft tyres.
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