Lewis Hamilton fears he will not win his fifth world championship in style after claiming the rampant Red Bull cars will be out of reach in Mexico.

Hamilton toiled to a lowly seventh in practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as Max Verstappen completed a practice double.

The 21-year-old Dutchman, who could on Saturday become the youngest pole-sitter in Formula One history, finished more than one second clear of any driver in non-Red Bull machinery.

Hamilton needs to finish only seventh to win the title, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, fourth in practice, must be victorious to take the title fight on to Brazil in a fortnight’s
time.

The Mercedes star, 33, wants to win the championship with his 10th victory of an impressive year, but, on the evidence of the opening running here, that would appear a tall order.

“Red Bull seem out of our reach at the moment,” Hamilton said on Friday night. “Ferrari are right there with us, but we’re here to try and compete, so we will do the best we can to have a real race.

“We’ve got some ground to catch up on, so we will go through everything in the debrief on Friday night, and look at all the details to find some answers.”

Earlier in the week, Verstappen, who triumphed in Mexico last year, vowed to spoil Hamilton’s probable fifth coronation by winning on Sunday, and the Dutchman appears the man to beat after a dominant day.

There was a sour end to both his, and Red Bull’s impressive running, however, after the team’s temperamental reliability issues struck again when Verstappen broke down with a hydraulics problem.

Verstappen, and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who finished second in both sessions, have between them failed to finish 11 races this year.

“Today has been really good, and better than expected,” Verstappen said. “We have a very good car at this circuit, good downforce and good mechanical grip.

“The car was quick here last year but after today I think we are more competitive than 2017.

“We think I had a small issue with hydraulics at the end but we haven’t been able to check the car yet. We are not too concerned. The guys will investigate, but hopefully it is a quick fix.”