2021 Mexican GP FP2 results: Verstappen sets the pace in Friday's second free practice session

Max Verstappen outpaced Valtteri Bottas in Friday's second free practice session ahead of the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. The Dutchman outpaced the entire field by 0.424 seconds and his title contender Lewis Hamilton by half a second.

Mercedes looked like they had a strong start to the Mexican weekend earlier in the day as they led the field in the first practice session. By afternoon, however, it was Red Bull Racing's Verstappen who had a comfortable edge over the two Mercedes drivers.

With Bottas and Hamilton second and third fastest in the practice session, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez slotted in fourth, less than a tenth slower than the second Mercedes. Although the Mexican was fourth-fastest, he was half a second behind his teammate.

Charles Leclerc Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz during the practice session ahead of the 2021 Mexican GP. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fifth and seventh fastest respectively, split by Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly in sixth.

Gasly’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda clocked the eighth-quickest lap and was followed by multiple world champions Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in ninth and tenth respectively.

Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen slotted in P11 on the timesheet and was followed by McLaren's Lando Norris in P12.

The McLaren team had a sluggish run in both sessions with Norris outside the top 10, while Daniel Ricciardo’s session was thwarted by gearbox issues after just seven laps of running. The Australian was classified P15 in the session, a far cry from his or the team’s US GP form.

Alpine F1 driver Esteban Ocon clocked the 13th-fastest lap and was followed by Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi in P14. Behind them, Haas driver Mick Schumacher and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll were classified P16 and P17 respectively.

Williams drivers Nicholas Latifi and George Russell were classified 18th and 20th respectively in the practice session, with the latter suffering from similar grip issues as Ricciardo. The two Williams were split by Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin, who clocked the 19th-fastest lap of the session.

---

Drivers continue to face grip issues in second practice session

Drivers continued to face similar grip issues with the dusty tarmac in the second practice session as they had in the first. While Mercedes seemed to have the upper hand earlier in the day, they were clearly edged out by Verstappen come noon.

Hamilton’s scrappy practice session was thwarted by setup issues, and his team-radio chatter indicated that the driver was unhappy with the balance of his car. The alarming indicator of the session was the half-second gap the Briton had between him and his title contender.

Local driver Perez, who enjoys huge support at the circuit, was seen carrying out race-spec simulations for the majority of the practice session and is expected to be close to Verstappen's pace come qualifying.

The circuit is expected to be Red Bull Racing territory overall, and it will be interesting to see how Mercedes keep up through the weekend. The fastest sector times of the practice session were dominated by Honda-powered cars, with Gasly quickest in the first sector and Verstappen dominating the remainder of the lap.

The lap time averages seemed to favor Red Bull Racing team, whose drivers had long stints on medium tire compounds, but Mercedes were quick on the hards. Hamilton and Bottas attempted most of their race simulations on the hard compound and some on the soft compound. Verstappen and Perez also opted for both medium and hard tire compounds for their race simulations.

Looking at McLaren’s compromised form in the practice session, one can expect low air density and grip issues on the unused tarmac to create a bit of drama in future sessions. But in terms of pace, Red Bull Racing might have a clear advantage over the rest come Sunday.