rewrite this title Mexico City GP: Max Verstappen tops second practice from Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri only 12th at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

Max Verstappen topped second practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix as championship leader Oscar Piastri’s struggles continued as he was only 12th.

Verstappen was one of nine drivers to skip first practice as most teams ran rookie drivers to fulfil regulations, but he was immediately on the pace and beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.153s.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli overcame an early issue and was third ahead of Lando Norris, who was 0.251s behind pace-setter Verstappen.

Piastri was the only title protagonist to run in first practice but his extra track time did not turn into strong pace as he finished 0.840s off the Dutchman.

The result of the session was in line with the last four rounds where Verstappen has made big inroads in the title race to trail Piastri by 40 points with five rounds to go, while Norris is just 14 points behind his McLaren team-mate.

Red Bull are the only team with a performance upgrade this weekend as they brought a revised version of their Monza floor which marked the start of Verstappen’s championship charge in early September.

Yuki Tsunoda was seventh which underlined Red Bull’s strong pace, as he has regularly finished outside of the top 10 on a Friday this year.

Lewis Hamilton set his best lap on the softs with his second effort but was only three tenths behind Verstappen on a track where Ferrari scored their last victory 12 months ago.

George Russell, who briefly watched first practice from the grandstands, was sixth, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in eighth and his team-mate Lance Stroll in 10th.

Carlos Sainz continued his strong form in ninth, while his team-mate Alex Albon was the only driver to touch the barrier as he glanced the outside wall at the final corner.

Verstappen ‘concerned’ over race pace

Verstappen, who is looking to emulate Michael Schumacher’s record of five consecutive titles, has converted three pole positions from the last four races into victory to ignite an incredible turnaround.

Red Bull’s lack of race pace during the European races in the summer was their biggest deficit to McLaren and Verstappen warned he needs to find something on the long runs after it felt like “driving on ice”.

“The short run on the soft we managed to do a good lap, everything else was pretty bad,” he said.

“The medium short run was not great and the big problem is long runs where we seemed to struggle a lot. So that is of course a big concern for the race.

“The balance wasn’t even off, there was just no grip – that is the bigger concern. As soon as you go in a sustainable run, tyres are going hot. We were nowhere so that is a tough one to sort out as well, but we’ll see.

“You’re not going to win the race like that. You can be fast over one lap but if you have absolutely zero pace in the race then it’s going to be very tough. So I prefer to be fast in the race and not so fast over one lap.”

Team principal Laurent Mekies insist Red Bull are still taking things “race by race” and are not thinking about the championship.

Mekies told Sky Sports F1: “I don’t think we should devaluate what we did in Austin. It is difficult to win races, Max did a mega weekend and everyone is super happy with that.

“Everyone back in Milton Keynes is pushing hard and it gives a further incentive to us. We don’t look at the championship classification, we look at it session by session.

“It’s a positive pressure [for Verstappen]. I don’t think anyone pushes harder than him. We are trying to extract everything we can. The commitment is there.”

Sky Sports F1’s Mexico City GP schedule

Saturday October 256.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)9pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying build-up*10pm: MEXICO CITY GP QUALIFYING*

Sunday October 266.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s thrilling title race heads continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime