Mexico – Free Practice 1: The Red Bulls Assert Their Status as Favorites
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo set the two fastest times in the first free practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix. They are ahead of the surprising Renaults of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg, with the Mercedes and Ferraris following at a respectable distance.
The rain that was expected this Friday does not seem ready to make its appearance for this first free practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix.
It is therefore on a very dusty track that the 20 drivers take turns for a reconnaissance lap before returning to their pit.
For this first session, Antonio Giovinazzi replaces Charles Leclerc at Sauber, Lando Norris takes the place of Fernando Alonso at McLaren, and finally, Nicholas Latifi replaces Esteban Ocon at the Racing Point Force India team.
The recent winner of the United States Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen, sets the first benchmark time at 1:19.798 with the Hyper soft tires. Still far from the best times of last year and the track record, but the track will improve as the session and weekend progress, once cleaned by the passage of the cars. His teammate, Sebastian Vettel, equipped with the same tires, soon beats his time with a 1:19.696. The Ferrari team has decided to start their work very early this weekend.
Fresh from his epic win in Austin… It’s Kimi – and he’s gone fastest! #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ULIMojoAkH
— Formula 1 (@F1) 26 octobre 2018
The Mercedes and Red Bull cars take to the track almost simultaneously and soon begin to fight for the best time. Lewis Hamilton is the first to put his name at the top of the timing sheet, followed by Max Verstappen and then Daniel Ricciardo with a 1:17.932. All these drivers are on Hyper soft tires.
The two Red Bulls are therefore in the first two positions and confirm their status as favorites halfway through the session. Meanwhile, at Ferrari, the new flat floor that was installed on Sebastian Vettel’s car is being transferred to Kimi Räikkönen’s car. The mechanics are hard at work in the Italian garage, and both drivers are on foot.
The only driver not to have set a time midway through the session is Pierre Gasly, who once again had to change several components of his Honda power unit. The Toro Rosso driver already knows he will start last on Sunday, no matter what…
Having done some running on the latest Spec Power Unit, we’re now changing Pierres for FP2 to match the same unit Brendon is running for the rest of the weekend as planned 👍🏻#MexicanGP 🇲🇽#F1ESTA pic.twitter.com/60VMls7rh1
— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) 26 octobre 2018
The Ferrari mechanics worked quickly, allowing Kimi Räikkönen to get back on the track 35 minutes before the end of the session. The Finn is on Ultra soft tires, but he spins out in the second sector. He had nevertheless set the fastest time in the first sector.
In the last half hour, the track has been consistently improving. Among the challengers, the two Renault drivers stand out on Hyper soft tires, positioning themselves in 3rd and 4th place, Nico Hülkenberg ahead of Carlos Sainz. They are ahead of the two Mercedes.
Both cars return. Carlos improves on his last lap, moving up to third ahead of Nico.
Carlos ⏱ 1:17.926 #RSspirit #MexicoGP #FP1 pic.twitter.com/LzboadpRIa— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) 26 octobre 2018
Lewis Hamilton came out on Ultra Soft tires but did not improve his own time. He even complained over the radio about a loss of power during his fast lap. An issue that evidently did not affect Verstappen, who improved his time and was more than 0.4 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.
The Ferrari drivers, also on ultra softs, are struggling more than two seconds behind the Red Bulls. Wheel lock-up, spin, this weekend’s start for the reds is not going smoothly.
In front of his audience, Sergio Pérez is outpaced by Force India’s reserve driver, Nicholas Latifi. The Mexican is only 11th. An amusing detail, the three reserve drivers participating in this session are ahead of the official drivers: Norris ahead of Vandoorne, Giovinazzi ahead of Ericsson, and thus Latifi ahead of Pérez.
“The tyres are falling to pieces, guys!”#MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/hEZTzZCPSe
— Formula 1 (@F1) 26 octobre 2018
The final minutes are dedicated to long stints for several drivers, among them Brendon Hartley, who is the only Toro Rosso driver on track, and Nico Hülkenberg, who maintains 4th place behind his teammate. Conclusion from these race simulations, the Ultra soft tires degrade very quickly… except for Red Bull!
The full classification of FP1:
FP1 CLASSIFICATION: @redbullracing and @RenaultSportF1 👏 lead the way #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Qyqb373oGa
— Formula 1 (@F1) 26 octobre 2018
