Mexico City GP: Day 1 Team & Driver quotes

In front of an appreciative Mexican crowd on Friday, roaring on their local hero Sergio Perez every time he passed the packed grandstands, in the stadium area in particular. The Autodromo oozes its unique passion and enthusiasm for the sport, even on day one of the track action.

Perez for his part was his normal three-tenths slower than teammate Verstappen when the chequered waved at the end of the final session of the day, with the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc wedged between the RBRs on the final timesheets.

This is what the teams and drivers had to say after day one of F1 practice in Mexico:

Max Verstappen: “I think it was a positive start to the weekend, of course, it wasn’t plain sailing out there today, there are always a few things to improve. You can see that the track is very slippery and the tyres were difficult to manage in the long runs, so there are still a few things that we can work on. We did look competitive out there so that’s good, maybe even better than expected. Tomorrow, it’s going to be incredibly close over one lap and the race pace again will be a different story."

Sergio Perez: "It is funny when you are in the car you are so focused you can forget where you are and then as soon as you are out, it’s like wow, it’s a lot of attention, but it is so nice to have a lot of support from the fans. I would say we didn’t have a straightforward day, we didn’t get a good read on the soft over a single lap, I had a yellow flag, so I ended up doing it on my second timed lap. Then my lap wasn’t tidy and I nearly ended up going off in the final corner! So, there are still plenty of things to understand, especially the different compounds to get a good read for Sunday. I think overall we are looking in a good position and I think we have a good direction to take. Things are looking good but as we know, qualifying is going to be tight."

Lando Norris: "A good start to the weekend, it’s close. We’ll continue to try and improve but it’s a good start. I think we generally do start the weekend off well. We always have a good idea where to put the car to begin with, and normally it’s not far off from where we end up, so there’s not a lot to gain through the weekend. However, there’s always little things we can improve and work on, and those things do add up. So, a couple of bits still to improve, but we’re off to a good start and can build from here."

Oscar Piastri: "It was a good first day here in Mexico City. The track is very low grip and that takes a lot of getting used to, but it seems cool. I feel like I’ve built up through the day and we had a reasonable FP2 session. There are still a few things to tidy up and find tomorrow but it’s looking reasonably good."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "It’s been a productive first day in Mexico City. We had no issues across either session, which meant we could work on set-up, tyres and cooling. Overall, our performance looks encouraging, however, it seems many teams have the potential to be competitive here. We will do our best, adapt to the conditions and hopefully secure good starting positions tomorrow for Sunday’s Grand Prix."

Team Report: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were third and eleventh fastest today, based on their times in the second Friday session, the quickest of the two at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. However, it is difficult right now to have a clear picture of the pecking order in the field because the teams all seem to have run different programmes, as can be seen by some unusual results on the time sheets.
In the first session, the Scuderia worked on optimising cooling of the various components, which is always very important in Mexico and then focussed on set-up in the afternoon. Both drivers also tested a prototype C4 tyre for possible use in 2024 alongside the three other compounds supplied here by Pirelli.

Charles Leclerc: "It has been a positive day overall as we were able to test everything we wanted. We tried all the tyres available and worked a bit on the setup even if it’s clear that being only Friday there’s still some work to do for tomorrow’s qualifying and the race. We will analyse all the data we collected and will work to make a step forward."

Carlos Sainz: "A busy Friday here in Mexico as working with the prototype tyres always mixes things up. Despite a minor setback in FP1 we managed to cover our main items on the run plan throughout the day.
There is still some work to do before qualifying so I’m looking forward to digging into our data tonight and jumping back in the car for FP3. The atmosphere today was, as always, amazing! Thanks to all the fans for your support!"

Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a challenging day for me today, the car felt completely different to what it felt like in Austin a week ago and we need to understand why. We didn't show the most competitive long-runs, so we've been focusing on trying out different set-ups. The track here comes with its challenges, but we've done well here in previous years. So, we're not yet fully where we want to be ahead of tomorrow, but we will work hard overnight to improve and make necessary changes. The car showed a promising pace in Austin and I'm confident we can get it to a good place here and there's plenty of room for us to improve."

