Carlos Sainz clocked 1:19.248 in FP2 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, less than 1.5 seconds off the fastest time after a set-up change. Across 28 laps on soft tyres, he finished 1.421 seconds behind Charles Leclerc’s 1:17.827 benchmark and was classified 17th. Franco Colapinto took 16th.
Sainz had been 16th in FP1, with a time of 1:20.006 and a 1.878-second deficit to Leclerc, who also topped that session. Williams changed some of the car’s settings for the second session. Sainz could then assess whether they improved its performance. Lando Norris and George Russell completed the top three in FP2, 0.103 and 0.106 seconds behind Leclerc respectively; Williams teammate Alexander Albon was 19th in 1:19.578.
Sainz said the difference was clear and described the adjustments as a step in the right direction. Williams was using the practice sessions to test more experimental settings, he said. Ahead of the Mexico City weekend, he had said the team was “so far away from where we would like to be.”
The report said the Mercedes power unit was coping with the circuit’s altitude better than expected. It identified the chassis as an area Williams still needed to improve. A road-car reliability survey covers a separate subject and offers no evidence about the power unit’s performance in Formula 1.
FP2 on October 30 also featured a brief red flag after Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson made contact near Turn 12, scattering debris. The incident was referred to the stewards for review.
