F1 GP Mexico, Free Practice 2: Red Bull flies with Ricciardo

Fly there Red Bull di Daniel Ricciardo on the first day on track in Mexico. The Australian driver, with the record time of 1:17.801, preceded the Mercedes di Hamilton, trailing by 131 thousandths, and the car of his teammate Verstappen. Fourth and fifth place for Ferrari, with Hag before Raikkonen. Bottas, Alonso, Perez, Hulkenberg and Ocon complete the top ten. Both on the flying lap and in race pace simulation setup, Red Bull Mercedes and Ferrari appeared very close, suggesting a very close fight for pole position tomorrow.

News – The temperatures rise in Mexico City, 22°C in the air and 46°C on the asphalt, when FP2 starts. Vandoorne with the McLaren leads the way on supersoft tyre, as does Magnussen behind him. Haas stops the clock first at 1:21.669. According to Grosjean, who however ends up spinning and sowing debris on the track. Red flag! At the restart, Alonso takes the lead in 1:19.235, with the ultrasoft tyre, followed by Sainz, Hulkenberg, Kimi, Magnussen, Gasly, Hartley, Ericsson, Grosjean and Bottas. So it's Verstappen who takes the lead of the group in 1:18.808, with the yellow tyre. Third time for Vettel, followed by Raikkonen. The German from the Red team, however, has a problem inside the cockpit: he has opened the fire extinguisher and is thus forced to go through the pits to change the suit and replace it. In the Mercedes pits the mechanics have to fix the front wing on Hamilton's car, which damaged it in a spin at the start. Ricciardo takes the lead with the yellow tire and a time of 1:18.769, followed by Verstappen at 39 thousandths of a second, with the same tyre. Raikkonen third, again on soft.

Thirty minutes from the start: Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Alonso, Bottas, Vettel, Ocon, Perez, Hulkenberg and Sainz. Vettel, Ocon, Hulkemberg and Sainz are with red tyres, purple for Alonso, yellow for the others. With the ultrasoft tire Hamilton takes the lead in 1:18.077. The Brit drops to 1:17.932. Bottas is 3 tenths away, with the yellow tyre. Switching to the softer compound, Ricciardo set the new track record, 1:17.801, followed by Raikkonen, on the same tyre. Mid-session: Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Kimi, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Sainz and Perez.

Verstappen overtakes Vettel. Bottas enters with the ultrasofts. Thirty minutes from the end: Ricciardo, Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Kimi, Bottas, Alonso, Perez, Hulkenberg and Ocon. Gasly is stopped in the pits due to a PU problem and will not return to racing. Engine problems also for Verstappen, who leaves the track early. The drivers begin to work on the pre-race simulation, with the three top teams very close to each other.

The session ends with Ricciardo in the lead followed by Hamilton and Verstappen!

F1 GP Mexico – Times, results and laps Free Practice 2