Max Verstappen admitted Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari eased his path to victory in Austin by separating him from Lando Norris at the beginning of the race.
The Ferrari pair look capable of disrupting the fight between the championship contenders again this weekend at the track where they scored their most recent victory.
Teams’ 2024 performance in context
Carlos Sainz Jnr put Ferrari on pole position last year at one of the strongest venues for the team. Their pace over a single lap looked strong on Friday as Leclerc was quick out of the box in the opening session and just over a tenth of a second off Verstappen’s Red Bull in the later hour of running.
Question marks hang over Ferrari’s race pace, however, as on many occasions this year they have had to compromise their performance to preserve their brakes or reduce floor wear by telling their drivers to “lift and coast” into braking zones. The high altitude of Mexico City is likely to exacerbate that problem.
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Teams’ progress vs 2024
The softest tyres available for this weekend’s race are no softer than those used last year and the track was very dusty on Friday which explains why, so far, none of the teams have lapped any faster than they managed last year.
Aston Martin looked in good shape on Friday, as they have tended to this year on high-downforce tracks like the Hungaroring and Singapore. Ferrari may have more pace in hand compared to their front-running rivals.
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Curiously, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers. That has seldom been the case this year, though he was strong at Miami, another low-grip circuit, earlier this year.
George Russell’s practice was disrupted as he had to miss the first session. Mercedes may therefore also have the pace to get in among the championship contenders.
With Red Bull looking strong over a single flying lap and McLaren better on race pace, the concern for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in qualifying will be whether one or more cars from Ferrari and potentially Mercedes separate them from Verstappen.
P.
#
Driver
Team
FP1 time
FP2 time
Gap
Laps
1
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’17.392
34
2
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1’18.380
1’17.545
0.153
61
3
12
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
1’18.487
1’17.566
0.174
62
4
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes
1’17.643
0.251
31
5
44
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
1’17.692
0.300
30
6
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’17.829
0.437
33
7
22
Yuki Tsunoda
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’19.090
1’17.883
0.491
60
8
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’19.472
1’17.938
0.546
55
9
55
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Williams-Mercedes
1’17.939
0.547
34
10
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’17.954
0.562
30
11
30
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’18.218
0.826
32
12
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
1’18.784
1’18.232
0.840
62
13
31
Esteban Ocon
Haas-Ferrari
1’19.038
1’18.266
0.874
60
14
6
Isack Hadjar
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’19.409
1’18.281
0.889
62
15
5
Gabriel Bortoleto
Sauber-Ferrari
1’18.916
1’18.323
0.931
58
16
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber-Ferrari
1’18.760
1’18.348
0.956
56
17
87
Oliver Bearman
Haas-Ferrari
1’18.442
1.050
34
18
43
Franco Colapinto
Alpine-Renault
1’19.331
1’18.721
1.329
59
19
23
Alexander Albon
Williams-Mercedes
1’19.384
1’18.855
1.463
64
20
36
Arvid Lindblad
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’18.997
1.605
26
21
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine-Renault
1’19.194
1.802
30
22
89
Pato O’Ward
McLaren-Mercedes
1’19.680
2.288
30
23
72
Frederik Vesti
Mercedes
1’19.689
2.297
32
24
61
Paul Aron
Alpine-Renault
1’19.862
2.470
29
25
50
Ryo Hirakawa
Haas-Ferrari
1’20.073
2.681
27
26
40
Ayumu Iwasa
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’20.153
2.761
29
27
46
Luke Browning
Williams-Mercedes
1’20.310
2.918
31
28
35
Jak Crawford
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’20.371
2.979
29
29
38
Antonio Fuoco
Ferrari
1’20.854
3.462
29
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2025 Mexican Grand Prix
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