George Russell: "It felt good to be back in the car, but I had a challenging session today with mixed weather conditions and a bit of rain towards the end of FP2, which compromised the consecutive laps for everybody. It's a tight grid out there and lots of traffic during the sessions today, so one of the challenges we will need to tackle this weekend. We also need to make some improvements with the pace of our car, if we want to be at the front end of Q3 tomorrow, but I know we will work hard overnight to achieve that."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We've struggled with the car today and it wasn't the easiest introduction to a free practice session for Fred; Lewis was finding the car quite a handful, but Fred did a good job to get through the test items, he didn't make any mistakes and had some fun driving the track here.
The extra sets of tyres that we had to evaluate tend to mean that the programmes up and down the grid diverge a bit, which makes it more difficult to compare, but we've seen enough to know that we have work to do on both single lap and long run. George is still getting up to speed having missed the first session and both lost a bit of time on single lap with traffic, but we need more than that.
It's also interesting that most teams have had a driver featuring near the front at some point today, which almost certainly means that getting through to the final part of qualifying will not be comfortable.
We've got some good lines of enquiry to follow up overnight so we'll keep working on it, the balance has been pretty poor throughout the day which is normally a good indication there is lap time that can be found.

Daniel Ricciardo: “Since the race in Austin, I’ve been hungry to keep going and get back in the car. After last week’s race, we discovered some things that made me want to prove that we have pace. Today was a very good day. I enjoy Mexico, and the car was solid. From the get-go, I was certainly comfortable, and because it isn’t a Sprint weekend, we have more time to try some things. We continued to chip away and made good progress with our setup, and we look like we’re in a good place, so I’m confident we can carry this performance into tomorrow. The field is close, and you never know what other teams are doing exactly, but I know what I felt in the car today was good, and I believe it’s a top 10 car tomorrow.”

Yuki Tsunoda: “I'm happy because we completed most of our run plan today. As we replaced some elements on the car, we’ll be starting Sunday's race from the back of the grid, which is why today was mainly focused on our long-run performance. The car behaved slightly unusual in terms of balance, and I struggled with a couple of things that I didn’t expect, so our focus tonight will be understanding why. There are some areas we can improve on for tomorrow, but as a group, we collected a lot of data, so we’ll put it all together as a team.”

Jonathan Eddolls, Chief Race Engineer: "We had Isack driving Yuki's car in FP1 today, and he did a very good job with the team. With a similar downforce level to Monza and a green track to start, it's definitely not a straightforward circuit for a rookie driver in a free practice session, but Isack did all we asked of him. He gathered some useful aero data and set competitive lap times.
"The focus for Daniel in FP1 was on setup work based on our findings from his return to the car in Austin. We explored some interesting directions which also translated over to FP2, and I think we found some performance. Tyres and understanding how best to optimise them on this low-grip surface with the track nature were a topic in FP1, but our general limitation was with the front end.
Yuki returned for FP2, and having sat out for FP1, he played catch-up as he took some time to get a good feeling of the car. However, by the time of his soft compound short run, he was there. Daniel was a bit more comfortable with the car, having completed 30 more laps than Yuki, and was able to show that the car has potential here. Yuki will start from the back of the grid on Sunday because we needed to take a fresh Power Unit, but given the pace shown today, we believe Daniel can challenge for a spot in Q3 tomorrow, and we remain optimistic for the rest of the weekend."

Alex Albon: I don’t think we were slow in the FP2, but we obviously had a good run in the first session. We were better than expected but I think we just hit the ground running and optimised the window from the first lap, whereas other teams potentially took a bit longer to get up to speed. We were quick on the Test tyre but my lap on the Softs wasn’t very good. This is a circuit that doesn’t feel great for anyone with the low downforce; you feel like you’re sliding around a lot, however comparing year on year, it’s a big step, so let’s see how we go tomorrow. I don’t think we’re top 5 or top 10 but I do think we’ll be in a position to fight for Q3 tomorrow.

