Leclerc fastest in Mexico as Hamilton retires and Verstappen causes red flag

Charles Leclerc set the pace in both Friday practice sessions at the Mexico Grand Prix, heading FP2 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with a 1m17.827s after already topping the opening session with a 1m18.128s.

The Ferrari driver's second session came despite team-mate Lewis Hamilton retiring from running, with the seven-time world champion losing power down the main straight and stopping at the Turn 3 exit after 28 minutes, triggering a brief virtual safety car.

Hamilton had actually set the early benchmark on medium tyres, going 0.498s quicker than McLaren's Oscar Piastri on hard rubber, before Leclerc responded with a 1m18.257s as track conditions continued to improve through the hour.

Max Verstappen was fastest on soft compounds in the early running with a 1m19.312s, but the Red Bull driver was involved in the session's defining flashpoint when he went wheel to wheel with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson through the stadium section.

The incident sent debris onto the circuit and forced officials to red-flag the session for five minutes, in the 15th minute of the hour-long slot.

Once running resumed, Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli split the Ferrari pairing with a 1m18.559s, 0.302s off Leclerc's mark, before the Monegasque threatened to extend his advantage by going purple through the first two sectors on soft tyres, only to run wide at the stadium section and abandon the lap.

That opened the door for Lando Norris, who went fastest after 25 minutes with a 1m18.161s, moments after Leclerc had locked up into Turn 1 on another aborted attempt. Piastri then briefly split the Ferraris with a 1m18.896s on softs.

Leclerc eventually reasserted himself once the soft-tyre laps intensified in the second half of the hour, first trimming the benchmark to 1m17.966s before going quicker again with his eventual 1m17.827s, a lap that left him 0.103s clear of Norris, who had handed his McLaren to Leonardo Fornaroli during FP1.

With 20 minutes left, the soft-tyre laps gave way to high-fuel running, a switch that did not sit well with outgoing Haas driver Esteban Ocon. Told by race engineer Laura Mueller that he would be moving onto medium tyres, Ocon replied, "don't do that to me", though the change went ahead regardless.

The late high-fuel work did not alter the top of the times, leaving Leclerc fastest overall ahead of Norris's 1m17.930s, which in turn put the McLaren driver just 0.003s clear of third-placed George Russell. Antonelli completed the top four on 1m18.044s, with Verstappen fifth on 1m18.138s and Isack Hadjar sixth in the second Red Bull on 1m18.237s.

Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad took seventh with a 1m18.389s, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly eighth on 1m18.407s, Lawson ninth on 1m18.455s and Piastri rounding out the top ten on 1m18.469s.

Norris was one of ten drivers across the grid who gave up their car to a rookie during FP1, with the full grid returning for the second session as teams built towards qualifying at the Mexico Grand Prix.