Mexican GP – Friday Practice
A year later after the return to the Formula 1 Calendar and we’re back in Mexico – with the conditions and ‘new’ tarmac offering low grip, let’s see how the drivers did during the Mexican GP Friday Practice Session today…
Red Bull Racing – Mexican GP – Friday Practice
Daniel Ricciardo
Practice 1 – P8 – 27 Laps
Practice 2 – P5 – 43 Laps
“It’s really difficult to find the right setup with these conditions, when there is low-grip you have a bit of under-steer and also a bit of over-steer so setting up the car is tricky.”
“I think we have improved from the morning but there is still some progress to make so we’ll prepare for a pretty low-grip track tomorrow and try to improve the balance overall.”
“By Sunday, the last half of the race will be a bit better but I think we’ll fight the balance from now until the end, trying to get comfortable with a slick-feeling track.”
‘The super-soft today was’t a great tyre for the long runs as it wasn’t lasting, I’m not sure how the others got on but I believe everyone has had a few problems with that compound so it’ll be interesting in qualifying tomorrow.”
Max Verstappen
Practice 1 – P14 – 10 Laps
Practice 2 – P7 – 42 Laps
“It was not ideal to miss a lot of the first practice session because of my brakes overheating but we did some good work on the car in the second session which was positive.”
“The brake issue was from pushing a bit hard on the in lap – I am still not completely happy with the set-up of the car over a short distance but I think we have found a good long run pace now.”
“I think we can be competitive on Sunday as I was still making set-up changes towards the end of the second session, they are starting to come together now so I can work from here.”
“The make-up is off today, it’s game face for the rest of the weekend.”
Sahara Force India – Mexican GP – Friday Practice
Nico Hulkenberg
Practice 1 – P5 – 23 Laps
Practice 2 – P6 – 43 Laps
“The main focus on Friday is to complete your programme without issues and from this perspective we had a very good day.”
“Most of the challenges which we are facing are the same as last year – the altitude makes a big difference to the feel of the car and you have a lot less downforce so we need to adapt to the conditions and find the ideal balance for the car.”
“I am not completely happy yet, there is a good margin for improvement and I hope we can dial our car to find it overnight.”
Sergio Perez
Practice 1 – P4 – 23 Laps
Practice 2 – P15 – 41 Laps
“Racing at home is a very emotional moment but when I get in the car, it’s important that I treat this weekend like any other race. The morning went very well and I had a good feeling with the car.”
“I struggled more this afternoon but we know where we need to focus on and the direction we need to take to improve for tomorrow.”
“The conditions today were not what we anticipated but the rest of the weekend should be warmer – we still need to set the car up for what we think we are going to find on the race day but with the data which we collected – it will allow us to do so.”
Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal
“It was very cold this morning, meaning the conditions weren’t very representative of what we expect for the rest of the weekend or for the race day.”
“We have gathered a lot of good data about how to set the car up on race day but we need to find a base for the balance of the car.”
‘The focus is now on preparing the car for qualifying with a view of extracting the most of out it – it’s the work we will be doing in the final practice session tomorrow morning.”
More to follow….
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xx