Logan Sargeant: There is pace, but it needs to be extracted in the right way. It’s tricky out there to get everything in the right window whether that’s the tyres or car. The balance isn’t easy to drive with the high altitude. It’s not been the smoothest of days, but we made a good step from FP1 to FP2. From my side, there’s definitely more to come. I need to drive a little better tomorrow but it’s all heading in the right direction.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: "We had a very productive day and were able to test numerous options before the rain started in FP2. Our pace was very strong in FP1 with Alex immediately happy with the car balance. Whilst this was great to see, we fully expected the others to catch up during FP2.
With rain threatening the final third of FP2, we opted to run the new Soft tyre quite early in the session so that we could concentrate on the all-important high fuel running; getting the PU and brake cooling correct for this circuit is a challenge but we collected some good data and will be in a good position for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday.
Our attention can now switch to analysing the results from today’s testing and refining the car ahead of Qualifying tomorrow. Although our position on the timesheet looks less impressive this afternoon, we are still in a good position to secure a strong result tomorrow with a car that should also be competitive on Sunday.

Team Report: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake had a solid start to its Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu closed the day showing the competitiveness of the C43. Earlier in the day, the team’s reserve driver, Théo Pourchaire, also took to the car in lieu of Valtteri, but his FP1 action was reduced by a technical problem to the brake-by-wire system that forced him in the garage for most of the session.

Valtteri Bottas: “I am pleased with how today went: thankfully, we found the issue that affected our car during FP1, and we were able to address it and quickly solve it between the sessions; I would like to thank our mechanics for the hard work put in to get the car back on track. Of course, it was a shame for Théo to miss such an important outing, but I am positive he’ll be back in the car soon. Overall, FP2 has been a clean session, which is important as it was the only practice of the day for me. I got a good number of laps under my belt, and the feeling with the car was generally pretty good. Still, it is only Friday: now our focus will go onto further improving both the setup and my confidence with the track, to fine-tune our car and place ourselves in comfortable positions ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Zhou Guanyu: “It was a solid start to our weekend, the car felt good today. We tried different things to extract the potential we missed in Austin and everything seemed to come together. I do not think we are too far off the top ten, but the key in qualifying and the race will be to get everything right when it matters. Looking at the lap time and at our pace, we improved a lot as a team. When the track returned to regular conditions this afternoon, we seemed to be picking up where we left off last year, and if we can keep this level, we should be competitive. I believe we have enough data to go through tonight to continue making steps to be fighting for Q3 tomorrow.”

Team Report: BWT Alpine F1 Team ran all three of its 2023 driver line-up today in Mexico City as Jack Doohan featured in an official Formula 1 Practice session for the third time of his career.
Australian Jack finished eighteenth in Free Practice 1 as he took over driving duties of Car #10 as part of the mandated rookie outings, adding his experience to three Free Practice sessions having driven for the team during the 2022 Mexico City and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. Esteban Ocon finished ninth in the opening session and eighth in Free Practice 2 with Pierre Gasly sixteenth in his sole session of the day after handing the car to Jack in Free Practice 1 at the 4.3km Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Esteban Ocon: “¡Un placer estar de vuelta en México! It was a very good Friday for us here at the Autódromo. We got through a very busy programme without issues and made good progress between the sessions. We are, of course, keeping our heads down, debriefing as a team, and focusing on how to best approach Qualifying tomorrow. We’ll be working hard overnight to be in the best position to try and reach Q3 and put ourselves in a strong position ahead of Sunday’s race. I feel good in the car, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Pierre Gasly: “It’s great to be back in Mexico City and it’s always a pretty incredible atmosphere all around the circuit here. I was in the garage in Free Practice 1 with Jack [Doohan] in the car as part of the rookie session regulations, so it was interesting to follow the session live from the garage with the engineers. It does mean we had to play catch-up in Free Practice 2, so it was important for us to have a productive session, which we did. There are a few things we need to look at to get the car in a better window and I’m sure we can make some improvements for tomorrow ahead of Free Practice 3 and Qualifying.”

