Jorge Martin says he has no designs on playing the points game as he chases his first MotoGP world title despite the possibility of doing so without winning another race this season.

The Pramac Ducati rider scored a small but significant success with his run to second place in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race at the Chang International Circuit by finishing ahead of arch title rival Francesco Bagnaia, who took third.

Extending his advantage to 22 points over the Italian with five races remaining – three grands prix and two sprints – it means Martin can finish second to Bagnaia in each and still clinch the title.

However, it’s a permutation Martin isn’t dwelling on: “If they said you only need to be fifth or 10th, I don’t know how to be that.

“I only know how to do my best. So the best way to give 100% is to do my best – but I’m not silly, I want to control the risk.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Indeed, Martin gave an example of the small margins that exist between himself and Bagnaia when he ran deep into Turn 1.

Having dropped to sixth behind Bagnaia as a consequence, Martin says he can take satisfaction from having still gotten the better of his Ducati stablemate come the chequered flag, having factored in the defending world champion in the first corner tussle.

“It was either release the brakes and lose some position or go wide and hit Pecco, so I decided to go wide,” he added.

“It was difficult afterwards, I was sixth or seventh going into the third corner, it was really hot in the pack but I was riding well and competitive, that’s the important thing.”

He added: “I had to push more than expected and overtake riders like Acosta and Pecco, who are really strong on the brakes, which was complicated.

“It has been a good sprint, but I know that tomorrow more riders will improve, and it is essential to start well, keep calm, and do our best.”

Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear says that the team “hasn’t changed anything” despite murmurings over internal changes to its front wing to benefit from greater flexing.

The Italian squad had been one of the teams to lodge a query with the FIA over the front wings of Mercedes and McLaren, under the belief that these were flexing beyond a permissible amount despite passing the governing body’s rigidity tests.

After the FIA offered clarification, it opened the door for other teams to pursue a similar design, with Ferrari understood to have pressed its own version into service. This was considered as a potential contributor to the team’s dominant 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix last weekend.

But Clear stated that it was “questionable” to discuss how the other teams were progressing with their own designs, and that the FIA was happy with Ferrari’s adherence to the regulations.

In response to a question about lead times for flexing front wings following the FIA’s clarification, Clear said: “I think that what you’re talking about there is specifically a fairly questionable discussion.

“We don’t know what other teams are doing. We only know what we’re doing on our car. We interpret the rules in the way that we think is the correct interpretation and the FIA have never questioned any of our interpretation of the rules.

“We continue to develop as much as we can and as fast as we can within the scope of the rules. We haven’t changed anything. 

Jock Clear, Senior Performance Engineer, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“If we look at what other people do, we can only guess what actually is going on. We can’t do physical tests on it. We could only work on our own car and we are comfortable with the development, pretty much since Austria.

“And since the summer break, we’ve really got a grip of what direction to go in, both on the development and on the set-up.”

Clear explained that Ferrari’s form at Austin came from its own understanding of how it missed the mark at the Austrian Grand Prix in June, noting the similarity between the two venues.

He added Austin also proved that Ferrari’s upgrades at the end of the European season had worked to alleviate its mid-season slump following a misfiring Barcelona update package.

“There were things we did on the set-up; I think we got it wrong in Austria, which is a very similar circuit to Austin, funnily enough. 

“Not absolutely true, but the aspects of Austin that worked for us were a result of what we didn’t get working in Austria.

“So effectively, the package was very similar. Obviously, we brought upgrades in Singapore, we brought upgrades in Italy that were generic [not track-specific].

“I think Austin was a proof of that package. But more than that, what we did correctly in Austin was correcting the errors we made in Austria in terms of set-up.”

Francesco Bagnaia aired his frustration at suffering a slight but important loss to MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin with his run to third place in the Thailand Grand Prix sprint race.

Though the race itself went the way of Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia’s failure to defend against Martin for second place sees his rival ease his overall advantage out to 22 points with five races remaining.

