Max Verstappen threw down the gauntlet to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris by setting a dominant pace in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix as his McLaren title rivals struggled.
The Dutchman has roared back into championship contention by winning three of the last four races and is favourite to rack up another victory in Mexico City, where he has won five times before.
Verstappen, chasing a fifth successive title, finished Friday’s running 0.153 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Norris 0.251 sec off the pace in fourth and championship leader Piastri enduring a horrible session to finish 12th and a whopping 0.840 sec adrift.
McLaren have further cause for concern due to the apparent pace of Leclerc, who finished third last weekend in Austin, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was third-fastest in second practice for Mercedes.
Piastri and Norris can ill-afford other drivers getting between them and Verstappen as they bid to hold off the charging Dutchman.
Australian Piastri will be desperately keen for a strong weekend to boost his stuttering push for a maiden title.
He has seen his title lead slashed since victory in Zandvoort at the end of August, having been beaten by both Norris and Verstappen in all of the four races since.
Piastri, the front-runner since Saudi Arabia in April, now leads Norris by 14 points and Verstappen by 40 — having been 34 and 104 points clear of his rivals respectively after his Zandvoort win.
Norris, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton sat out first practice and the McLaren driver had some hairy moments early on in his opening running of the weekend, running off the track at Turn 11 as he struggled for balance.
Leclerc, who topped first practice where Piastri was only fourth-fastest, set the pace again early in FP2 on medium tyres before Verstappen came to the fore on the soft-tyre runs.
Hamilton finished the day fifth for Ferrari ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in sixth.
The weekend’s opening running at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was largely unrepresentative, with Norris and Verstappen among nine drivers sitting out the session.
Norris handed his car over to Mexican Pato O’Ward while Verstappen’s Red Bull was driven by 18-year-old British driver Arvid Lindblad.
Russell donned a traditional Mexican Luchador wrestling mask to covertly watch Fred Vesti drive his Mercedes from the stands in the stadium section.
Lindblad boosted his hopes of landing a seat with Racing Bulls for next season by posting the sixth-fastest time in FP1.
