Piastri encouraged by McLaren pace in Mexico City practice despite P10 finish

Practice classification: encouraging times, modest positions

McLaren described Friday, 30 October at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez as "a good start" to the Mexico City weekend, with the car looking promising over both long runs and single flying laps. Oscar Piastri ended the first session eighth with a 1m19.376s, then tenth in FP2 on a 1m18.469s after running Hard and Soft tyres. Lando Norris, returning for the afternoon session after sitting out FP1, ran Medium and Soft tyres and finished second with a 1m17.930s, just 0.103s behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who topped both sessions. ¹³⁵

Speedcafe, which covered Piastri's reaction to the day, noted the gap between the McLaren pair in FP2, with Piastri 0.539s slower than Norris. Neither practice result counts as a qualifying position or a starting grid; both are practice classifications from Friday, 30 October 2026. ³

Fornaroli fulfils rookie duty in FP1

Leonardo Fornaroli, McLaren's F1 Development and Reserve Driver and a Hypercar team driver, took over Norris's MCL40 for Free Practice 1 — his third rookie session of the season after previous outings in Barcelona and Budapest. He completed 25 laps, ran Hard and Soft tyres and finished 17th, one of ten rookies on track in the opening session. McLaren's practice report praised him for efficiently working through his programme, while the team's official sessions article noted several lock-ups, an off-track excursion and some radio confusion but that he kept the car largely intact. ¹⁵

Fornaroli said it was his first time at the circuit and that building confidence to bring the front tyres up to temperature on a low-grip surface was difficult, with a Turn 1 lock-up ruining his first Soft-tyre lap. He said he was already looking forward to driving again at Interlagos the following Friday. ¹⁵

A demanding day: bumps, lock-ups and interruptions

McLaren's practice report identified front tyre warm-up, braking performance and bottoming as the main issues in FP1, with the newly laid surface not eradicating the circuit's famous bumps and brake lock-ups sending cars long into the run-offs, particularly at the first corner. Piastri boxed early to raise the front ride-height to reduce grounding. Data from FP1 informed set-up changes for FP2, in which the car looked more competitive. ¹

FP2 was interrupted by a red flag for debris and later a Virtual Safety Car for a stopped Ferrari, the latter cutting into Piastri's qualifying simulation run. One prominent bump had been ground down between sessions, which McLaren said appeared to help the Turn 1 braking zone, though lock-ups remained common and further remedial work was possible overnight. Norris said the car was still proving a challenge to drive and that with the field incredibly tight, it would come down to execution in qualifying. ¹⁵

Friday's action also featured an incident elsewhere in the field: Formula1.com's team-by-team review reported that Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson made contact while jostling for position in FP2, leaving the Dutchman with a heavily damaged floor and setting his fastest lap in a car that was lacking downforce. Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache said the damage affected Max's car's performance and that the team expected to fix it for FP3. ⁵

Ferrari's session, as compiled by Formula1.com, also had its complications: Lewis Hamilton stopped on track in FP2 with a power unit issue after finishing fourth in FP1, while Leclerc locked up on his Softs on his first flying lap in FP2 yet still went fastest. ⁵

Piastri: pace is there, execution to come

Piastri told reporters, including Speedcafe, that his Soft-tyre lap in FP2 was messy but that the overall pace seemed to be there, adding that a couple of very big mistakes gave him reason for optimism if he could tidy them up. In McLaren's own release he said Mexico is always a challenge with the altitude, low downforce and little grip, but that the day felt slightly better than he expected and the track was improving quickly. Per Speedcafe, he also described beating Ferrari as very tough looking ahead to Saturday's qualifying, and pointed to engine cooling as another difficulty for teams alongside the familiar lack of grip at the resurfaced circuit under the 2026 regulations. ³¹

In quotes carried by Grande Prêmio in Spanish, Piastri called it a "reasonably good" day and said it was difficult to know exactly where McLaren stood, given how many drivers sat out FP1. He highlighted Mexico's conditions and the track improving rapidly as complicating factors, with much still to learn and improve ahead of Saturday qualifying. ⁴

Piastri also addressed the question of Ferrari's smaller turbocharger, raised by Mercedes driver George Russell on Thursday in connection with the MGU-H's removal under the 2026 regulations. Per Speedcafe, Piastri said Ferrari looked quick but perhaps a bit slow on the straights, and that while the turbo would help in some circumstances, it was not as big a factor as first thought in normal conditions. ³

Upgrade context and the wider field

Ahead of the weekend, McLaren confirmed small updates to the MCL40 addressing braking reliability and performance for Mexico City, with Piastri saying the upgrades were doing what the team expected but were not big items, and bigger packages likely to arrive in Brazil and Las Vegas. He said the car was faster now than before the United States Grand Prix, where he finished seventh and Norris fifth, leaving McLaren and Red Bull level on 355 points in the Constructors' Championship battle for third. ²

McLaren Senior Director of Racing Randy Singh called it a very productive Friday, noting early sessions devoted to set-up experiments for the high altitude, all three tyre compounds used across the day, and different fuel loads. He warned that managing power unit and brake temperatures would be crucial, especially in race conditions in traffic, and observed that the top four teams were separated by very small gaps. Piastri, quoted by McLaren, said the underlying pace looked competitive and that he was confident of being further up the order in qualifying if he tidied up the areas of his lap he needed to. ¹²