FP2: Red Bull stay Friday's fastest

F1 Grand Prix, GP Mexico, Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez

Red Bull Racing continued to be easily fastest on Friday at Mexico, even though Max Verstappen ended up with reduced running time due to a car issue. Their closest challenger continued to be Carlos Sainz, just like in FP1.

As the general lack of grip continued, not a lot changed compared to the morning session. Renault was still very much in the mix, even though nobody really was a match for the leading Red Bulls as they were again more than a second ahead of the rest.

While Sebastian Vettel was 4th fastest, Brendon Hartley's 6th fastest time added to the surprising order of performance. Hartley, who is very much in need of some strong performances to secure his Toro Rosso seat for 2019 was considerably faster than team mate Gasly, who was using an older specification Honda power unit after his problems earlier in the day.

As is usually the case, teams and driver focus on race simulations in P2, from which it became clear that Red Bull was clearly ahead in regards to tyre management. Especially on the softest hypersoft, it was clear that the tyres held on much better on the Red Bulls than on any other car.