Charles Leclerc leads Friday practice at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

Leclerc controls the session

Charles Leclerc dominated the Friday practice sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, setting a time of 1m17.827s in the second session. He beat Lando Norris by 0.103 seconds after navigating a session where he went wide through Turn 12 due to Sergio Perez’s Cadillac and locked up heavily under braking at Turn 1. Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton finished 11th, 0.685s behind the Ferrari, after his car stopped at Turn 3 because of a power unit issue. Hamilton told his team "something’s wrong with the power" during his flying lap on soft tyres. This technical failure left the seven-time world champion with very little track time during the final 30 minutes of the session. Ferrari instructed Hamilton to stop his car, and he subsequently ground to a halt at Turn 3. The Ferraris established a comfortable advantage during the early running on the harder Pirelli tyre compounds, despite a lurid slide through the esses from Leclerc.

Verstappen and Lawson clash

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson collided at the Turn 14 right-hander, which forced a red flag stoppage to clear debris from the track. Verstappen attempted to dive inside the Racing Bulls driver on the brakes at Turn 12, and the two drivers remained side by side as they exited the corner. Lawson held the inside line through the Turn 13 left-hand hairpin, but the drivers made contact at the Turn 14 right-hander when Verstappen went over the inside kerb and into the Lawson car. The impact shattered the Red Bull left-hand-side bargeboard, and a red flag stoppage was required to clear the debris. Both drivers have been summoned to see the F1 stewards regarding the incident. Lawson sarcastically asked if he was "invisible" as he approached an Alpine through the final sector. Verstappen gesticulated at Lawson as they exited the corner before the collision. Verstappen managed to place his damaged Red Bull fifth, 0.311s behind Leclerc, while Isack Hadjar finished sixth, 0.410s back.

Mercedes results and other updates

George Russell took third place in the Mercedes, finishing 0.003s behind Norris, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished fourth, 0.217s behind Leclerc, after he encountered Pierre Gasly’s Alpine through the final sequence of turns. Antonelli can clinch his first F1 world title if he finishes inside the top nine on Sunday. The session also saw technical issues for Gabriel Bortoleto, who only drove in the closing stages because of a problem with his Audi. Oscar Piastri finished tenth, 0.642s behind Leclerc, and both McLaren drivers went wide at Turn 1 during the session. Arvid Lindblad finished seventh, while Pierre Gasly took eighth and Lawson ended the session in ninth. Fernando Alonso finished 12th, 0.769s behind Leclerc, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman in the Haas cars.

The Friday practice also included ten rookies, such as Ayumu Iwasa and Freddie Slater. Slater finished 21st after encountering problems on his Audi that restricted him to 14 laps. In the first session, Oliver Bearman experienced power issues in his Haas and returned to the pit lane after his car smoked. Nikola Tsolov finished 12th on his practice debut, despite struggling with a dead leg in the closing stages. Colton Herta was the slowest of the session in his Cadillac, finishing 22nd. Ayumu Iwasa finished fifth for Red Bull in the early running, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso.