2026 Mexico City GP FP2: Leclerc fastest again as Hamilton stops early

Charles Leclerc topped second practice for round 19 of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Mexico City with a 1:17.827. Lando Norris was 0.103 seconds behind and George Russell 0.106 seconds adrift. Less than two tenths covered the top three, but Ferrari’s other car had a less productive session.

Hamilton stops early as the leading times remain close

Lewis Hamilton stopped early after 13 laps and finished 11th on 1:18.512. Formula 1’s report records his radio message about losing power after Turn 13 and the instruction to stop. Leclerc completed 35 laps, 22 more than Hamilton. That difference measures the lost running opportunity; it cannot be used to calculate the pace of a long run Hamilton never completed.

The order behind the leader was close too. Norris beat Russell by 0.003 seconds, with Kimi Antonelli fourth, 0.217 seconds off Leclerc. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar finished fifth and sixth. Norris, Russell and Antonelli completed 33, 31 and 33 laps respectively. The table retains both times and lap counts to distinguish position from running completed.

Session interruptions and Bottas’s grid penalty

Both red-flag and Virtual Safety Car interruptions affected the hour. Formula 1 reported contact between Verstappen and Liam Lawson running alongside each other at Turn 12, leaving debris that prompted a short red flag. Hamilton’s stop brought out the Virtual Safety Car. The stewards noted the incident; the report did not give a ruling on responsibility.

Valtteri Bottas, who had missed Thursday’s media duties through illness, drove 33 laps for Cadillac and finished 21st. Formula 1 separately reported five first-time power-unit allocation breaches, amounting to a 50-place penalty. Subject to being classified in qualifying, the more-than-15-place rule puts him at the back of the grid; the official starting grid will determine his final position.

Complete Mexico City FP2 classification

Gabriel Bortoleto joined after Audi addressed a technical problem and finished 22nd with 12 laps, the fewest in the session. The fastest lap and the loss of running are separate findings, rather than a definitive ranking of race performance. FP3 begins at 11:30 local time on October 31, followed by qualifying at 15:00. In Beijing, those starts are 01:30 and 05:00 on November 1.