Leclerc tops both practice sessions in Mexico despite Hamilton retirement

Charles Leclerc delivered a dominant Friday at the Mexico Grand Prix, topping both practice sessions at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez despite Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton being forced to retire from FP2 with a power issue.

The Monegasque had already set the benchmark in FP1 with a 1m18.128s before improving to a 1m17.827s in the second session, edging McLaren’s Lando Norris into second by 0.103s. Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top three, splitting the Ferrari and McLaren representatives with a strong showing on medium tyres.

The session was not without incident. Max Verstappen triggered a red flag in the 15th minute after going wheel-to-wheel with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson through the stadium sector, sending debris onto the track and halting proceedings for five minutes.

Hamilton had initially set the early pace on medium tyres with a 1m18.741s, but his session ended prematurely when he lost power on the main straight and stopped at the Turn 3 exit after 28 minutes, triggering a brief virtual safety car period.

Leclerc’s path to the top was not straightforward. He aborted multiple soft-tyre laps — going wide through the stadium sector on one occasion and locking up into Turn 1 on another — before stringing together a clean effort to reclaim the lead from Norris, who had briefly gone top with a 1m18.161s.

Norris had been absent from FP1 as one of ten drivers to hand their car to a rookie, with Leonardo Fornaroli taking the wheel of his MCL40. The world champion returned for FP2 and immediately featured at the sharp end, though he could not match Leclerc’s final soft-tyre effort.

The session’s closing phase shifted to high-fuel race-simulation runs, a transition that did not sit well with Haas driver Esteban Ocon. The outgoing Frenchman told race engineer Laura Mueller “don’t do that to me” when instructed to switch to medium rubber — a move that went ahead regardless.