Ferrari’s reduced turbo lag and promising aerodynamic performance have emerged as important strengths at the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc leading both Friday practice sessions in an immediately competitive SF-26. However, the biggest question ahead of qualifying is whether the Scuderia can maintain its advantage when Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull increase their power unit performance in the battle for pole position.
Charles Leclerc topped FP2 with a lap of 1:17.827, finishing 0.103 seconds ahead of Lando Norris and 0.106 seconds clear of George Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fourth, 0.217 seconds behind, while Max Verstappen completed the top five with a deficit of 0.311 seconds. The results confirmed Ferrari’s encouraging Friday performance, although the narrow gaps suggest that qualifying remains wide open.
It is not the first time this season that Ferrari has produced an impressive Friday, only for the competitive picture to change later in the weekend. The SF-26 has demonstrated convincing speed and apparently strong balance, but nothing can be taken for granted until the decisive Q3 session.
Why Ferrari’s SF-26 is performing well in Mexico’s low-downforce conditions
One of the most significant technical factors at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is the extremely limited aerodynamic downforce available to the drivers. Mexico City’s thin air dramatically reduces the effectiveness of aerodynamic surfaces, leaving the cars with far less vertical load than they would normally generate.
This year, the situation is particularly complicated because teams no longer have the usual scope to compensate by fitting significantly larger wings. The introduction of Straight Mode allows cars to reduce drag on the straights, meaning relatively high-downforce configurations are already used at many other circuits.
George Russell has also highlighted these difficulties, describing a particularly challenging car to drive and identifying turbo lag as another variable affecting performance.
Under these conditions, the downforce generated by the floor becomes even more important. Although the underfloor also suffers from reduced air density, producing stable aerodynamic load beneath the car is particularly valuable when the wings provide so little assistance.
Ferrari appears to have a strong foundation in precisely this area. The SF-26’s floor seems capable of providing the consistency required to give its drivers confidence and limit sliding on the exceptionally low-grip Mexican asphalt. This helps explain the encouraging braking and handling characteristics displayed by Ferrari during FP2.
Charles Leclerc has also continued to make very few adjustments to the front wing angle. This is another positive indication of the car’s underlying setup, suggesting that repeated corrections are not necessary to achieve a satisfactory balance. Lewis Hamilton likewise demonstrated encouraging tyre management during the running he was able to complete before his session was interrupted.
Ferrari’s reduced turbo lag provides another advantage at the Mexico GP
Beyond the aerodynamic performance of the SF-26, Ferrari’s power unit is contributing to the team’s competitiveness. The Italian manufacturer’s engine has made progress through the turbocharger updated under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system, while its underlying design favours a more immediate response when accelerating out of corners.
Reduced turbo lag means the engine can deliver its combustion-powered response more quickly, limiting the amount of electrical energy required to compensate for the delay in turbocharger response. This allows Ferrari to save some electrical energy during traction phases, an advantage that can become particularly useful when energy management plays a decisive role in overall performance.
At a circuit where the balance between electrical deployment, power delivery and corner-exit traction is especially important, even relatively small improvements can contribute to a competitive lap time.
Combined with the SF-26’s apparently stable floor performance and encouraging tyre behaviour, the power unit’s improved response has helped Ferrari establish a strong foundation for the Mexican weekend.
Can Ferrari maintain its advantage when Mercedes and McLaren increase power?
The crucial question is how much of Ferrari’s advantage will remain when its rivals increase their power unit output during qualifying. The Scuderia controlled Friday’s running and consistently occupied the leading positions, but its margin in the more representative second session was far from comfortable.
McLaren and Mercedes finished extremely close to Charles Leclerc, leaving little room for complacency. Max Verstappen’s fifth position must also be considered in the context of the damage sustained during his contact with Liam Lawson, which affected the Red Bull driver’s session.
Ferrari therefore enters qualifying with clear evidence of competitiveness, but without a sufficiently large advantage to guarantee that the SF-26 will remain ahead once every team extracts its maximum performance.
The small differences between the leading drivers make the final adjustments especially important, with detailed qualifying pace and sector comparisons providing useful context for assessing where the decisive margins are gained or lost.
Lewis Hamilton’s power unit issue creates uncertainty over Ferrari’s ADUO specification
While Charles Leclerc enjoyed an encouraging Friday, Lewis Hamilton’s technical problem introduced another uncertainty for Ferrari. In the most favourable scenario, the malfunction would have affected the British driver’s ADUO 1-specification engine rather than the more recent version.
Lewis Hamilton was forced to stop after completing just 13 laps in FP2, preventing him from carrying out his planned long-run programme. His 11th-place finish therefore offers little indication of his true potential, particularly because his impressions of the car had been positive before the interruption and he believed that only minor setup adjustments were required.
Ferrari explained that the stoppage followed anomalies detected by the car’s sensors, with the decision to stop taken as a precaution. However, the team did not specify which power unit version was installed when the problem occurred.
Based on the available indications, it is believed that Lewis Hamilton could use the ADUO 2 specification on Saturday. This remains uncertain, particularly because Ferrari is reluctant to replace power unit components unnecessarily at a circuit where overtaking is difficult.
The Scuderia would prefer to avoid introducing components that trigger grid penalties, whether in Mexico or at the following race at Interlagos, unless absolutely necessary. Further checks on the engine will determine whether that approach can be maintained.
The setback also comes during a weekend when Ferrari has been investigating the technical problem that interrupted Lewis Hamilton’s Friday programme, adding a reliability question to an otherwise promising start.
Ferrari faces decisive Q3 test after impressive Friday in Mexico
Ferrari heads into Saturday with several genuine reasons for optimism. The SF-26 appears to benefit from consistent underfloor downforce, an improved turbocharger response, progress in power unit performance and encouraging tyre management.
Those strengths could prove particularly valuable in the unusual conditions at Mexico City, where the reduced air density makes aerodynamic grip, energy management and drivability more challenging than at most other circuits. The team had already been preparing for these difficulties, with Fred Vasseur highlighting the cooling and grip demands of the Mexican Grand Prix before the weekend began.
However, translating another excellent Friday into a genuine opportunity to fight for victory will depend on retaining those advantages when qualifying reaches its decisive stages. Ferrari has demonstrated that the SF-26 can be extremely competitive in Mexico, but the ultimate test will come in Q3, when its rivals reveal their full performance potential.
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