Verstappen was over four-tenths clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Botᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚtas in second practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with main title rival Lewis Hamilton a further tenth back in third.

The 24-year-old has won in Mexico on two previous occasions and looks well placed to extend💦 his 12-point lead in the F1 drivers' championship.

Despite a strong start to the weekend, Verstappen still wants more from his ཧRed 🏅Bull RB16B going into qualifying.

“Yeah it was quite a good day,” Verstappen said. “Of course always trying to improve the car, trying to make it feel better, and of course also in FP1 the track was very dirty, so in FP🐈2 that was already a bit nice🙈r.

“It seemed like the car is ♈working quite well, there’s a few thin🍸gs of course to look at, but it’s pretty good.”

Verstappen admitted that it’s “difficult to tell” if main rivals💙 Mercedes has more pace in haꦅnd or not.

He added: “Well we have a good feeling but of course tomorrow we need to be there as well. So we’ll look into a lot o꧑f things but it’s a positive start to the weekend.

“It’s alwജays difficult to tell, but we are never happy and will always try 🌠to improve.”

Sergio Perez recovered well from a lightℱ crash during the early s🧸tages of FP1 where he damaged his rear wing.

Perez finished the day in fourth and i𓃲s eyeing improvements over one lap.

“I think we didn’t lose as much going into the session,” Perez explained. “It was a shame that we damaged the car and gave a bit of extra work to the boys. But other than that෴ it was a positive day. I’m feeling more comfortable in the long run than over the one lap.

“So I think there is potential to improve the 𓄧car over one lap. The margins are going to be very close tomorrow with the Mercs, so hopefully, we’re able to loꦏckout that front row.”