Max sixth fastest on Friday in Mexico: 'Unable to collect more info'

Published on 29 October 2022 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen came in sixth fastest at the second free practice in the Mexico Grand Prix. During the hour-and-a-half lasting Pirelli-test session, the Dutchman did a 1:21.588 as his fastest lap time and 34 laps to his name on the 4,304 km. long Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top three.

Max briefly looks back at his spin, during the first free practice, at the end of the session: “I had a moment as soon as I went off line. It was like ice, drifting from left to right. Eventually I hit the brakes or else I would have hit the wall.

How difficult was it to get the tyres up to temperature in these conditions? “On the softs everything was alright. We only had one run on them. In FP2 we had to do the Pirelli tyre test, so that made it a little more difficult and a bit more unknown again, like last week. But the harder compounds are a little more trickier.

According to the world champion, it’s difficult to say something sensible about performance: “We have very little information but everything we tried was working quite okay”, says Verstappen.

It’s relatively warm with an ambient temperature of about 25 degrees when the second free practice gets underway. This practice is all about the Pirelli-tyre test. The teams and drivers have an hour-and-a-half to test the new rubber for the 2023 season. Max Verstappen is the first one out on track and opens with a 1:22.464, which he betters to a 1:21.588 not much later.

After half an hour, the first part of the pecking order is formed by George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is by that time again out and about. The gents in the top three have done their respective times, as oppose to the rest, all on the soft compound tyre. They have been given permission to start on the regular compound tyre as they had to share their cars with Nyck de Vries, Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson. The same goes for Kevin Magnussen and Alexander Albon, who head out on track not much later.

Just a few minutes later, the session is stopped due to Charles Leclerc crashing out. The Monegasque loses control of his Ferrari entering Turn seven and slides back to front into the tyre wall. Despite the severe damage to the rear of his car, Leclerc is able to get out unscathed.

With still 38 minutes left on the clock, the session is resumed again. Just like at the start of the free practice, it’s once again Max Verstappen who is the first to make to the track in order to resume activities for Pirelli. He is not able to better his time anymore and finishes the session sixth fastest and 34 laps to his name. The session was stopped two minutes ahead of time due to Zhou Guanyu being forced to park his car track side. Mercedes running George Russell topped the leaderboard.

Contest GP Mexico: win a by Max Verstappen signed blue RBR Driver Cap 2022!

Results second free practice Mexico: