The Friday in F1 Mexico GP was stop/start across FP1 and FP2 sessions, with the latter dedicated for Pirelli testing, thereby limiting run plan for the weekend.
There were three red flag stoppages across FP1 and FP2 sessions in F1 Mexico GP weekend, where the latter saw Pirelli running the 2025 compounds. The first red flag for debris from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen didn’t hamper the Dutchman as much, as the power unit issue.
His first session went fine until the end when he reported a potential power unit issue. It was seemingly fixed for FP2 but he reported of same and despite temporary fixes, they couldn’t solve the issue which ended his running early, leaving Sergio Perez to collect the data.
Verstappen is on the backfoot but wasn’t too fearful of a potential power unit penalty. His teammate Perez admitted of struggle across the sessions. Even McLaren’s Lando Norris didn’t feel as good in the car after missing FP1, but Oscar Piastri felt much better than what he did in Austin.
Norris has the updates but can’t give a verdict yet. This paved way for the Ferrari pair to put themselves in the hunt. Carlos Sainz looked good all-round and he feels positive, as did Charles Leclerc, who had his day hampered after missing FP1. They expect a stiff one lap fight which is important.
For Mercedes, George Russell had another major crash in FP2 which derailed his run plan. He looked good in FP1 but is now on the backfoot in terms of the chassis and other components. Lewis Hamilton ran the new updates and had a decent outing after missing FP1.
Verstappen: “From the engine side, we are checking. I don’t know exactly what it is. From my side, a pretty much useless day. I did like four or five laps, so not much to read into it at the moment. I cannot tell you. I never really had a good run. Only four or five laps in total, and that’s even with some long run laps in it. A day to forget. We will be all right [in terms of PU penalty].”
Norris: “Not great, just a lack of laps comparing to most others, playing a little bit of catch-up and just not a great feeling. It’s just hard to get a good feeling around this circuit, just because it’s very low grip. I’m sure we’ll be fine tomorrow, but yeah, not the most comfortable so a bit of work to do. Of course, I always hope that so that’s inevitable. Oscar was quick today, I think I’m a bit off so I’ve got some work to do like I said, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
Sainz: “Yeah, I think it’s a good way to put it. We hit the ground running in FP1 with a good car, good set-up, then all FP1 and FP2 we just worked in fine-tuning a couple of things. Nothing major, so yeah, I’m quite happy with how everything feels. Especially the long runs feel good. I think when it comes to qualifying we’ll have a lot of challenge from our competitors, and over one lap it will be a tight battle. “[It was] very good. I was very comfortable with the car, comfortable with the deg, and that’s positive going into Sunday, although here race pace is less important than Austin because it’s more difficult to overtake.”
Russell: “I definitely feel a bit winded after after that one. Honestly I don’t really know what happened. The car just started bouncing on the ground and before I even had a chance to catch it, it was already spinning. So there’s a lot of work for the guys tonight, again. It just seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating. In FP1 we were really strong, really fast. I’ve taken the same line, cutting that corner and, for whatever reason, on this occasion, FP2, the thing just started going on me. FP2, because it was the Pirelli tyre test, it wasn’t hugely valuable in terms of what you learned going into the race weekend. So I obviously missed out on on laps. FP3 is going to be important, I just hope we can get the car fixed.”
The Top 10 featured Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, who finished third in both the sessions. The team has traditionally done well at the F1 circuit and is looking to continue the moment, with Liam Lawson not too far off along with the Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
The two are in a close battle, with Williams putting itself in the mix. But Alexander Albon was left to rue his FP1 incident with Oliver Bearman, which meant he missed whole of FP2. Franco Colapinto did the heavy work, but reckoned the changes from FP1 to FP2 didn’t work.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon threw himself in the mix as well, but Pierre Gasly didn’t feel as good on Friday. While the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were a bit behind, Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas got himself in the Top 10, with Zhou Guanyu a bit far off.
Tsunoda: “It was a great day, finishing P3 in both sessions for the first time this year. In FP1 I felt good straight away. FP2 was the tyre test, and to be in the top three again felt good. Hopefully we can still improve and fine tune tomorrow. We’re aiming for Q3. So far, we’re top of the midfield and that’s where we want to be. Especially as we fight with Haas for P6 in the Championship. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow and we’ll keep our minds sharp. So far, it’s a good start.”
Alonso: “It’s good to be back and I’ve not been feeling 100% over the last few days. Today I did feel okay in the car, but it’s very physically demanding driving an F1 car. Mexico City is always a nice race weekend and of course a double celebration here with the 400 Grands Prix. In general FP2 was a mixed feeling with the tyre testing and I don’t think we can have any conclusions yet. We expect a difficult weekend as it’s a tough circuit for our package, but we will give it our all.”
Albon: “It was a frustrating day today. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow but I’m hoping we’re not too far behind given FP2 was a Pirelli test, so hopefully the lack of track time today is less compromising. Regarding the incident, I think Ollie got told that I was behind him too late and tried his best to speed up into the high-speed corners, but I just caught him at the worst part of the track and there wasn’t much I could’ve done to avoid it. We’ll put it behind us as a racing incident and hopefully turn things around for tomorrow.”
