Charles Leclerc sweeps Friday practice again as Lewis Hamilton suffers Ferrari woe

Charles Leclerc made it back-to-back Friday practice sweeps after finishing quickest in FP2 for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

A week ago, ahead of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Leclerc topped both Friday sessions in his Ferrari, throwing himself into the running for a second win of the season, only to struggle in qualifying and finish second behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in the race.

Seven days later, Leclerc again led the way on the timesheet at the end of first and second practice at the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, setting a leading soft-tyre run of one minute 17.827s.

In contrast, on the other side of the Ferrari garage, team-mate Lewis Hamilton lost over 30 minutes of running after being told to stop his SF-26 whilst on track after the seven-time F1 champion suffered a loss of power.

Behind Leclerc were McLaren's Lando Norris and Mercedes' George Russell, split by just three-thousandths of a second, and a tenth adrift of the Monégasque.

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Following an FP1 in which 10 rookies took up seats to fulfil the regulations that guarantee them an outing during the season, the full complement of race drivers was on track for the second session.

The surprise at the start was a mix of tyres amongst the field, with Max Verstappen opting for a runout on the softs from the off. The seven-time F1 champion sat out FP1 for reserve Ayumu Iwasa.

It was Leclerc, though, who set the early benchmark, starting where he finished after topping the first session. The Monégasque posted a medium-tyre run of 1:18.257s.

Just 13 minutes in, however, it was Verstappen who was involved in an incident with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson that sparked a red flag.

Approaching the stadium complex, Verstappen opted to dive down the inside at Turn 12 on a driver who was his team-mate for three races only recently, due to Isack Hadjar sustaining a wrist injury.

Lawson, though, held his ground and jostled with Verstappen through the slow Turn 13 before the Red Bull driver ran over the right edge of the Racing Bulls' front wing at Turn 14, depositing debris on the circuit which needed to be cleared by marshals.

After a five-minute delay, racing resumed with Leclerc spearheading a Ferrari one-two, with Hamilton three-tenths of a second adrift, only to then quickly drop behind Antonelli, albeit by just two-thousandths of a second. 

On soft tyres, Norris edged ahead of Leclerc by 0.096s, a position the latter should have regained when he ventured out on the red-striped Pirellis, only to make a mistake on his first attempt into Turn 12, and another error into Turn 1 on his second try.

Soon after, Hamilton's session ended after declaring that "something's wrong with the power". The 41-year-old was forced to pull off track after Turn 4, sparking a VSC period as his car was wheeled back behind the barriers by marshals.

Switching to a fresh set of softs, Leclerc made no mistake on his third push lap, ousting Norris, who had improved to 1:17.930s, by just over a tenth, a position he maintained through to the finish.

Champion-in-waiting Antonelli was fourth quickest, two-tenths adrift, followed by Verstappen and Hadjar, three-tenths and four-tenths back respectively.

Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad and Lawson then sandwiched Alpine's Pierre Gasly in seventh and ninth, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri completing the top 10, albeit 0.642s off the pace.

Gabriel Bortoleto, who missed most of the session with a technical issue, propped up the timesheet in his Audi, 2.347s down.