LEWIS HAMILTON "PRAYING" FOR FERRARI POWER UNIT AFTER MEXICO FP2 FAILURE

Hamilton's Ferrari had front-row pace in Mexico City before a power unit failure ended his Friday early. The seven-time champion was quickest on the hard compound and running in the top five when his SF-26 lost power down the main straight 28 minutes into FP2, forcing him to park at Turn 3. The stoppage cost him the long-run data teams need for race setup and left him 11th in the session.

The timing compounds the setback. Hamilton spent half of FP1 running aero rakes while most teams gave rookies track time, leaving him with barely 1.5 sessions of clean running before the failure. He's "praying" the unit survives inspection because overtaking at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is notoriously difficult and grid position decides everything. Charles Leclerc topped both sessions, proving Ferrari has the speed. Hamilton just needs the hardware to deliver it through qualifying.