Free Practice 2 – Mexico: Rosberg sets the fastest time ahead of the Red Bulls

After a first free practice session heavily disrupted by rain, the drivers needed to drive on a dry track to get a true sense of the limits of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

As usual, Romain Grosjean takes back his seat during this session after having left it to future Lotus race driver, Jolyon Palmer, in the morning.

Max Verstappen, fastest in the first session, was also the first to hit the walls during this weekend. During his first run at the very start of the session, the Dutch driver lost the rear of his car and crashed into the TechPro barriers at the last corner. Verstappen emerged unscathed, but his session was already over.

A little later, it is Valtteri Bottas who loses control of his Williams at the end of the long start/finish straight. The rear brakes seem to have locked up, and the Finn violently hits the side wall before coming to rest against the wall. Although the impact is impressive, especially due to the speed of the cars at the end of the straight line – over 350 km/h, Bottas still manages to bring his car back to the pits himself… minus the nose.

After a first half of the session dominated by the Mercedes on hard tires, the last hour sees the softest tires come out. In this game, the Red Bulls seem the most comfortable, and the surprising Daniil Kvyat brings his car to less than 3 tenths behind Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

His teammate Daniel Ricciardo follows him in 3rd place, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who is testing the limits of his car on this brand-new track, with controlled spins and wheel lock-ups.

The session ends with the arrival of rain, and many drivers take the opportunity to switch to intermediate tires. Noteworthy is the strong performance of both McLaren cars in 8th and 9th place, whose Honda engine does not seem to struggle with the altitude.

The complete standings of FP2: