VIDEO: Red flags, Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari in second practice. Look at his hard crash in the second half of the second race

Red flags in the second free practice! Formula 1 has its 20th race of the season this weekend, the Mexican Grand Prix. And we’ve already had two free practice sessions, and the one with the number 2 had to be abandoned. Because Charles Leclerc crashed hard into the barrier in his Ferrari.

Like night and day – that’s a safe interpretation of the Scuderia Ferrari’s performance in the opening two free practice sessions at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

In the first, which started at 20:00 on Friday 28 October, Ferrari took first and second place. Carlos Sainz was the winner of FP1 (free practice 1 – ed.) with a time of 1:20.707.

His Monaco teammate Leclerc was just 46 thousandths of a second behind. The third and fourth places were taken by the two Red Bulls in the order Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen. Fifth place went to Lewis Hamilton.

The second free practice then lasted, as in Japan and the USA, unusually an hour and a half. Although the teams tried different technical set-ups and the practice session was not very representative, Sainz and Leclerc finished seventh and eighth.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing though, the results in practice are virtually irrelevant in terms of lap times.

What does matter is Leclerc’s crash at Turn 8. The Monegasque driver had already failed to make it through turn seven and headed for the barrier before the first half of FP2. Naturally, red flags were waved on the circuit and practice was abandoned.

Leclerc’s statement

“To be honest, I have a good feeling about it (my time in Mexico so far). We had a bit of bad luck in FP1 when I had a puncture. So even for the few laps I did, I was happy with the car,” Leclerc explained in an interview with F1.

“I didn’t do too well in FP2 either. I lost control of the rear of my car at the start of practice (and hit the barrier). I didn’t have many attempts because of the short laps that required a lot of fuel. But yes, it was my fault and I’m sure this crash won’t hurt our race weekend,” he continues.

“We have plenty of spare parts given the penalties we have already incurred this year. We tried something on my car that didn’t quite fit. The car didn’t feel as comfortable to drive as it did in the first practice. But I know what I have to do tomorrow and I believe we won’t lack speed,” he concluded.

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