Max Verstappen headed a dominant 1-2 for Red Bull during second practice for Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix, though a mechanical gremlin brought a premature end to the youngster's session.
Verstappen clocked a time of 1:16.720 on the Hypersoft tyre at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, despite claiming “the engine is not doing what it should do” on his quickest effort.
Verstappen’s time left him 0.153s clear of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, as both drivers finished over a second ahead of the rest.
But Verstappen’s session came to an end 10 minutes from time when his RB14 completely shut down on the run to Turn 1, and he pulled off to the side of the track at Turn 3, having run across the grass.
The exact cause of Verstappen’s stoppage, with smoke trailing from the car, has yet to be confirmed.
Red Bull’s nearest opponent was not Mercedes or Ferrari, but Renault's Carlos Sainz Jr., who built on a promising FP1 session to place third, albeit 1.233s behind Verstappen.
Sainz Jr.’s strong pace was backed up by the presence of Renault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who set the fifth-best time, capping an encouraging day for the manufacturer.
Sebastian Vettel, who must win Sunday’s Grand Prix to keep his title aspirations alive, was fourth, just 0.001s behind Sainz Jr., though went slightly wide through Turn 11 on his push lap.
Brendon Hartley was another to display strong pace as he finished sixth for Toro Rosso, using the older specification Honda power unit in his STR13.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were only seventh and ninth respectively for Mercedes, albeit within two-tenths of a second of third-placed Sainz Jr., with Hamilton recovering from an early off through the Turn 1 grass when he heavily locked his Supersoft tyres.
They were split by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, while home hero Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 for Force India, within touching distance of the usual front-runners.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon, having sat out FP1, was a further three-tenths of a second back in 11th spot, while a similar gap followed to Haas’ Romain Grosjean in 12th.
Sauber’s Charles Leclerc was 13th, narrowly in front of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and outgoing McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
Williams took 16th and 18th, Lance Stroll ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, with the pair sandwiching Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen rounded out the field, the Dane struggling for pace in comparison to team-mate Grosjean.
Drivers struggled with very high levels of degradation on the pink-banded Hypersoft during the longer runs, with many favouring the Ultrasoft and Supersoft compounds.
Saturday’s one-hour third practice session is scheduled for 10:00 local time
