© Vladimir Rys2024 Mexico City Grand Prix - Free Practice ReportAn eventful Friday in Mexico: Time for some fine-tuning ahead of qualifying
Max finished P4 and Checo in P10 in the opening session of the Mexican Grand Prix with two red flags in an eventful opening hour.
Max and Checo started the session on the hard tyres, which for this weekend is the C3, with the soft being the C5, the softest in Pirelli’s range.
Max put in one flying lap, which saw him go top of the timesheet, his time was 1:20.970. Checo was on his first flying lap when the red flags were waved for the first time in the session for debris on the track.
Once the debris was removed, the track reopened and Checo came straight back out and put in three push laps on the white-walled hard tyre. His fastest time was 1:20.144 placing him P4 at that point. Max put in one more push lap on the used hard tyre, his time of 1:20.085 put him P4, pushing Checo down the timesheet.
Before Max could go again, Alex Albon lost control of his Williams at turn 10. He rode the curb, unsettling his car that drove him into Oliver Bearman’s Ferrari (who was in for Charles Leclerc for FP1). After hitting Bearman, Albon then went heavily into the wall. Both cars had to retire from the session.
When the track had been cleared, most teams came out of their garages on the soft tyres for their qualifying runs. George Russell was the first to set a flying lap, his time of 1:17.998 put him top of the timesheet. Max completed one push lap on the softs and his time was 1:18.839, which provisionally put him in P2 behind Russell. Checo’s fastest time on the softs was 1:19.094, which saw him in P4 at that moment.
For the final few minutes of FP1 Max and Checo came out on the used hards for some high-fuel laps. With five minutes remaining, Max had completed four laps, but returned to the pits due to an issue with the car, and that was the end of his session. Checo completed six high-fuel laps to finish the first hour.
At the chequered flag, Max had dropped to P4, with Russell top, Carlos Sainz in P2 and VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda in P3. Checo’s final position was P10.
The later session on Friday was extended to 90-minutes and had been mandated by Pirelli so each driver would test its 2025 prototype tyres. Every driver was given two compounds of tyres, that ranged between the C4 and C6 (which will be a new softer tyre for next year). The mandated session said that each driver had to complete two five-lap baseline stints and two 12-lap high-fuel runs.
Checo was the first Bull to leave the garage and his opening push lap on the prototype. The Bulls were given the C4 to test. He set a time of 1:19.056, which put him P1 at that moment. He then improved with a 1:19.030, but by the time he had completed that run, he was in P3.
Max went out on track, but on his outlap he complained about a strange noise, and he returned to the pits.
Whist both Bulls were in the garage, Mercedes’ George Russell crashed heavily into the barriers after losing control of his car in turn nine after he ran over the curb. This caused the red flags to be waved and the track was closed for more than 20 minutes as they removed Russell’s car and repaired the barrier.
When the pitlane reopened Max went out, but once again was quickly called back into the pits. When he returned to the garage, he jumped out the car signalling the end of his day.
Checo then completed his second baseline stint where he improved on his time. He set a 1:18.392, which placed him P5 at that point.
Checo then fulfilled his quota of completing two 12-lap high-fuel stints, setting consistent times in the 1:22s.
At the chequered flag Checo had dropped to P9. He was 0.693s behind Carlos Sainz who was quickest in FP2, with Oscar Piastri in second and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 3 for the second time in the day.
