Round 20 of the 2025 F1 season heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City GP, where FP2 was the first time all 20 drivers took to the track. FP1 saw 9 teams field rookie drivers, with Sauber the only team to not. Arvid Lindblad led the rookies, but it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who finished at the top of the overall timings, with Mercedes Kimi Antonelli in P2 and Nico Hülkenberg in P3.
As the track is not used often, grip levels evolve quickly throughout the weekend. FP2 is also crucial, as it offers the closest representation of conditions the drivers will face in Sunday’s Qualifying session.
Green lights to mark the start of the F1 Mexico City GP FP2
Most drivers began FP2 on the medium tyres, while both Aston Martins opted for softs during their initial installation laps. Lance Stroll briefly ran over a plastic bag on track, unsettling his car slightly, though he managed to continue without issue.
Antonelli was the first driver to take to the circuit but appeared to encounter an early problem, prompting the team to call him back into the pits. The issues was resolved and they sent him back out shortly after.
Leclerc set the early benchmark with a 1:18.669, leading the timesheets ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who trailed just 0.012 and 0.264 seconds behind respectively.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was coated in flow-vis paint during the session, as the team evaluated new floor upgrades introduced for the weekend.
Ferrari looking strong this weekend
Leclerc managed to lower his fastest time down to 1:18.353, with Lewis Hamilton sitting in P3, 0.336 seconds off. Leclerc has previously had 2 pole positions here, but hasn’t been able to convert these into race wins, and will be looking at taking the victory at the F1 Mexico City GP this weekend.
Williams Alex Albon went seventh fastest on softs, albeit he clipped the wall out of Turn 16, keeping the FW47 going with no big issues.
Swap to softs
Leclerc once again went quickest after switching to the soft tyres, setting a 1:17.545. Interestingly, both McLarens, were almost identical through the first sector, but their pace faded towards the end of the lap. Soon after, Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz managed to go faster on their soft tyre runs, edging ahead of the McLaren pair.
Verstappen climbed to the top of the timings, 0.153 seconds ahead of of Leclerc’s previous time. Both McLarens headed out on another lap, but only Norris was able to improve slotting into P3. Antonelli managed to place his Mercedes into P3, 0.174 seconds behind Verstappen.
Championship leader off the pace
With 20 minutes remaining in FP2, the top five were Verstappen, Leclerc, Antonelli, Norris, and Hamilton. Further down the order, Piastri sat in P12, more than eight-tenths off the pace. The Australian ran wide and bounced over the kerbs on one of his laps, but even on cleaner runs, he struggled to piece together a competitive time.
Teams then switched their focus to long-run simulations, gathering valuable data for Sunday’s race. With the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez being one of the shorter circuits on the calendar, traffic became heavy in the final minutes of FP2.
Both McLaren drivers opted for extended runs on the soft tyres, a contrast to most of the grid, who were running mediums, before pitting with two minutes remaining to bolt on a fresh set of mediums for a final short stint.
The session ended with the order remaining unchanged from earlier in FP2. Verstappen topped the timesheets ahead of Leclerc, Antonelli, Norris, and Hamilton rounding out the top five. Championship leader Oscar Piastri stayed down in P12 eight tenths back, as track conditions failed to improve in the closing stages, preventing any late improvements in lap times.
Full classification and results from FP2 at the Mexico City GP
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Kimi Antonelli
- Lando Norris
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Fernando Alonso
- Carlos Sainz
- Lance Stroll
- Liam Lawson
- Oscar Piastri
- Esteban Ocon
- Isack Hadjar
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Ollie Bearman
- Franco Colapinto
- Alex Albon
- Pierre Gasly
