Mexico – Free Practice 1: Bottas Emerges and Sets a New Track Record
In a session marked by a red flag shortly after the midpoint following Celis Jr's off-track excursion, the battle for the fastest time turned into a duel between Bottas and Hamilton. Vettel and Verstappen, who were briefly in contention, conceded to the Finn who is the only one to go under 1:17. Vandoorne couldn't register a time due to an engine failure on the Honda unit.
It is 10 am – local time – when the pit lane light turns green. Fernando Alonso catches everyone off guard and shows up nearly 2 minutes early. Stoffel Vandoorne joins him, equipped with the Halo, and Daniel Ricciardo follows suit.
Oh Hallo, Halo! #MexicoGP #PinkPanthers pic.twitter.com/ofrLL22dmj
— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) 27 octobre 2017
The runs this Friday morning are Gelael, Leclerc, Celis Jr, and Giovinazzi. They replace Gasly, Ericsson, Ocon, and Grosjean, respectively. You can see yellow fluorescent liquid on the rear wing of Hartley’s Toro Rosso, while sensors are placed between the front wing and the vertical deflectors on the right side of Sainz’s Renault.
At the start of this session, Giovinazzi is the only one on the track. He strings together laps and improves his times to a modest 1:23.841 on the 4th lap. These times are still in line with those of the backmarker teams from last season.
It’s no great surprise that Bottas takes the advantage over the Italian driver with a 1:21.212, while Hamilton takes a small detour onto the grass at turn 2 after entering just a bit too quickly.
Hamilton runs off at Turn 3
SSF1: https://t.co/6rBGQ1DK1M
Blog: https://t.co/8Vv1Tzm0bx #SkyF1 #MexicanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ak98TPF8sm— Sky Sports F1 🏎 (@SkySportsF1) 27 octobre 2017
It’s a duel between the Mercedes drivers that lowers the timing mark, in favor of Bottas who clocks a 1:19.614, two-tenths better than Hamilton. They are joined by Vettel and Verstappen in the fight for the best time, but the Silver Arrows do not relinquish the front row.
The first yellow flag is attributed to Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander stopped in the stadium (T4-5-6) with the engine off. After some handling, he manages to restart his Toro Rosso to bring it back to the pit while Magnussen is also forced to return to his pit following a water leak on his Haas.
Hartley stops on track causing at VSC
SSF1: https://t.co/fmHsWbEprD
Blog: https://t.co/R1qO6uAoa8 #SkyF1 #MexicanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nlVZui1oci— Sky Sports F1 🏎 (@SkySportsF1) 27 octobre 2017
Ranking update at mid-session:
1 Vettel, 2 Bottas, 3 Verstappen, 4 Hamilton, 5 Räikkönen, 6 Pérez, 7 Ricciardo, 8 Massa, 9 Alonso, 10 Sainz, 11 Hülkenberg, 12 Stroll, 13 Wehrlein, 14 Gelael, 15 Hartley, 16 Celis Jr, 17 Leclerc, 18 Giovinazzi, 19 Magnussen, 20 Vandoorne (no time)
FP1 INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (45/90 MINS): Sebastian Vettel out in front… #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/9igWpST4QX
— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 octobre 2017
It is a Valtteri Bottas in great form who breaks the ambient silence. The Finn on ultra-softs records a 1:17.824, pushing Sebastian Vettel to a full second behind. In Vandoorne’s garage, you can see a McLaren with its heart open, literally, as the rear assembly is removed from the chassis to allow mechanics to work on the engine part. The session is significantly shortened for the Belgian driver.
Uncomfortable at the entry of the turn, Sean Gelael ends up losing his Toro Rosso as he enters turn 12. He causes a yellow flag while he regains control of the track. Moments later, it’s Alfonso Celis Jr who loses his Force India entering the 16th and penultimate turn. The rear of the car is ripped off, and race control decides to bring out the red flag to clear the car from the track.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
📻 CEL: “I crashed. I think there is a lot of damage”#MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/sZD7gcXC9r
— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 octobre 2017
While Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, and Ricciardo continue pushing for the fastest time after the session resumes, Verstappen must remain grounded due to a problem with the Renault engine that requires the mechanics’ intervention.
🇲🇽 10 MINS TO GO IN FP1 🇲🇽
TOP 10
BOT
HAM
VER
RIC
VET 📸
RAI
PER
ALO
MAS
HUL#MexicoGP #FP1 pic.twitter.com/d56IgvxNAx— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 octobre 2017
The last quarter-hour is dedicated to race relay simulations. This does not prevent Pérez, Massa, Sainz, and Magnussen from improving on the timing sheet.
The final ranking at the end of the session:
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1): A successful morning for @MercedesAMGF1 #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/GXdMM3hfON
— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 octobre 2017
