Max Verstappen’s engine woes continued to heavily limit the world championship leader’s running at the Mexico City Grand Prix as George Russell’s big crash interrupted Practice Two.
In a session that was extended beyond the usual hour to 90 minutes to allow for the testing of next year’s tyre compounds, Verstappen did just four laps and failed to set a time.
The Red Bull driver earlier had his Practice One running curtailed by an engine issue which team principal Christian Horner described as “menial” before it appeared to immediately return in the day’s second session.
Russell had shown impressive pace in topping the opening session for Mercedes but lasted just 12 minutes of Practice Two as he lost control at Turn 8 and slammed into the barrier at high speed
The Brit was released from the medical centre at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez despite having gingerly made his way from his W15 to the medical car following the incident.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Russell said. “The car just started bouncing in the ground and before I even had the chance to catch it, it was already spinning.
“A lot of work for the guys tonight again, it just seems like it is one thing after another at the moment.”
Carlos Sainz topped the session for Ferrari, but the timesheet was difficult to gauge given the tyre compounds each driver was running were not made public.
Oscar Piastri was second for McLaren, while his team-mate and Verstappen’s nearest title challenger, Lando Norris, was fifth.
Norris was one of a group of five drivers, also including Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who did not run in the first session as their teams fulfilled their obligation to run young drivers in two practices during the season.
The British duo, along with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, were therefore allowed to run standard 2024 medium compound tyres during the closing stages of Practice Two.
Norris improved by almost half a second on the medium tyre to rise from ninth to fourth, while Alonso, who is driving at a record 400th race weekend, jumped from 15th to ninth in the final moments.
Verstappen leads Norris by 57 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with five rounds of the 2024 season remaining.
The Red Bull driver said he was confident his engine wouldn’t need to be changed, which could potentially result in grid penalties if necessary.
“No, we will be alright,” Verstappen said when asked about the possibility of a power unit change.
“From the engine side, we are checking. I don’t know what it is. From my side, a useless day. I did four or five laps. Not much to read into at the moment.”
Friday’s track action was accompanied by a major sideshow, with McLaren’s bid to overturn the penalty given to Norris for overtaking Verstappen during last weekend’s United States Grand Prix playing out.
A first hearing, in which McLaren were required to provide “significant and relevant” new evidence that was unavailable at the time of the decision, took place between Friday’s sessions at 9.30pm UK time, but no announcement had been made by the FIA when Practice Two finished three hours later.
Williams’ Alex Albon failed to make it on track during second practice after suffering a major crash of his own during the first session, which left his car needing too many repairs to be ready to return to action.
The stewards decided no action was necessary regarding Albon’s collision that preceded the crash with British teenager Ollie Bearman, who was representing Ferrari as a young driver.
Sky Sports F1’s live Mexico City GP schedule
Saturday October 26
6.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
9pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying*
Sunday October 27
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Race build-up on Sunday from 7.30pm)
Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues this weekend with the Mexico City Grand Prix, with every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime