Postpublished at 23:34 British Summer Time

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Sergio Perez is giving the thumbs to the fans who are dancing and singing in the grandstands. This third red flag of the day has not dampened the spirits of the Mexican crowd. The Day of the Dead festivities are in full swing too, even if they're a week early. The riot of colour around the circuit is fantastic to see.

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes waiting for Russell's carpublished at 23:31 British Summer Time

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One of the Mercedes crew is sweeping George Russell's side of the garage, waiting for the mangled car to return so the repair job can take place.

Image source, Reuters

Clock is tickingpublished at 23:26 British Summer Time

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The Mercedes has been loaded on to the recovery truck and now the marshals are beginning to repair the barriers so the session can get back under way. Pirelli are losing valuable time in their 2025 tyre test.

Will Albon be out in FP2?published at 23:23 British Summer Time

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Just before George Russell's crash, Williams team principal James Vowles was chatting to Sky Sports on the pit wall and said it might be a struggle for Alex Albon to take part in second practice, as the team had to change the engine and gearbox after his heavy crash in the opening hour.

Postpublished at 23:19 British Summer Time

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That was a heavy shunt for George Russell. The Briton took a hefty bit of kerb at Turn Eight which sent the rear of the car into a spin, his Mercedes ending up sideways at high speed into the barrier.

Russell safely out of carpublished at 23:16 British Summer Time

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The TV replays will reveal what happened shortly, but for now, George Russell was on a performance run on next year's C4 compound, which will be a medium-soft tyre.

Russell is being picked up by the medical car. He did climb out of that Mercedes quite gingerly.

Russell crashespublished at 23:13 British Summer Time

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George Russell has crashed at Turn Nine. The Mercedes driver is climbing out but his car is not looking great in those barriers.

The test tyres aren't offering Pierre Gasly the grip levels his Alpine needs, and as the Frenchman reaches Turn One, he ends up running across the luscious green grass of the Mexican circuit.

Max Verstappen's problems are continuing in the Red Bull. "I still hear a weird noise... in the engine," says the Dutchman, followed by "this is very disturbing" a few moments later. With that information, Verstappen is told to box by his engineer.

Sergio Perez has reached the stadium section on his prototype tyres - and the Mexican crowd absolutely love it.

However, the fans might not like this next Checo update, as the Red Bull driver tells his pit wall: "The brake pedal feels a little bit stiff".

Right, so how does this extended second practice work then? I'll let Pirelli's preview, external explain the details.

"Each driver will have two additional sets of tyres: one will be identical to the one available for the weekend, to act as a baseline, while the other will be a 2025 prototype option, both in terms of compound and of construction – actually the latter already homologated back in September.

"These two sets will not have any sidewall colour bands. The plan is for the programme to include a performance run and a long run for each set, with every team running the same number of laps with the same quantity of fuel on board, dependent on the type of run."

Image source, Getty Images

Robert Shwartzman has been given a little memento to take away from his hour of rookie practice in the Sauber - a five-place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

Now, the stewards have said they recognise 25-year-old Shwartzman is not scheduled to start the race in Mexico this weekend, but as this is the usual penalty for passing under double yellows, the "consistent penalty" has been applied.

Schwartzman will serve the grid drop for the next F1 race "in which the driver participates", so this penalty could be with him for a while.

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Bearman was sitting in for Charles Leclerc at Ferrari for first practice but the Briton found his session cut short after a collision with Alex Albon.

The Williams of Albon spun and crashed heavily into the barriers when he made contact with the slower-moving Bearman while on a flying lap. Both drivers walked away unharmed from the contact, although Albon did call the 19-year-old rookie an "idiot" over the team radio.

After investigating the incident, the stewards decided no further action was needed. In the report, both Albon and Bearman agreed the Ferrari driver's positioning was not unreasonable, "but was unfortunate as it was close to Albon's line".

The verdict: All parties agreed that it was a racing incident.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello again, folks. First practice produced two red flags, a couple of damaged cars, rookies on track and a Mercedes finishing top of the pile.

Second practice has been handed over to Pirelli's in-competition test. Teams will be following a specific programme established by the Italian tyre supplier's engineers for the next 90 minutes to validate the softer compounds in the 2025 range (C4, C5 and C6).

Harry Benjamin, Tom Gaymor and Andrew Benson are back with us for commentary, so tune in via BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and by using the 'listen live' tab at the top of this page.

Alternatively, you can listen via most smart speakers by asking BBC Sounds to play Mexico City Grand Prix practice two.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes’ George Russell set the pace in a first practice session at the Mexico City Grand Prix punctuated by a heavy crash for Williams’ Alex Albon.

Russell was 0.317 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda third from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose session ended early with an engine problem.

Albon tangled with Ferrari young driver Oliver Bearman, driving Charles Leclerc’s car for the session, and spun into the barriers at the Esses.

Albon called Bearman an “idiot” over the team radio after the Williams, on a flying lap, came across the Ferrari on a slow lap on the racing line.

The Ferrari engineers told Bearman over the radio that it was their fault, presumably for not warning him early enough of Albon’s presence. The incident, which forced a 13-minute red flag, will be investigated after the session.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

Two red flags and some annoyed team radio messages. Will the dusty Mexican track offer up better grip levels in the 90-minute second practice session?

Things for us to keep an eye on during the break:

• The investigation into the collision between Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman
• Robert Shwartzman being noted for overtaking under yellow flags
• McLaren's request for a right of review into Lando Norris' penalty in Austin

Let's all go and take a pit stop - try and keep ourselves awake - and come back together at 22:55 BST for FP2.

See you shortly!

11. Franco Colapinto (Williams)

12. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

13. Pato O'Ward (McLaren)

14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

15. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

16. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

17. Alex Albon (Williams)

18. Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin)

19. Robert Shwartzman (Sauber)

20. Oliver Bearman (Ferrari)

1. George Russell (Mercedes) - 1:17.998

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.317

3. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +0.701

4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.841

5. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) +0.906

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.960

7. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +0.998

8. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +1.050

9. Liam Lawson (RB) +1.095

10. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +1.096

1. George Russell (Mercedes) - 1:17.998

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.317

3. Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +0.701

4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.841

5. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) +0.906

With less than four minutes left of the session, the Red Bull mechanics are helping Max Verstappen get out of the car so they can get to work on diagnosing the issue.