The second practice of the Mexico GP stretched to 90 minutes.
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari had a tough time in Mexico GP practice. PDO
Even before the start of the GP weekend, it was clear that Friday’s second practice session would be extended to 90 minutes.
The reason was that the tire manufacturer Pirelli would have wanted to test next year’s racing tires in Japan, but the plan was ruined by the downpour there. That’s why the usual training session was combined with a tire test.
Pirelli’s plan only partially worked, because a large part of the one and a half hour practice session was spent while the track officials were repairing the safety fence at the stop corner. Ferrari star Charles Leclerc lost control of his car already in the previous corner and crashed head first into the embankment.
The Ferrari mechanics had to work overtime because the rear of the car was completely destroyed.
After nearly 20 minutes of repairs, we got up to speed again. The best time in the second practice was recorded by Mercedes To George Russellwhich left the surprise of the day, AlphaTauri Yuki Tsunodasecond by just over 0.8 seconds.
Valtteri Bottas continued his strong run, keeping his place in the top ten (ninth, two seconds slower than Russell). It was remarkable that the team mate Zhou Guanyu was almost 1.4 seconds behind Nastola’s pace.