It was fairly positive day for the Mercedes F1 team overall on the first day of the Mexican Grand Prix when their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished their days work in second and sixth overall.
The morning session was dominated by graining on the tyres, which then improved in the afternoon session as is normally seen here in Mexico. Valtteri was quickest in this session after 42 laps while Lewis was second after 35 laps.
Unfortunately, Lewis lost a tyre set on his first run in FP2, but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because he then had a really nice long run on the UltraSofts later in the session.
โIt's been a good day today. It didn't really start out great, particularly in the second session with the big spin on my first lap,โ Hamilton said. โThat really threw off the session and obviously made it a little bit tricky to get the run on the SuperSoft."
"So I put myself on the back foot. But the single lap and then the long run on the UltraSoft was probably one of the best I've ever done. I don't think I've ever done 26 laps that consistent, apart from in the race maybe."
"We got lots of information, the track was feeling better in the second session once the temperature came up. It was great to see all the fans buzzing already today, in the paddock but also in the big grandstands. So overall a good day.โ
