Mexico City GP: Max Verstappen's engine problems continue as George Russell suffers serious accident in second practice | F1 news

Max Verstappen's engine problems continued to severely limit the world championship leader's participation in the Mexico City Grand Prix, as George Russell's serious crash interrupted the second practice session.

In a session extended beyond the usual hour to 90 minutes to allow testing of next year's tire compounds, Verstappen completed just four laps and was unable to set a time.

The Red Bull driver had previously limited his first practice session due to an engine problem, which team boss Christian Horner described as “minor”, before immediately reoccurring in the day's second practice session.

Friday's racing action was accompanied by a major side effect, with McLaren's attempt to overturn the penalty handed out to Norris for overtaking Verstappen at last weekend's United States Grand Prix rejected.

US GP race stewards met in a video conference with representatives from McLaren, Red Bull and the FIA ​​between Friday's two practice sessions after the former appealed the decision to hand Norris a five-second time penalty for overtaking title rival Max Verstappen to impose last Sunday.

Russell had shown impressive speed in the opening session for Mercedes, but only lasted 12 minutes in the second practice session when he lost control at Turn 8 and crashed into the barrier at high speed

The Briton was discharged from the medical center at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, although he carefully made his way from his W15 to the medical car after the incident.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Russell said. “The car just started bouncing in the ground and before I could even catch it, it was already spinning.”

“There's a lot of work for the boys again this evening, it just seems to be going one thing after the other at the moment.”

Carlos Sainz led practice for Ferrari, but the timesheet was difficult to estimate as individual drivers' tire compounds were not published.

Oscar Piastri was second for McLaren, while his teammate and Verstappen's nearest title contender, Lando Norris, was fifth.

Norris was among a group of five drivers, including Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who did not compete in the first practice session as their teams fulfilled their obligation to use young drivers in two practices during the season.

The British duo, together with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso and Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu, were therefore allowed to drive with standard tires of the medium 2024 compound in the final phase of the second training session.

Norris improved by almost half a second on the medium tire, moving from ninth to fourth, while Alonso, racing in a record-breaking 400th race weekend, jumped from 15th to ninth in the final moments.

Verstappen leads Norris by 57 points at the top of the drivers' standings, with five races remaining in the 2024 season.

The Red Bull driver said he was confident his engine would not need to be changed, which could potentially lead to starting penalties.

“No, we will manage,” Verstappen said when asked about the possibility of an engine change.

“As for the engine, we're checking it out. I don't know what it is. For me it was a useless day. I did four or five laps. There’s not much to think about at the moment.”

Williams' Alex Albon did not make it onto the track in the second practice session after suffering a serious accident himself in the first practice session, which resulted in his car needing too many repairs to be operational again.

The stewards decided that no action was necessary regarding Albon's collision with British teenager Ollie Bearman, who represented Ferrari as a young driver.

Sky Sports F1's live Mexico City GP schedule

Saturday, October 26th
6:15 p.m.: Third GP training in Mexico City (session starts at 6:30 p.m.)
9:00 p.m.: Qualification preparation for the Mexico City GP*
10:00 p.m.: Qualifying for the Mexico City GP*

Sunday, October 27th
6:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: Preparation for the Mexico City GP*
8:00 p.m.: THE GRAND PRIX OF MEXICO CITY*
10 p.m.: Checkered flag: Reaction to the Mexico City GP

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (race preparation on Sunday from 7:30 p.m.)

Formula 1's triple-header in America continues this weekend with the Mexico City Grand Prix, with each session broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – no contract, cancel anytime