Mercedes drivers surprised by the lack of performance
Mercedes had a difficult first testing session. Despite their disappointment, the drivers remain confident and motivated for the rest of the weekend in Mexico.
The first two practice sessions ended on Friday night to Saturday morning (French time). For Mercedes, the two outings were not very convincing. After the euphoria of fighting for victory in Austin, the silver team had a rather bitter reality check. In the first outing, Lewis Hamilton achieved the 11th best time with 1.20.7, which was 1.006 seconds slower than the leader, Verstappen.
The FP2 sessions were better for the Briton with a 7th place, but they are still +0.338 behind the Dutchman. Hamilton even declared that he had not-so-great feelings in the columns of AutoSport, despite the change in settings. It’s like day and night compared to Austin. The car is different, and you never know how it will behave. Some days it’s great, others not. It’s hard to achieve the best lap time, he added.
Despite his disappointment after the trials, the six-time World Champion remains motivated. « There is certainly some performance to be found, he said. « It’s just a matter of trying to exploit it, and it’s been a bit unpredictable this weekend, maybe due to the aerodynamic mapping or whatever else. This day certainly wasn’t a fun day compared to Austin. And yes, we are a bit behind, but I hope overnight we can find something and tomorrow the car will maybe be more enjoyable to drive. »
Russell is confident for Saturday.
On the side of the second car, George Russell’s, it was Frederik Vesti who did FP1. A session that won’t be engraved in his memory in terms of performance, with the slowest time. In the second session, Russell took back his seat to secure the 10th time with 1.19.227. After these tests, the 25-year-old driver, aware of the difficulties, remains optimistic about the rest of the weekend. « It was a bit tricky session, with rain here and there, and we had the Pirelli prototype tires », analyzed Russell. « The field is very tight. But I think there is potential, and we have a lot of work to do by tomorrow, as the competition is very intense. I think our setups were not within the ideal range, and Lewis and I had different setups. The information we gathered must be halfway to reality. Of course, we aim for pole position, and Max still has a slight advantage, but I think any team can fight for the top two rows. We need to make sure that it will be our team. »