Team Report: Oliver Bearman, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and a four-time race winner in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship, made his Formula 1 Grand Prix debut in FP1, in Mexico. The 18-year-old from Great Britain utilises the first of the team’s two FP1 mandatory rookie slots.
Bearman kicked off his on-track duties running the prototype C4 compound – each car on Friday allocated two sets to run as part of Pirelli’s 2024 tire development program. On the other side of the garage, team regular Nico Hulkenberg ran an identical FP1 tire program. The German clocked a best lap of 1:20.968 on the softs – good for P12 on the timesheet at the checkered flag.
FP2 saw the return of Kevin Magnussen – starting out with a short stint on the prototype C4 tire, immediately followed by a run on the standard mediums. Magnussen’s quickest lap of the session, a 1:20.112 (P19) came on the soft rubber – a high-fuel run on the same compound closing out his afternoon’s run plan. Hulkenberg’s quali sim netted a best effort of 1:19.535 (P15) – also on the softs, having started out matching Magnussen’s tire plan. Hulkenberg wrapped his day at track with a high-fuel outing on his earlier set of medium tires.

Kevin Magnussen: “The pace didn’t look too good. I didn’t do a long run on the mediums, only on the softs, and they wore out very quickly and had a lot of graining, so that wasn’t too easy. We were checking to see if the softs could be used in the race, but it doesn’t look like it. It’s often hard to predict, even after Friday, where we’ll stack up, but I didn’t learn too much today having only one session, hopefully I can get a feel of the other compounds tomorrow.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It was a challenging day. Obviously, coming to Mexico each year we have the same challenge with the thin air, it has some pretty significant side effects. It didn’t feel too good today and the timesheets also don’t look too good so there’s some homework for us to do to find some performance overnight. We’ve had two solid sessions of work, progress, and exploring things, so that was definitely a positive.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: “It looks like our heaviest downforce package is just not enough for here, we’ve struggled in the slower sectors because of the thin air at this altitude. It’s one of these things, we’ll work on it for next year so that our high downforce package works here as well. On a positive note, Oliver Bearman did a good job this morning and got a lot of laps in. He didn’t put a foot wrong, so we’re very happy with what he did for the team.”

Team Report: The opening day of the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix came with its challenges for Lance and Fernando. With a combined 90 laps of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Lance and Fernando ended Friday having gathered useful data on the recent AMR23 updates – but the day wasn't without its difficulties.
At more than 2,000 metres above sea level, the air in Mexico City is of a lower density, reducing the cars' downforce. Furthermore, intermittent showers reduced grip during the second practice session.
In Free Practice One, Fernando completed managed 17 laps in the first session – with a brief pause in the garage as the team removed the aero rake from his car – while Lance completed 26 laps.
Second practice meanwhile saw Lance complete 17 laps as there was an issue removing his wheel in the pits. Fernando turned 30 laps – despite a high-speed spin interrupting one of his Soft-tyred runs.
Part of the day was also spent testing Pirelli's prototype tyre for 2024, with every team reserving time to do so.

Lance Stroll: "It was good to get back out on track in Mexico City today; it's a fun circuit to drive. It's a pretty slippery surface with quite low grip, but I think we made a good start dialling the car in. We got some decent laps in during FP1 and completed our run programme, including high and low fuel running. Unfortunately, FP2 was interrupted by an issue we had removing the wheel from the front left of the car, so we lost a bit of time resolving that. As always, we’ll work through the data tonight to try and get the car in the best place possible ahead of FP3 and Qualifying tomorrow."

Fernando Alonso: "Today we focused a lot on race pace and high fuel running. It's difficult to read too much into the times, but the set-up felt good and we will continue to optimise the AMR23 in Free Practice 3 tomorrow."