It means Martin can afford to finish second in each of the remaining three grands prix and two sprint races to secure this year’s title, even if Bagnaia wins them all.

As such, Bagnaia doesn’t want to leave anything to chance in these remaining races but remained frustrated to have been overhauled by Martin in a straight fight having started from pole.

“My feeling wasn’t ideal as it was this morning,” he admitted.

“I struggled to be competitive on the braking, my fastest sectors during the weekend was sector one and three, today I was losing that.

“We luckily lost just two points and we have tomorrow to try to close this gap, because Jorge can just finish second and still be champion. We have to focus on the results and be more perfect.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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Bagnaia also raised a view that Martin violated track limits enough to earn a penalty, claiming to have counted four occasions in which he strayed onto the green.

“I thought so and I started to count because when I saw it twice I thought one more is a penalty so I counted two more, but maybe I counted wrong.”

Bagnaia not seeking in-house Ducati help in title bid

Bagnaia isn’t prepared to count on other Ducati riders to side with him rather than stablemate Martin in his attempt to make it three titles in a row.

“I know it is hard to believe but I never had any help by anyone in Ducati. I always like a clean race and clean battle, I try to be as clean as possible and not touch anyone.

“Also, I don’t want any help and I will not ask for any.”

First practice for the Mexico Grand Prix saw five rookies take to the wheel, but the 60-minute session didn’t go smoothly for two drivers.

Oliver Bearman took charge of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but was involved in a tangle with Alex Albon midway through the session.

Albon was charging in his Williams when coming up on the slower-moving Ferrari in the mid-sector Esses but, when about to pass, lost the rear end of his car on the inside kerb and swiped the side of Bearman’s machine, leaving both stranded with terminal damage.

But with that incident still ongoing, Robert Shwartzman – who was controlling Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber for the session – went past Yuki Tsunoda’s RB as the Japanese slowed down, triggering an investigation.

The stewards found the Ferrari junior guilty of overtaking under yellow flags, explaining: “Following the incident at T9 Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the Stewards recognize that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”

Shwartzman joins Button on unusual waiting list

Jenson Button, McLaren MCL32

Photo by: Sutton Images

That consistent penalty is a grid drop of five positions for the next F1 race Shwartzman participates in.

However, with the grid almost completely filled for next season and Shwartzman not in the running for any of the remaining vacant seats, it is unlikely he will be able to take that penalty, unless he is called upon in a reserve capacity, like Bearman has on two occasions this year for both Ferrari and Haas.

It is a situation that mirrors one Jenson Button experienced in 2017 when substituting for Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix that year.

With the Spaniard competing in the Indianapolis 500, Button came out of retirement to join Stoffel Vandoorne for the Woking-based outfit but during the race, he pitched Pascal Wehrlein into the barriers at Portier.

The stewards then gave the Briton a three-place grid penalty but, where his situation differs to Shwartzman, the incident report explained that punishment was for the “next race he participates in this season”, whereas the latter’s punishment is less descriptive.

All in all, the opening day of track running at the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix was a frustrating affair for pretty much everyone – except, arguably, Ferrari.

The Scuderia did lose much of FP1 when Ollie Bearman was driving Charles Leclerc’s SF-24, thanks to Alex Albon crashing into the 19-year-old when coming across him in the elongated Esses complex. But when it comes to the times that matter (and there where very few of them to be found on Friday) Ferrari at least showed very well.

Pirelli’s 2025 tyre test took over FP2, with five teams (McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Sauber) set to get an extra 30 minutes of running for running rookie drivers in FP1. But this was ruined by George Russell’s big FP2 crash, which put a massive dent in Mercedes’ day given it had started so well with the Briton leading the opening session.

Having had poor weather frustrate much of its other tyre testing at non-race events in 2024, Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola was left wondering if organising a test at Lourdes was the only way to get its luck to change on such things.

