Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli ran wide on one of his first laps out on track, but after that settled in and looked relatively quick in the opening session, as Fred Vesti kept him company in the top three in an accomplished showing. George Russell joined the fray in FP2, and went third fastest on his second push lap on the softs, showing he seems up for the fight here. That was a tenth faster than his team mate, with Mercedes having a very solid opening day in Mexico City.
Kimi Antonelli – FP1: 1:18.787, P2; FP2: 1:18.044, P4
“First of all, it was good to be back in the car and feeling healthy today. It was an interesting Friday here in Mexico; it’s never easy to get a read on the car, particularly in FP1 when the track needs a lot of cleaning. We tried a few different things between the sessions to get the car balance in a better window, and it seems that we improved things for FP2.
“There are definitely more things we can improve going into tomorrow and we have some work to do overnight. Ferrari looked very quick, but we will focus on ourselves, see where we can find more performance and hopefully put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow.”
George Russell – FP2: 1:17.933, P3
“Fred did a really good job in the car and set us up well for my hour of practice; it was good to get into a rhythm so quickly after sitting out FP1. Mexico is always a unique challenge because of the altitude and the low grip, and that feels even more pronounced this year. We’ve been running high levels of downforce at most circuits because of the way the cars operate on the straights, so coming here we don’t have the same step up in downforce that we would normally have at this circuit. That makes the car particularly tricky to drive, and you also have the challenge of turbo lag at this altitude.
“It’s incredibly tight out there and every bit of lap time is going to matter. Ferrari look the strongest at the moment, which is perhaps not a surprise given the characteristics of this circuit, but I think it could go any way by Q3 tomorrow. We need to maximise everything because the margins are going to be very small.”
Fred Vesti – FP1: 1:18.861, P3
“My FP1 session today was really satisfying. We worked through our full programme, gained lots of valuable data both for this weekend and the longer term, and helped set up the rest of our day. Personally, I was also very happy with how I performed across the hour. I knew my soft tyre lap was a good one, but seeing P3 on the timing screens made me extremely happy. I’ve put a huge amount of work into this car with the team, going back to the start of its development two years ago, so to have the opportunity to drive it here in Mexico and put together a strong lap was very special.
“I’m very grateful for the trust the team has in me and for the opportunity to show what I can do. These sessions are important for all us rookies, so I am pleased to make the most of it today. I felt comfortable in the car, put together a good lap and was really pleased to finish P3. It was a great experience and one I really enjoyed.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“It’s been a solid first day in Mexico. Kimi and Fred both did a good job in FP1, particularly given how difficult the conditions can be here with the altitude and low grip. Fred completed the programme we had planned for him and did an excellent job to finish P3. That gave us useful information to carry into FP2 when George returned to the car.
“Mexico is the hardest track to prepare for as it’s impossible to simulate all the effects of altitude. We use Friday to understand the various issues that we are facing and come up with an approach to managing those through qualifying and the race.
“From the power unit side, we seem to be in reasonable shape with good delivery of power out of the corners. The cooling for both brakes and power unit is always an issue here but we were able to do decent long runs on both cars and whilst we’d like a bit more margin, it seems like all teams are having to do some management.
“The field is tight and we wouldn’t put ourselves at the front of the bunch from today’s running. We’re struggling with a lack of stability on entry that moves to apex understeer. The single lap issues are actually quite similar to the long run, which should make it a bit easier to progress, but it’s clear we need to find a step if we want to be challenging for the front row.”
