Mexico City GP: Charles Leclerc completes Friday practice double as Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffers technical failure
Charles Leclerc tops both Friday practice sessions for Ferrari; Lewis Hamilton suffers technical failure; Max Verstappen collides with Liam Lawson; watch every Mexico City GP session live on Sky Sports F1, with qualifying at 9pm on Saturday and the race at 8pm on Sunday
Saturday 31 October 2026 03:14, UK
Charles Leclerc completed a Friday practice double at the Mexico City Grand Prix but Ferrari's strong showing was dampened by Lewis Hamilton suffering a technical issue.
Leclerc produced a time of 1:17.827s to finish just over a tenth clear of McLaren's Lando Norris and Mercedes' George Russell, with the British pair among 10 drivers who had earlier sat out the opening session to make way for rookie drivers.
Kimi Antonelli, who only needs to finish ninth in Sunday's race to become Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion, was a tenth down on his team-mate Russell in fourth.
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Hamilton had been on course to go fastest as the session approached its midway point before suffering what appeared to be an engine issue in the final sector of his push lap, leaving him 11th.
He completed the lap but was then swiftly told by his engineer to pull over on track, ending his session early and denying him valuable information that his rivals were able to gather with their race simulations.
Max Verstappen, another to have sat out first practice, was three tenths off the pace in fifth, with his team-mate Isack Hadjar slotting in behind him.
Verstappen was involved in a bizarre collision with his former team-mate Liam Lawson in the early stages of the session as the four-time world champion attempted to overtake the Racing Bulls driver, and both drivers received a one-grid place penalty for the incident.
Lawson defended and retained track position, only for the battle to continue on for several more corners before the pair made contact, leaving debris on the track that caused a red flag to be thrown so it could be cleared.
The stewards said both drivers "behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable" and that a warning had been given at the team managers meeting earlier on Friday about overtaking in the final sector, which led to their decision to give Verstappen and Lawson a grid penalty for Sunday's race.
Lawson was ninth in second practice, two places behind his team-mate Arvid Linbdlad with Alpine's Pierre Gasly splitting the Racing Bulls.
Oscar Piastri endured another disappointing day as he could only manage 10th, finishing more than half a second down on his McLaren team-mate Norris.
Fernando Alonso produced an encouraging result for Aston Martin as he finished within eight tenths of Leclerc in 12th.
"Overall, our performance looks quite alright but we still need to work on some of our limiting factors. It was quite tricky on track today, as the surface was slippery, so we will work on that to find some improvements for tomorrow," said Leclerc.
Antonelli had a low-key day considering he's expected to become world champion on Sunday as he never threatened to challenge Leclerc's pace.
"There are definitely more things we can improve going into tomorrow and we have some work to do overnight," said Antonelli, who won last time out in Austin.
"Ferrari looked very quick, but we will focus on ourselves, see where we can find more performance and hopefully put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow."
Should Antonelli fail to score points on Sunday, he can still become world champion if Hamilton or Russell fail to win the race.
Hamilton was off the pace throughout Friday compared to team-mate Leclerc but said he was "feeling really good in the car" before his technical issue.
"I think we did a really good job in getting the setup in a better place and just really unfortunate. I think we are really competitive this weekend as a team.
"I don't think I need to make many changes to the setup. I will probably leave it pretty much the same because we were very quick.
"I already had a loss of power earlier in the lap and we were still quick. I will give it everything tomorrow and try to do the best with whatever I have."
Sky Sports F1's live Mexico City GP schedule
Saturday October 31
5.15pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
8pm: Mexico City Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
9pm: MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
11pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday November 1
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction
11pm: Ted's Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 next heads south for the second leg of The Americas triple-header with the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
