2026 Mexico City Grand Prix - Practice Report

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Friday, 30 October

Find out what happened during FP1 and FP2 in Mexico, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Leonardo Fornaroli, and Senior Director, Racing, Randy Singh.

The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team got off to a good start in Mexico City, with a solid foundation day of practice during which the car looked promising over both long runs and single flying laps. 

McLaren Hypercar Team and McLaren Mastercard F1 Reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli was in the car for Free Practice 1, his third session of the season after driving in place of Lando Norris, fulfilling one of our four mandatory rookie sessions. This saw the Italian driver make up one of 10 rookies in for the opening session at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Leo had previously driven two FP1 sessions in Barcelona and Budapest during the European phase of the season. He had a good hour, efficiently working through the programme presented to him, earning the praise of race engineering. Leo finished the session P17, having ran a Hard and a Soft tyre, while Oscar ran Medium and Soft and finished P8. 

The big issues in the first session were around front tyre warm-ups, braking performance and bottoming. The newly laid surface hasn’t eradicated the famous bumps at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and brake-locking remained an issue, with many cars suffering locks and running long into the run-offs, especially at the first corner. Oscar boxed early to lift the front ride-height in an effort to eradicate some of the unbalancing grounding. 

Data from FP1 informed some set-up changes over the break, and the car looked more competitive in FP2. Current World Champion, Lando, was back in the car for that session. He ran a Medium and a Soft tyre, while Oscar ran Hard and Soft.  

The session had interruptions, first with a Red Flag to deal with some debris, and later with a VSC for a stopped Ferrari – the latter requiring Oscar to interrupt his Quali-sim. Keeping tyre temperature was an issue during the day, with warm-up laps common. One of the more prominent bumps had been ground down over the interval, and that seemed to help the braking zone for Turn 1, but lockups remained common. More remedial work may follow this evening. 

The team, however, concluded its day’s running in a content mood as Lando finished the session P2 and Oscar P10. As had been the case at COTA last weekend, the long-run pace looked strong, but the car looked a little more comfortable over a single lap. During the long runs, the team worked both on running in traffic and finding clear air, in order to fully understand the cooling requirements of this high-altitude circuit. Attention now turns to tomorrow. Overtaking looks to be very difficult at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the team will be keen to maximise Qualifying position. 

Elsewhere, McLaren Driver Development talent Christian Costoya took to track in Mugello for the Italian F4 Championship’s final round of the 2026 season. The Spanish driver impressed throughout the day, securing a P1 finish in Free Practice 1 as well as a P4 finish in Free Practice 2. Christian went on to secure a P3 lap time in his Qualifying group, which will see him make a second-row start in tomorrow’s Race 1. 

“Not a bad day on the timesheets at the end of Free Practice 2, but the car is still proving a challenge to drive. The pace is definitely there but the field is incredibly tight at the minute, so it will come down to execution in tomorrow’s Qualifying. Thank you to Leo for his support Free Practice 1, we’ve still got plenty to work on overnight as a team, but the foundations are definitely there for us to build on.”

“Mexico is always a challenge with the altitude, low downforce and very little grip, but today felt slightly better than I expected. Even with a scruffy lap on the Softs in Free Practice 2, the underlying pace looks competitive, and the track was improving quickly as we went. We learned a lot across the sessions and if I tidy up the areas on my lap I need to, I’m confident we can be further up the order tomorrow.”

Leonardo Fornaroli

F1 Development and Reserve Driver

“It was really exciting to be back on track in FP1 with McLaren Mastercard, and I’m grateful to the team and to Lando for giving me the chance to drive the MCL40. It was my first time on this circuit, and it wasn’t easy to find the confidence straight away to get the front tyres up to the right temperature on a track surface that, especially at the start, offered very little grip. In fact, a lock-up at Turn 1 ruined my first lap on the Softs.    

“I’m really happy to be part of this team and to be working closely with the engineers, always trying to provide clear feedback to help develop the car to its full potential. It’s very important for me to keep gaining experience in Formula 1 as I develop as a driver: I’m already looking forward to getting back on track next Friday at Interlagos!" 

Randy Singh 

Senior Director, Racing 

"All in all, it was a very productive Friday. We devoted a significant portion of our early practice sessions to set-up experiments and evaluations, particularly to adapt the car to the specific challenges of high altitude. Leo did a fantastic job of supporting our test programme in the opening session, providing us with a solid foundation on which to fine-tune performance in the afternoon. Both Lando and Oscar completed their planned programmes, using all three tyre compounds and running with different fuel loads on a track which, as is traditional here, offers little grip on the first day.  

“Based on what we’ve seen today, the level of competitiveness is exceptionally close, with the top four teams separated by very small gaps and the rest of the field closer together than usual. Managing power unit and brake temperatures will be crucial for the rest of the weekend, especially in race conditions when running in traffic. We’ve seen numerous front-wheel lockups across the field, but we know where we can gain further lap times and feel well prepared to tackle qualifying and Sunday’s race.”