Max Verstappen edged out Daniel Ricciardo at the top of the time sheets in the second free practice session of the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but the Dutchman ended the day at the side of the road after a suspected car failure at the end of the main straight.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing finished first and second in Free Practice two, with Verstappen’s best time of 1:16.720 0.153 seconds clear of his team-mate, while the rest of the field were more than a second down, and they were led by Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sainz was 1.233 seconds down on Verstappen’s time but 0.001 seconds clear of Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who needs a victory this weekend and for Lewis Hamilton to finish eighth or lower to maintain his chances of taking the championship battle into the Brazilian Grand Prix next month.
Nico Hülkenberg completed a good day for Renault by ending fifth fastest, 1.326 seconds off the pace, while Brendon Hartley had one of his better days for Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda in sixth, just 0.015 seconds behind the German.
Hamilton was only seventh in the leading of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport W07’s, two places ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, while the duo were split by the second Ferrari and last weeks winner Kimi Räikkönen.
The top ten was completed by home hero Sergio Pérez, 1.447 seconds off the pace for Racing Point Force India F1 Team, although he was just 0.224 seconds away from third placed Sainz.
Esteban Ocon, who sat out the morning session earlier in the day in favour of test driver Nicholas Latifi, was just outside the top ten in eleventh in the second Force India, with Romain Grosjean twelfth for the Haas F1 Team ahead of Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team’s Charles Leclerc, who was another to sit out FP1 in favour of Antonio Giovinazzi.
Pierre Gasly, who missed first practice as Toro Rosso fixed an engine issue, finished down in fourteenth ahead of the Stoffel Vandoorne, who was leading McLaren F1 Team driver in fifteenth as team-mate Fernando Alonso could only muster nineteenth after returning to the car that was driven in first practice by Lando Norris.
Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin were sixteenth and eighteenth respectively for Williams Martini Racing, either side of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, while Alonso and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear of the field, the Dane 2.950 seconds off the pace.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Free Practice 2 Result
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