Max on P1 after Friday session in Mexico: 'Tomorrow we need to be there'

Published on 06 November 2021 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen has finished the second free practice, in the run-up to the Mexican Grand Prix, at the top of the time sheet. On the 2.240 meter, above sea level, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico-City, Mercedes running Vallteri Bottas came in second ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who was third fastest. Max´ team mate at Red Bull Racing Honda, Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz´ Ferrari rounded out the top five.

´It was quite a good day´, says Max after the second free practice in Mexico. ´We of course are always trying to improve the car and make it feel better. In FP1 the track was very dirty but in FP2 that was already a bit nicer.´

Max continues: ´The car is working quite well, there are a few things we need to look at. We are never happy and will always try to improve.´

Looking to the rest of the weekend, Max says: ´We have a good feeling but tomorrow we need to be there. We´ll look into to a lot of things but it´s a positive start to the weekend.´

Prior to the second free practice, Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen have had to meet with the stewards. Both drivers were reprimanded for not having taken the correct side of the bollard, after the first corners, when rejoining during the first free practice

At the start of the second free practice the ambient temperature has risen a few degrees while the track temperature has increased to 44 degrees. Raikkonen is the first one out on track. Quickly the majority of the drivers follow suit. Among them are also Max and Perez who both have been sent on their way on a set of the medium compound tyre. Just like the first session, Mercedes´strategy is quite the opposite compared to Red Bull Racing. Both Bottas and Hamilton are running on a set of the harder compound tyre.

Max tops the board from the word go followed by Yuki Tsunoda and Perez. Max keeps the pressure on and some minutes later he betters his time increasing the gap to second place running Tsunoda by 1,1 second. Shortly afterwards that gap is filled by Hamilton and Perez who both respectively slot in in P3 and P2 behind of Max. Hamilton´s time is deleted moments later due to double yellow flags.

After fifteen minutes, George Russell reports that his gear box has given up on him. `Can I change gear yes or no´, is what he asks his engineer. A short ´No´ is his reply. Then there follows a brief period with no action on track. The teams are getting ready for the approaching qualifying simulation.

Bottas is the first to start his run on the soft compound tyre. The Finn fails to take over P1 from Max and is stuck in P2. Meanwhile Russell´s practice is over as he has changed and has joined his team at the pit wall as well. Hamilton and Max are by now lapping the track on the soft compound tyre. The Briton is not showing any purple sector times, something that Verstappen is clearly doing. Lewis moves up to P2 while Max improves on his time by doing two purple sectors.

Surprisingly enough we don´t see any McLarens in the top ten. Lando Norris is only eleventh fastest while Daniel Ricciardo is stuck in P14. The Aussie has gotten out of his car which is frantically being looked over. His gear box will have to be replaced due to an issue with it. With still twenty minutes to go, the track has gone relatively quiet again. Only a handful of drivers are running around.

The teams slowly shift their focus to the longer runs. The same goes for Red Bull Racing. After some five laps on the medium tyres, Max comes in for a practice start only to then continue on with his long run.

In the closing stages we see, as expected, no changes at the front of the field and with that the Friday comes to an end in Mexico.

Win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing Driver Cap 2021!

Results second free practice Mexico:

pos	driver	team	time	gap	laps
1	Max Verstappen	VER	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:17.301		28
2	Valtteri Bottas	BOT	Mercedes	1:17.725	+0.424s	31
3	Lewis Hamilton	HAM	Mercedes	1:17.810	+0.509s	26
4	Sergio Perez	PER	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:17.871	+0.570s	26
5	Carlos Sainz	SAI	Ferrari	1:18.318	+1.017s	29
6	Pierre Gasly	GAS	AlphaTauri Honda	1:18.429	+1.128s	29
7	Charles Leclerc	LEC	Ferrari	1:18.605	+1.304s	28
8	Yuki Tsunoda	TSU	AlphaTauri Honda	1:18.644	+1.343s	31
9	Sebastian Vettel	VET	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:18.681	+1.380s	32
10	Fernando Alonso	ALO	Alpine Renault	1:18.732	+1.431s	27
11	Kimi Räikkönen	RAI	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:18.841	+1.540s	25
12	Lando Norris	NOR	McLaren Mercedes	1:18.979	+1.678s	27
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	GIO	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:19.227	+1.926s	31
14	Esteban Ocon	OCO	Alpine Renault	1:19.431	+2.130s	37
15	Daniel Ricciardo	RIC	McLaren Mercedes	1:19.521	+2.220s	7
16	Mick Schumacher	MSC	Haas Ferrari	1:19.620	+2.319s	30
17	Lance Stroll	STR	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:19.730	+2.429s	36
18	Nicholas Latifi	LAT	Williams Mercedes	1:20.820	+3.519s	17
19	Nikita Mazepin	MAZ	Haas Ferrari	1:21.581	+4.280s	28
20	George Russell	RUS	Williams Mercedes	---		2