At Red Bull, an engine issue aboard Max Verstappen’s car meant his day was pretty much pointless. His title rival Lando Norris’s McLaren squad therefore had the smoothest run of the frontrunners, but then had its Right of Review petition into his Austin penalty rejected well after darkness had fallen on Friday.

Here then, is everything we learned at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on the opening day.

Bearman was one of five FP1 rookie drivers in action, but his outing was cut short by a crash with Albon

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The story of the day

The most interesting element of FP1 was set to be the rookie drivers aboard the cars above, before one of them – Bearman – was involved in one of the day’s two big crashes.

This was after a first FP1 red flag had occurred when signage from a bridge running across the track’s main straight had been collected by Verstappen (who suffered minor floor damage) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Albon lost the rear of his Williams as he lifted off coming across the slower-moving Bearman in Leclerc’s Ferrari at Turn 9 during the early stages. He then smashed into the Ferrari’s left-front corner and did even more damage to his own Williams in the barriers at Turn 10 – such was the speed Albon spun at – that he later missed FP2 entirely.

Russell topped FP1 with a 1m17.998s ahead of Sainz in the remaining Ferrari by 0.317s. Red Bull’s session was marred by Verstappen reporting “something [was] wrong” with his engine and stopping his running five minutes early.

On the 2024 mediums, which in our assessment only concerns Ferrari and Mercedes, the scarlet squad led a not very close comparison of 1m21.357s vs 1m22.371s

In FP2, that engine issue – said to be a “leak somewhere”, by Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko – reoccurred aboard the world champion’s RB20. That was even after Red Bull thought it had solved the issue during the break between practice sessions and around the long red-flag caused by Russell’s crash.

Verstappen therefore only completed four laps in FP2. Russell only did that total too, having lost the rear of his W15 at Turn 8 when he appeared to drag his right-rear too far over the inside kerbs and so his car bottomed out and he was pitched into a spin that ended smashed sideways into the Turn 9 barriers.

These took nearly 25 minutes to rearrange and so the added 30 minutes of FP2 for the Pirelli test was lost. Either side of the stoppage, Sainz improved the first-place benchmark from 1m17.809s to 1m17.699s and was trailed by Oscar Piastri’s McLaren by 0.178s.

Russell suffered his second heavy crash in just over a week after his qualifying shunt in Austin

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The lost time meant while the rookie-running teams did get out on the weekend’s medium tyres (having used a combination of 2024 C4s and C5s, 2025 versions of those compounds, plus a prototype C6 only given to Williams and RB for the Pirelli test) they could only do so for a handful of laps at the end.

Norris did use his mediums to rise to fifth in the final FP2 order, while the five rookie-runners were the only drivers able to conduct practice starts in the session.

The decision over McLaren’s Right of Review then took over as the main story on Friday night, as, nearly six hours after the hearing with Austin stewards commenced, the decision was announced that it had been rejected.

This centred on how the stewards felt McLaren’s argument that an error had been made in Norris being penalised as the attacking car when he was so far ahead of Verstappen that he became the defender when the Dutchman shot his Red Bull to the Turn 12 apex – critical under the current racing guidelines – was “unsustainable”.

What the (limited) data tells us

FP2 long-run data is usually fraught with peril when it comes to interpreting how the teams have stacked up in opening practices, but given the Pirelli test dominated the second session on Friday it means they must be treated with even more caution than usual.

Although the run plans Pirelli mandated means we can know how much fuel was aboard each car during a long run on some 2024 tyres (we’re only looking at the top four teams here), the drivers needing to adjust their approaches and deal with jumping between new and old tyre constructions means they cannot be considered fully representative.

The run plans for the Pirelli test were two performance fliers over five laps with 20kg of fuel aboard for each car, plus two 10-lap stints with 100kg – the second of which were slightly shortened as a result of the red flag (from 12 to eight).