Hulkenberg: “It was a bit of a different and unique Friday in that sense, but the car felt pretty positive, and I was competitive in FP1, while Kevin was very competitive in FP2. If we put it together, it looks like we can fight around the top 10. We’ll now try to clean up the set-up and try to find a bit more performance. We take last week’s momentum into here but it’s a different track with different conditions, so we need to work for it and earn it.”
Ocon: “Today was a positive day, I felt comfortable in the car straight away and the grip felt much better in comparison to previous years at this track. Free Practice 1 was a good session, we were in the top 10, but of course we do not fully know the potential of others so we will continue to work hard and keep progressing the performance of our car. With the Pirelli prototype tyre test and the set run plan in Free Practice 2, it’s difficult to make too many comparisons. Even so, there is always something to learn when the car is on track and, hopefully, we can have a productive final Practice tomorrow and be in the mix ahead of Qualifying.”
Bottas: “I think today was positive from the first run onwards, as I had good confidence in the car. The gaps are extremely small, and the thin air means certain elements of aerodynamic efficiency are minimised, so the cars are naturally closer together – which could present an opportunity for us in the rest of the weekend. We seem quite okay on single lap pace, but still have work to do on the long runs. Now we just need to find more performance for tomorrow and see where we are.”
The FP1 session had five rookies where Ferrari’s Bearman was the unlucky one to have missed half the session after Albon collided with him. Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a much better run along with McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, Kick Sauber’s Robert Shwartzman and Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich.
Antonelli: “I wanted to deliver a clean FP1 session for the team today and I was pleased that I was able to do that. It was my first time driving the circuit here, so I stayed very much within the limit and just built my confidence lap-by-lap. Overall, it was a decent hour, and, despite the red flags, we gathered lots of data that will hopefully help the team over the rest of the weekend. I was also able to build my understanding of the W15 too. We ran both the Hard and Soft compound and it was good to get a mixture of consecutive running and single lap work completed. Whilst there aren’t any more FP1 sessions for me to take part in this year, I’m looking forward to continuing my programme with previous cars as we build towards 2025.”
O’Ward: “A fabulous day today really, I very much enjoyed my FP1 outing in Mexico. The crowd was unbelievable, and I’m super happy that I was able to extract everything from the programme that the team had planned. It was great to be able to support Lando, Oscar and the team in learning and set-up, and contribute in a positive way to the weekend. I can’t wait to see what the team can do tomorrow and in the race on Sunday.”
Bearman: “Unfortunately, FP1 did not go as we expected today as our session was cut short after an incident with Alex (Albon). It’s a shame, because this track is an interesting one and I was looking forward to gaining some more experience in the SF-24, but these things happen and they are part of racing. I’m looking forward to seeing what our team can do in qualifying tomorrow.”
Shwartzman: “First of all, I’m always grateful to get time running in a Formula One car and to work closely with the Team so a big thanks to Ferrari and Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber for another great opportunity. Going into the session today we had specific targets in terms of collecting data and running through as much testing as possible, but unfortunately, red flags interrupted our run plan and cut the session short. The crash happened right in front of me as I was on a push lap and I’m just glad everyone involved is okay. The car felt good overall and it’s great working with the team, so it was a positive experience.”
Drugovich: “It was my first time in the AMR24 so I took a couple of laps to feel the car and get comfortable with it, especially with the wind and lower grip corners, but after that I was able to push. It was great to be back in an Formula One car. I got some good running at the end of the session, but we definitely lost out on a few laps due to the red flags. I’m happy with how it went though; I collected the data that the team needs to understand the updates and I know where I can improve for next time. Thanks again to the team for their support today – it’s always a pleasure working with everyone trackside.”
Pirelli: “A very important session for us, with a packed programme: not only did we need to gather as much data as possible for the rest of the weekend, but above all, because the in-competition test was the final opportunity to finalise the compound choice, at least as far the softer compounds in the range are concerned, for the 2025 season. With 44 of the total 150 minutes that should have been available lost with the three interruptions, it definitely did not make life easy, neither for us, nor for the teams whom we must thank for their cooperation in running this test. As for the Mexico City race weekend, there were few surprises compared to what we had expected. First and foremost, in the first session there was practically no graining. It’s true that there were not many very long runs, but on a track where in the past, graining played a significant role, that’s already a positive sign.
“The track seemed quick right from the start, with times significantly faster than last year’s, while running in very similar temperatures. The performance evolution was significant, along with, in FP2, quite a drop in temperature as dusk gradually approached. As for the in-competition test, clearly we gathered a lot of data, as it’s not often that we have 20 cars running in the same conditions with different options being compared at the same time. That will require an accurate analysis, but the very first indications have nevertheless emerged. First of all, we can say that the new compounds generally proved to be more mechanically resistant than the current ones, which should reduce the phenomenon of graining. Digging down further into the detail, we saw some rather promising and improved C4 options, both in terms of performance and degradation. As for the C5, there are solutions that seem to contain the degradation more, while of the C6s, there is one that seems clearly better, but we need to look at how to position it compared to the C5 in the 2025 range.”
Here’s FIA on McLaren review plea
Here’s how FP1 of F1 Mexico GP panned out
Here’s how FP2 of F1 Mexico GP panned out
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