The Friday in F1 Mexico GP saw lots of dust and offs for multiple drivers, but also a close fight up and down the field to set-up the weekend.
The Friday in F1 Mexico GP saw a close fight at the front of the field with both Red Bull and Mercedes drivers neck and neck to each other. The former seemed to have the edge both in qualifying and race runs but only by just to have the latter on their heels.
Speaking about their day, both Mercedes drivers had multiple offs, but both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were not concerned about that particularly. On Red Bull side, after the barrier brush for Sergio Perez, he was on-song while Max Verstappen had a smooth run.
Hamilton: “Yes, it’s looking good for us, the objective being able to try and battle with these guys. But they’re definitely too quick for us at the moment. The car has been feeling OK. I’ve not really had any major issues. We’re giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, and I think they are just quicker than us at the moment. No real concerns. Just chipping away at our set-up and just trying to improve it. But we’re lacking downforce, which is… probably why we had that half-a-second difference ahead of us.”
Verstappen: “It was quite a good day. Of course, we’re always trying to improve the car, trying to make it feel better. Of course also in FP1, the track was very dirty, so in FP2 that was already a bit nicer. The car’s working quite well. A few things… to look at but pretty good. We have a good feeling but tomorrow we need to be there as well. We need to look into a lot of things, but it was a positive start to the weekend.”
Behind them, it was a mixed bag with the likes of AlphaTauri, Ferrari, Alpine and Aston Martin in the Top 10 mix, while McLaren were just outside of it. The biggest threat seemed to be Pierre Gasly, aided by the Honda power unit in such conditions.
The Frenchman was certainly marked as the F1 driver to beat by the Ferrari duo, who did complain of troubles – especially Charles Leclerc – but not as much as McLaren. While Daniel Ricciardo had gearbox issues, Lando Norris majorly felt lack of balance grip.
It wasn’t the case for both the AlphaTauri F1 cars, though, as both Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda were satisfied of their run. For Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, it was a double Top 10 finish in the practice sessions and he straightaway felt comfortable in the car.
Leclerc: “We had some things going on in the background that wasn’t pleasing to drive, but nothing too big, and everything we can control, so it’s no big problems – it was just a bit more difficult to drive in those conditions. Just a little bit of lack of torque sometimes out of the corners, but lack of acceleration, but nothing too big again. We will have a meeting later. They [the team] know what it is, but I am not aware yet. It’s strange because we came here thinking that we would be quite competitive but actually AlphaTauri looks very competitive. The Honda guys in general look very competitive and the McLaren also will be there, so it’s going to be very, very tight tomorrow.”
Ricciardo: “We had an issue, so came in, and let’s say there were a few checks to go through, so we couldn’t get back out – or let’s say it wasn’t worth the risk going back out, so I got a few laps in on the hard and then that was it. We have to get it all together tomorrow, but we will obviously have the morning session to get on top of it. It’s definitely not written off yet,” he added. “I mean it obviously gives us a bit more work to do but it’s definitely not out of reach. We’ve got some pace to find but I think Lando’s first run looked a little bit better this afternoon so we’ll try and dissect that and see what we can learn.”
Gasly: “I must say, I’m very happy with today. We’ve finished both sessions in the top six and there are lot of positives with the car so far, I think we can even find some more performance tomorrow. It’s really slippery out there, which doesn’t feel great, but we’re still very competitive, so I’m really pleased. Looking to the race, the tyres felt pretty good as well. We know that usually here in Mexico the track isn’t so tough on the Hards, especially compared to last time out in Austin, but we’re happy with the long-running we’ve done so far, which we now need to analyse ahead of Sunday.”
Vettel: “It was a decent start to the weekend and it was good fun, despite the dusty and slippery conditions. I felt happy in the car and we gradually worked through the programme and built up the knowledge of the tyres. It is difficult to know exactly where we stand because the track was constantly evolving and getting quicker and quicker throughout the day. I think we have made good progress, though, and I expect it to be very close in and around the top 10. As ever, we will aim to fight for Q3, but I think all the teams have more to extract, as do we.”
Alonso: “The circuit started with very low grip today because of the altitude and it was very dusty this morning too which made it feel slippery in parts of the track. The track evolution is huge which is quite obvious when you look at the times from the two practice sessions. This makes understanding any changes on the car between FP1 and FP2 very difficult. We have some work to do, but let’s see if we can find some solutions for tomorrow. It was good to be back to a relatively normal Friday for us, after a difficult one in Austin. It was also nice to see the passion of the fans here, it should be exciting.”
At the back, Alfa Romeo did not have the best of the days, even though Kimi Raikkonen was thereabouts near the Top 10. Like Ricciardo, Williams’ George Russell faced gearbox issue, where his would more be needing a penalty as it was a race spec. At Haas, it wasn’t smoothest outing for the two F1 rookies, but they learnt a lot.
Russell: “Unusually, we encountered several gearbox issues today and have consequently had to take a new gearbox which will give us a grid penalty. It’s not ideal but it’s Sunday where the points are awarded. FP1 on the other hand was a strong session for us. The car was feeling good, I found a decent rhythm and we showed some strong race pace. That race pace is going to be critical as the high altitude makes it really difficult for the cooling, for the brakes and for the power unit. If we’re on top of that then I think we can be on the front foot for the race.”
Schumacher: “Overall, it was positive. I think we solved the issues in FP2 that we had in FP1 and we can be happy with the day. We’ve learned a lot – the track is fun to drive – and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. It was better than I expected in terms of behavior of the car and that’s a very positive trait for today. There’s still more to come, hopefully, it’s all about trying to hit the right lap and be in the right spot at the right time.”
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP FP1 panned out
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP FP2 panned out