Norris, on the Pirelli test tyres, was one of the few drivers to make it out on the mediums late in FP2

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

On the 2024 mediums, which in our assessment only concerns Ferrari and Mercedes, the scarlet squad led a not very close comparison of 1m21.357s vs 1m22.371s. Leclerc’s second Pirelli long-run (after he’d done a stint on the 2025 mediums) had him ahead of Hamilton by an average of 1.014s.

In other positive news for Ferrari, and this is important given Pirelli said “teams will have to prepare their cars for qualifying and the race in the space of two hours: FP1 on Friday and FP3 on Saturday” in its press release explanation of how the tyre test would work, Sainz edged the long runs all of top teams completed at FP1’s end.

His average on the hards came in at 1m22.150s, which is another healthy 1.061s ahead of Russell’s best for Mercedes (Antonelli was still doing staccato runs at this stage so not assessed). This points to a fairly hefty fuel discrepancy between Ferrari and Mercedes at that point in the opening session.

Given the aberration of the Pirelli test in FP2 this weekend, extra premium is now placed on nailing set-ups in Saturday’s FP3 offering, as well as gathering extra long-run information

McLaren was third-best on the hards with a 1m23.332s, while Verstappen’s woes meant Perez’s FP1-concluding long-run represented Red Bull’s entry at 1m23.392s.

Looking at the FP2 efforts on the 2024 C5s (the softs used for the rest of this weekend), McLaren edged Red Bull with a 1m21.800s from Norris versus Perez’s 1m22.353s.

Given the aberration of the Pirelli test in FP2 this weekend, extra premium is now placed on nailing set-ups in Saturday’s FP3 offering, as well as gathering extra long-run information. Any team that has a crash in the ultra-low-downforce, thin-air challenge here – or has any more reliability maladies – will be in serious trouble.

A truncated day of running, but the early signs are showing positively for Ferrari

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Alex Albon chose not to blame Oliver Bearman for their Mexico Grand Prix FP1 clash, and felt that Ferrari told its reserve driver too late that the Williams Formula 1 driver was approaching.

Albon came across Bearman on the run-up to the high-speed sequence of Turns 7-8-9 and lifted off in anticipation of encountering the Ferrari. This caused his FW46 to lose grip and it began to snap, resulting in Albon swiping Bearman at Turn 9 and subsequently ending up in the wall at Turn 10.

In the immediate aftermath, Albon was heard to refer to Bearman as an “idiot” over the radio. However, the Anglo-Thai driver changed his thoughts on the incident.

Instead, he feels that Ferrari could have done more to warn Bearman – running as an FP1 rookie driver for Austin winner Charles Leclerc – of the situation, and that the young Briton was caught out by the faster closing speeds in F1.

“I think he got told, listening to the radio, very late that I was coming up behind him,” Albon said.

“He tried his best to speed up into the two or three high-speed corners, we caught each other at the worst moment on track that you can.

“I think there was a 100km/h difference in terms of speed. I don’t blame myself, but I don’t think it’s all on Ollie.

“I think he could have been told a bit better, and of course he’s new, the closing speeds in F1 are much higher than F2. But it’s not his fault.”

The incident was investigated by the stewards, but deemed to be not worthy of further action; the report stated that “both drivers agreed that Bearman’s positioning was not unreasonable, but was unfortunate as it was close to Albon’s line. Had Bearman been slightly further down the track it would not have resulted in an incident. All parties agreed that it was a racing incident.”

Following the severe damage to his Williams, Albon did not take part in the second practice session as extensive repairs continued throughout the run-time of the session.

Reflecting on the lost running, Albon said that he hoped the use of FP2 as a Pirelli tyre test would mitigate the damage to his weekend, as drivers participating ran with unmarked 2025 prototype tyres.

“Two laps is frustrating – we’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow,” Albon added.

“But hopefully [FP2 is] less important than a normal weekend, obviously FP2 was a Pirelli test. So in some ways, possibly less learned from other teams because they weren’t running tyres from this year.

“I’m hoping that it just means the lack of track time is less compromising.”