Leclerc crash disrupts F1’s Mexican GP tyre test session

Second practice for Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix was expected to be uneventful as it was the second of the sessions devoted to testing Pirelli’s 2023 prototype tyres rather than teams’ own work.

But it was interrupted for nearly 20 minutes by Charles Leclerc crashing his Ferrari heavily.

The erstwhile title contender lost control heading into the esses section in the middle of the lap, spinning across the run-off area and into the barriers.

Leclerc’s car sustained damage to its entire rear end, and a long red flag period was required to reconstruct the barriers.

Asked on team radio if he was OK as his Ferrari came to rest, Leclerc replied: “Yeah, I am. But the car is not.”

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Teams were not allowed to make any set-up changes during the session and had to follow Pirelli’s tyre development run plan, without knowing what compound they were actually using as all 2023 tyres were unmarked.

Exceptions were made for drivers who’d stepped aside for rookies in first practice. They were allowed to conduct up to 45 minutes of normal Friday practice running, as long as they still carried out the Pirelli programme by the end of the session.

George Russell – who’d handed his Mercedes to Nyck de Vries for the morning – took advantage of his programme freedom to go fastest on 2022 soft tyres with a 1m19.970s lap.

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The top three drivers were all in the same position, Russell leading AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (replaced by Liam Lawson in FP1) and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (replaced by Jack Doohan earlier on).

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver on 2023 tyres in fourth place for Mercedes.

Kevin Magnussen joined the session late due to the MGU-H problem that had halted his Haas when Pietro Fittipaldi was driving it in the morning. Magnussen will get a five-place grid penalty as a result of that failure and the component changes required.

The session was stopped for good slightly early when Zhou Guanyu parked his Alfa Romeo in the stadium section. He’d also had a mechanical problem in FP1 and had to park in the pitlane on that occasion.

Practice 2 Results