Lewis Hamilton endured a disrupted Friday practice session at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. However, the Ferrari driver remained optimistic about the team’s pace despite a power unit issue cutting his FP2 short. He showed promising speed in FP1, finishing P4. However, he suffered a setback in FP2 when he encountered a loss of power, forcing him to end his session early at 11th place.
“I was feeling really good in the car,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after Friday’s running. “Just my luck. I think we did a really good job in getting the setup in a better place and just really unfortunate.
“I think we are really competitive this weekend as a team. I didn’t get to do a long run, so I have no idea how… but I know it’s really hard to overtake here. They are still investigating what went wrong. Just praying everything is OK.”
Around half an hour into the FP2, Lewis Hamilton suffered a sudden mechanical failure and reported on team radio, saying “something’s wrong with the power, I lost all power from Turn 13”.
Lewis Hamilton Satisfied With Ferrari’s Setup Ahead of Qualifying
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion also explained that he had missed valuable track time during FP1 because of an aero rake test.
Unlike several other drivers, who handed their cars to young drivers for the first session, he had opted to complete that obligation at another racetrack. However, the additional aerodynamic testing meant he could not make the most of the session either.
Despite the limited running, Lewis Hamilton was satisfied with Ferrari’s setup and did not anticipate making significant changes before Saturday’s FP3 and qualifying.
“I don’t think I need to make many changes to the setup,” Hamilton said. “I will probably leave it pretty much the same because we were very quick.
“I already had a loss of power earlier in the lap, and we were still quick. I will give it everything tomorrow and try to do the best with whatever I have.”
Charles Leclerc Dominates Friday’s Practice
Lewis Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc led the opening day of practice, topping both sessions in Mexico. The Monegasque driver demonstrated strong intrinsic pace from the Ferrari SF-26.
Ferrari made an encouraging start to the Mexico weekend as Leclerc led FP1 with a 1:18.128 lap time, ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti was third-fastest in the opening session. Hamilton and Red Bull’s reserve driver Ayumu Iwasa finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Leclerc completed a Friday clean sweep by improving his time to 1:17.827 in FP2, edging out Lando Norris by 0.103 seconds. George Russell rounded out the top three.
The second day of the 2026 Mexico Grand Prix resumes with FP3 at 11:30 AM local time, followed by qualifying at 3 PM local time, which will set the grid for Sunday’s main event.
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