Daniel Ricciardo plagued by gearbox problems at Mexican Grand Prix

The Dutch driver, who has a 12-point lead over Hamilton in the championship with five races left, clocked a blistering 1:17.301.

That was 0.424s ahead of Valtteri Bottas and 0.509s faster than Hamilton in the other Mercedes.

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Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, racing in front of his home fans at the spectacular Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, was fourth at 0.570s behind his teammate.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, 1.017s back from two-time Mexico GP winner Verstappen, filled out the top five.

“It was a solid session for us,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports.

“Both drivers are starting to find a set-up that they’re liking, the short runs and long runs look reasonable.

“I think Mercedes have still got a bit in the pocket so I don’t think we’ve seen their full potential, but focusing on ourselves it was a reasonable day.”

Meanwhile, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo spent most of the afternoon in the garage as his MCL35M experienced gearbox problems.

“We had an issue, so came in, and let’s say there (were) a few checks to go through, so we couldn’t get back out – or let’s say it wasn’t worth the risk going back out, so I got a few laps in on the hard and then that was it,” he said.

“We have to get it all together tomorrow, but we will obviously have the morning session to get on top of it.

“It’s definitely not written off yet. I mean it obviously gives us a bit more work to do but it’s definitely not out of reach. We’ve got some pace to find but I think (teammate Lando Norris’) first run looked a little bit better this afternoon so we’ll try and dissect that and see what we can learn.”

Bottas had edged out Hamilton in the morning session in a best time of 1:18.341, mastering the tricky, dusty conditions.

Verstappen and Perez had been third and fourth fastest respectively at 0.123s and 0.269s.

“We’re giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, they’re just quicker than us at the moment,” Hamilton said at the end of a frustrating day.

Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, had been put under investigation for not having followed the instructions of the race director to rejoin the track after coming off at the first turn in the opening session.

Both men escaped with a reprimand.

Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri will start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s race for taking too many engine parts after both also changed engines.

Mexican Grand Prix FP2 Results

Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull-Honda) 1:17.301 (28 laps)

Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 1:17.725 (31)

Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:17.810 (26)

Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull-Honda) 1:17.871 (26)

Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) 1:18.318 (29)

Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:18.429 (29)

Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:18.605 (28)

Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:18.644 (31)

Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:18.681 (32)

Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) 1:18.732 (27)

Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari) 1:18.841 (25)

Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:18.979 (27)

Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA/Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari) 1:19.227 (31)

Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 1:19.431 (37)

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:19.521 (7)

Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 1:19.620 (30)

Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:19.730 (36)

Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 1:20.820 (17)

Nikita Mazepin (RUS/Haas-Ferrari) 1:21.581 (28)

George Russell (GBR/Williams-Mercedes) 0.000 (2)

– with AFP

Originally published as Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo plagued by gearbox problems at Mexican Grand Prix