Under pressure McLaren duo reacts as Max Verstappen makes a statement in FP2 in the F1 Mexican GP

Max Verstappen topped the FP2 session at the Mexican GP weekend and had a substantial lap time advantage over championship rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Subsequently, after the session ended, the McLaren duo gave their thoughts on their outings at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the Dutchman seems to have the upper hand for now.

The FP2 session was the first time that all three championship contenders were out on track, as Norris and Verstappen had given way to Pato O'Ward and Arvid Lindblad, respectively, for their rookie FP1 outings. This meant that the championship leader was the only one to have been out on the race course earlier in the day.

So, reflecting on his FP2 session, where he finished 12th in the timing charts with a 0.840s deficit, Piastri said (via F1's official website):

"It was okay. I think, yeah, the lap on softs and low fuel was pretty average, so I’m not surprised with the lap time. I think we tried a lot of things, we’ll go through and have a look at what worked, what didn’t, but overall I felt reasonable. We’ll see what we can tune up for tomorrow and try and make things just a bit more consistent is the biggest thing."

On the other hand, Norris had a better day in the McLaren MCL39, as he ended the session fourth with about a quarter of a second gap to Verstappen's time. Despite this, he talked about the balance of the car being all over the place amid Verstappen's prowess on the track (via F1's official website):

"It’s just the balance of the car, it’s just a bit all over the place. It’s the same as the last few weeks, just single lap stuff we’re struggling with at the minute. We’re working hard. We’re trying everything we can, so we’ll see what we can find."

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is the only one among the championship contenders trio to have won a race in Mexico.

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Max Verstappen issues concerns for Red Bull ahead of the Mexican GP

Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico race weekend - Source: Getty

Though Max Verstappen topped the FP2 session, he was discontent with how the car behaved. He had a strong single-lap pace, but his longer runs saw the Red Bull's pace drop off drastically.

Sharing his concerns after the FP2 session, the four-time champion said (via F1's official website):

"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. That's a tough one to sort out but we'll see."

Max Verstappen has won the gold medal five times at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (winning the 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2023 editions of the race).