Mercedes
Antonelli had a much better FP1 outing than he managed at Monza, although he did run over some debris early on, which required a lengthy stay in the garage to check his floor. As for Russell, he showed serious pace from the word go, with the car looking quick out of the box. But from the highs of FP1 came the lows of FP2, Russell crashing into the barriers earlier on after losing control over the kerbs. He managed to do a serious amount of damage to his car, but fortunately was released swiftly from the Medical Centre. As for Hamilton, he only managed one flying lap on the 2024 tyres late on, so will be keen to try the other compounds tomorrow.
WATCH: Russell triggers red flag with heavy crash during second Mexico practice
Lewis Hamilton – FP2: 1:18.279, P7
“It was great to see Kimi do a really solid job for the team in FP1. It’s been enjoyable working with and supporting him ahead of the session and the programme he carried out set us up well for the afternoon. It’s not always easy to get straight up to speed having missed that opening practice but I got a good feeling from the car in FP2.
“With the tyre test, we couldn’t change anything on the car during the session. The red flag following George’s crash almost meant we lost a decent chunk of running time. Nevertheless, I feel like we got a lot of good information to work through and utilise this evening as we look to make improvements for the rest of the weekend.”
George Russell – FP1: 1:17.998, P1; FP2: 1:19.041, P18
“It was a big hit, and I felt a bit winded initially. I’m OK but unfortunately the car wasn’t. I am not sure what happened. I turned into the corner, trying to cut the line similarly to how I did in FP1. I’m not sure whether it was the kerb or the car bottoming out but it bounced a little and, before I had a chance to catch it, I was already in the wall.
“There is a lot of work on for the team in the garage overnight now, unfortunately. It does feel like it is one thing after another at the moment. It is frustrating as we were strong in FP1 and topped the times. We lost out on a lot of laps in FP2 so FP3 will be important for us to get the car in a good place ahead of Qualifying and Sunday’s race.”
Kimi Antonelli – FP1: 1:19.200, P12
“I wanted to deliver a clean FP1 session for the team today and I was pleased that I was able to do that. It was my first time driving the circuit here, so I stayed very much within the limit and just built my confidence lap-by-lap. Overall, it was a decent hour, and, despite the red flags, we gathered lots of data that will hopefully help the team over the rest of the weekend.
“I was also able to build my understanding of the W15 too. We ran both the Hard and Soft compound and it was good to get a mixture of consecutive running and single lap work completed. Whilst there aren’t any more FP1 sessions for me to take part in this year, I’m looking forward to continuing my programme with previous cars as we build towards 2025.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“FP1 ran smoothly with Kimi doing a solid job as he stepped in for his second rookie session, this time alongside George. We had a busy programme to get through and, despite the interruption of two red flags, were able to complete the majority of it. George meanwhile hit the ground running and felt particularly comfortable on the Soft tyre, topping the times at the end of the hour. With the mandated Pirelli tyre test for FP2, we knew how important getting good FP1 running would be.
“That became even more true as George was unfortunate to lose the car at turn eight early in the extended FP2 session. It was a hefty shunt; fortunately, he was OK but the car fared less well. It has given us a decent amount of work to do to get the car ready for FP3 and we are already working through that. Lewis enjoyed a happier session and was comfortable with the car, although a bit frustrated that the tyre test meant he had no opportunity to work on the setup.”
