Max Verstappen
“It was quite a good day for us as a Team, of course we are always trying to improve and make the car better but overall, it’s looking pretty good. The track was very dirty in FP1 which made it quite difficult for us but FP2 was much better.
“It’s always difficult to know how we are going to perform in qualifying after Friday practice, and there are quite a few things to look at to improve performance.
“It’s been a positive start and we have a good feeling as a Team heading into the weekend.”
Valtteri Bottas
“It was a tricky start to the day with low-grip conditions and the dusty track.
“This made it hard to get a proper read on the car but nevertheless, it felt not too far off how it should be, and that means we could fine-tune things for FP2. This afternoon, the car felt okay but there’s still time we need to find because Red Bull looks quick.
“They seem faster than us right now, and they showed strong pace on the Soft tyre on a single lap, so we need to find more time if we want to fight for pole.”
Lewis Hamilton
“The car’s generally feeling okay and we’ve not had any major issues today – we’re giving it everything we’ve got and Red Bull are just a bit quicker than us right now.
“We’ve been chipping away at the setup and trying to improve it, but you can see we are lacking a bit of overall downforce here and that shows in the lap times.
“It was great to see lots of people came out today, and I’m looking forward to continuing the battle this weekend.”
Sergio Perez
“I think we didn’t lose that much progress today, despite the shunt in FP1. It was a shame we damaged the car and we gave a little bit of extra work to the boys in the garage but other than that incident it was a positive day. I am feeling more comfortable on the long runs than over one lap, so I think there is still the potential to improve the car on the short runs.
“I have one more session to work on them and my target is to be on that front row tomorrow. The margins are going to be very close in qualifying to the Mercedes but hopefully, we can lock out that front row. I don’t think it has been a representative day in terms of predicting qualifying, tomorrow everything will be even closer, and it will be interesting to see how we all lineup.
“The fans have been incredible already, it is great to look around and have so much support here, everyone is being so enthusiastic and is pushing me to go faster. Every time I stop the car, I can hear the crowd and it’s only Friday!”
Carlos Sainz
“A challenging Friday as always here in Mexico, where the lack of grip affects the behaviour of the car a lot. We tried some changes from FP1 to FP2 which didn’t seem to work, so we came back to this morning’s set-up during the session to try and replicate the balance I had in FP1 when I was happier with it.
“Tomorrow we’ll try other alternatives to see if we can keep finding lap time and improve the overall performance of the car. Some of our competitors look very quick so it’s going to be a tight fight.
“Whenever I switch off the engine, I can hear the fans shouting loud in the grandstands. It’s been great to see so many Ferrari flags out there here in Mexico. We feel the support and we will try to put together a good weekend for everyone watching!”
Pierre Gasly
“I must say, I’m very happy with today. We’ve finished both sessions in the top six and there are lot of positives with the car so far, I think we can even find some more performance tomorrow.
“It’s really slippery out there, which doesn’t feel great, but we’re still very competitive, so I’m really pleased. Looking to the race, the tyres felt pretty good as well.
“We know that usually here in Mexico the track isn’t so tough on the Hards, especially compared to last time out in Austin, but we’re happy with the long-running we’ve done so far, which we now need to analyse ahead of Sunday.”
Charles Leclerc
“It’s great to be back in Mexico City! The atmosphere here is amazing as always. Even before arriving at the track, it’s really impressive to see so many fans around town and we really appreciate everyone’s support.
“Our sessions today were quite different. In the morning, there was a lot of dust on the track, which made it quite slippery and tricky to drive, especially in terms of braking.
“The track evolution was significant between FP1 and FP2. Lap after lap, you could feel that you are getting faster. It’s still difficult to compare ourselves to the others and understand exactly where we are.
“For tomorrow, we just have to focus on putting together the best lap we can and then I am confident that we have the potential to do a good job this weekend.”
Yuki Tsunoda
“I’m quite happy with today, I think the balance of the car has been good and we’ve shown strong pace straight from FP1.
“We’ve obviously got the penalty, which means that our approach to Qualifying will be slightly different, but we’ve still collected a lot of important data for the engineers to analyse tonight.
“Mainly my focus is on the race, more so than the one lap pace for Qualifying, so I’ve done a lot of long-running today and I feel comfortable in the car so far.”
Sebastian Vettel
“It was a decent start to the weekend and it was good fun, despite the dusty and slippery conditions. I felt happy in the car and we gradually worked through the programme and built up the knowledge of the tyres.
“It is difficult to know exactly where we stand because the track was constantly evolving and getting quicker and quicker throughout the day. I think we have made good progress, though, and I expect it to be very close in and around the top 10.
“As ever, we will aim to fight for Q3, but I think all the teams have more to extract, as do we. Let’s see tomorrow.”
Fernando Alonso
“The circuit offered very little grip this morning between the altitude and the dust making some parts of the track slippery. The improvement of the track was significant, and it is quite obvious when reading the times of the two sessions.
“This makes it difficult to understand the slightest change on the car between FP1 and FP2. We have work to do to see if we can find solutions for tomorrow.
“It was good to find a relatively normal Friday after the difficult one in Austin. It was also nice to see the passion of the fans and that should be fascinating tomorrow!”
