Leclerc fastest in Mexico FP2, Antonelli fourth on his title weekend

Result, 1 November: Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Antonelli finished third to become the 2026 Formula 1 world champion. Full classification: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results. Our report: Verstappen wins as Antonelli is crowned.

Charles Leclerc was fastest in second practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Friday, setting a 1:17.827 for Ferrari to beat Lando Norris by 0.103 seconds. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was fourth for Mercedes, 0.217 seconds off the pace, a day after his team said he was recovering from a viral illness.

Start times for the rest of the weekend in local time, UK, CET and ET: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 start times.

Leclerc also topped first practice with a 1:18.128, so he ends Friday quickest in both sessions. Our report on the rookies in that first hour: Vesti fastest rookie, Iwasa impresses on mediums as Leclerc tops Mexico City FP1.

Three teams inside 0.106 seconds

George Russell was third in the second Mercedes, only 0.003 seconds behind Norris, which put three different teams within a tenth of Leclerc. Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull, 0.311 seconds down, ahead of team-mate Isack Hadjar. Arvid Lindblad, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri completed the top ten.

It was not a clean hour for the fastest man. Formula 1’s session report describes Leclerc only just holding on to his car after a snap on his first run, and lock-ups caught out drivers up and down the grid, Norris included. Leclerc’s 1:17.827 came late in the session and nobody beat it in the final phase.

Antonelli fourth, 33 laps after a day of rest

Antonelli missed Thursday’s media day. Mercedes said that day: “Kimi is feeling under the weather today as he recovers from a viral illness. As a precaution, the FIA has excused him from his mandatory media duties to give him the chance to rest ahead of the weekend. We expect him to be back tomorrow.”

He was back, and he ran a full Friday. In first practice he was second, 0.659 seconds behind Leclerc, over 30 laps. In second practice he completed 33 laps, as many as Norris, and finished 0.111 seconds behind Russell in the sister car. At the time of writing Mercedes had not published an update on his condition after the session.

The stakes are clear. A top-nine finish on Sunday is enough to make Antonelli the 2026 world champion, whatever his rivals do. All scenarios are in our F1 2026 championship permutations.

Verstappen and Lawson collide, stewards summon both

Verstappen and Lawson made contact while running side by side behind Carlos Sainz’s Williams. Debris on the track brought out a short red flag, according to Formula 1, and Lawson said on team radio that the Red Bull driver “literally drove into me”.

The stewards summoned both drivers for an alleged breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 e) of the International Sporting Code, “driving erratically”, at Turn 14 at 16:11 local time (FIA documents 23 and 24). The hearing was set for 17:45 local, 23:45 UK, 00:45 CET and 19:45 ET. Verstappen returned with just under 40 minutes to go and completed 26 laps.

Update, 31 October: the stewards gave Verstappen and Lawson a one-place grid drop and one penalty point each. Verstappen and Lawson get grid drops for Mexico City practice clash, Bottas to start last.

Hamilton loses power, Bortoleto waits in the garage

Lewis Hamilton was told to stop his Ferrari on track, which brought out a Virtual Safety Car. On the radio he said: “Something’s wrong with the power. I lost all power from Turn 13.” He was classified 11th after 13 laps, 0.685 seconds off his team-mate.

Gabriel Bortoleto was last in 22nd with 12 laps after Audi fixed a technical issue. Esteban Ocon reported no power steering on his installation laps and returned to the pits, but recovered to 13th. Aston Martin was fined 100 euros after Fernando Alonso was measured at 80.1 km/h in the pit lane, where the limit is 80 km/h (FIA document 25).

Mexico City FP2 results: top ten

Source: official Practice 2 classification, formula1.com, and FIA document 26. Gaps are to the fastest time.

Our hunch

Fourth on Friday is the most useful result Antonelli could have had: quick enough to show the illness has not cost him speed, quiet enough that nobody is talking about him. Leclerc has the headline, Verstappen has a stewards’ hearing and Hamilton has a power problem to solve. Antonelli has 63 laps and a car within a quarter of a second of the top.

Practice times flatter and hide in equal measure, and nobody knows the fuel loads. But a driver who needs ninth place does not need to win Friday. He needs a clean Saturday, and on this evidence his body and his car are ready for it.

Final practice at 11:30 local, qualifying at 15:00

The US switches to standard time on Sunday, so the race starts at 15:00 EST. Qualifying and race classifications will be on our Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results page.

Was Antonelli’s fourth place a sign he is fully back, or is Mercedes still holding something back for Saturday? Tell us in the comments.