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max verstappen threw down the gauntlet for oscar piastri And lando norris By setting a dominant pace in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix mclaren Title rivals clashed.
The Dutchman is back in the championship race after winning three of the last four races and is a favorite to take another win. Mexico CityWhere he has already won five times.
Verstappen, chasing a fifth consecutive title, finished 0.153 seconds behind Ferrari in Friday’s race. Charles LeclercNorris in fourth was 0.251 seconds off the pace and championship leader Piastri endured a dreadful session to finish 12th, a massive 0.840 seconds off the pace.
mclaren There is further cause for concern given the apparent pace of Leclerc, who finished third last weekend in Austin, while Kimi Antonelli was third fastest in second practice for Mercedes.
Piastri and Norris cannot afford other drivers to come between them and Verstappen as they bid to hold off the charging Dutchman.
Australian Piastri will be desperate for a strong weekend to boost his bid for a first title.
His title lead has waned since victory at Zandvoort in late August, having been beaten by both Norris and Verstappen in all four races since then.
Piastri, who has been leading since Saudi Arabia in April, is now 14 points ahead of Norris and 40 points ahead of Verstappen – 34 and 104 points ahead of his rivals respectively after the Zandvoort victory.
Norris, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton Sitting out the first practice and the McLaren driver faced some tense moments in the opening race of the weekend, he went off the track at Turn 11 while struggling for balance.
Leclerc, who had topped first practice where Piastri was only fourth fastest, set the pace again in FP2 on the medium tires before getting in front of Verstappen on the soft-tyre runs.
Hamilton finished the day fifth for Ferrari and Mercedes’ George Russell finished sixth.
The start of the weekend at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was largely non-representative, with nine drivers sitting out the session, including Norris and Verstappen.
Norris handed his car over to Mexican Pato O’Ward, while Verstappen’s Red Bull was driven by 18-year-old British driver Arvid Lindblad.
Russell wore a traditional Mexican luchador wrestling mask to watch Fred Vesti drive his Mercedes from the stands in the stadium section.
Lindblad boosted his hopes of landing a seat with Racing Bulls for next season by posting the sixth-fastest time in FP1.