Hamilton Faces Engine Worry After Mexican GP FP2 Power Loss

Lewis Hamilton's Mexican Grand Prix weekend is on hold while Ferrari digs into the power loss that cut his second practice short at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The seven-time World Champion stopped his SF-26 on track after reporting he'd lost all power from Turn 13, completing just 13 laps to Charles Leclerc's 35.

Why it matters:

Hamilton has no clarity on whether the failure will force fresh power unit components and a consequent grid penalty — the last thing he needs at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. Ferrari, meanwhile, is still in the dark on the cause.

The details:

• Hamilton radioed that he'd lost "all power from Turn 13"; his engineer Carlo Santi ordered him to stop the car and confirmed a restart wasn't possible.
• Team principal Fred Vasseur said the team had "not yet" identified the problem, with the debrief pushed to Friday night.
• Leclerc again set the pace, ending FP2 0.685s clear of his teammate.
• Hamilton's Friday was already compromised — he ran aero rake tests in FP1 instead of handing the session to a junior driver, losing roughly half of his only clean running.
• "I was feeling really good in the car. It's just my luck," he said. "We did a really good job in getting the setup in a better place... just praying that everything's okay."

What's next:

Ferrari's overnight analysis will determine whether Hamilton takes a penalty or simply loses track time. He isn't planning major setup changes — "we were very quick" even with power dropping earlier in the lap — but with one meaningful session gone and a grid drop possible, Saturday could get complicated quickly.