Max Verstappen dominated Friday Practice at 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Verstappen dominated FP1 and FP2 with two dominant sessions despite facing tough competition from Lando Norris in both sessions, whilst Williams’ Alex Albon surprised in FP1 as teams focused on test tyre running for Pirelli.
Now, here is a roundup of all the action across FP1 and FP2 for 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
FP1
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were first out on track but it was Sergio Perez who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 23.935 as many drivers ran the test tyre, only for Oscar Piastri on medium tyres to post 1m 23.853 and go fastest in the fifth minute.
Piastri found 0.161 seconds on his next flier in the seventh minute but Williams’ Alex Albon displaced him seconds later with 1m 22.466.
Albon three minutes later found 0.047s only for Verstappen to go fastest in the 11th minute with 1m 21.858, only for Perez to displace his Red Bull teammate a further three minutes later by 0.262s.
Frederik Vesti, Jack Doohan, Theo Pourchaire, Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman meanwhile replaced George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen at Mercedes, Alpine, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri and Haas respectively for FP1.
Times began to tumble as drivers started to switch from the test tyre to the three available compounds for this weekend, with Verstappen quickest at the half-hour mark with 1m 20.245 and just 0.004s clear of Albon.
Verstappen eventually topped FP1 with 1m 19.718 set in the 36th minute as Albon fell 0.095s shy in second, ahead of Perez, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, with Piastri in sixth the only driver to set his fastest lap on the test tyre unlike everyone else on the soft tyre.
Out of the five FP1 drivers, Bearman finished fastest in 15th position ahead of the eldest driver on the grid -Alonso by 0.034s, whilst he was only 0.345s off teammate, Nico Hulkenberg.
Hadjar finished 17th fastest ahead of Doohan and Vesti whilst Pourchaire only managed one lap and no time, due to a brake-by-wire issue on his Alfa Romeo car.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 19.718 |
| 2 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.095 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.297 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.519 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.579 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.745 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.761 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | + 0.850 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.959 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.969 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.006 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.250 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.411 |
| 14 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.439 |
| 15 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.595 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.629 |
| 17 | Isack Hadjar | AlphaTauri | + 2.223 |
| 18 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 2.391 |
| 19 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | + 3.219 |
| 20 | Theo Pourchaire | Alfa Romeo | No Time |
FP2
Russell was first out on the track ahead of Stroll but it was Ricciardo who set the benchmark time of 1m 20.568 in the fourth minute, but several drivers went quicker including Leclerc then Norris who posted 1m 20.109 a minute later.
Early running however was disrupted by a rain shower but it didn’t stop Verstappen who topped the first flying laps with 1m 20.085 in the seventh minute on the test tyre.
Verstappen found 0.574s once he switched to medium tyres in the 16th minute, as Ricciardo went second fastest from Bottas only for the latter pair to be displaced by Leclerc and Sainz a minute later.
Attention soon switched to the soft tyre qualifying simulations as Piastri posted 1m 19.163 to go top in the 23rd minute, yet Verstappen responded four minutes later with 1m 18.686 to top FP2 from Norris and Leclerc.
Race simulations saw little trouble aside from another brief rain shower but Stroll missed much of the last half of the session, after the front-left tyre on his Aston Martin wouldn’t come off during a tyre change which cost him a chance to set a soft tyre lap time.
Alonso meanwhile finished slowest as his best lap time came on the medium tyre after he suffered a spin during his soft tyre qualifying simulation.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 18.686 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.119 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.266 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.269 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.302 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | + 0.316 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.338 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.391 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.477 |
| 10 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.541 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.571 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.604 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.729 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.760 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.849 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.956 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.214 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.389 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.426 |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.740 |
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