Lewis Hamilton said Red Bull are “definitely too quick for us” after the first day of practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen set the pace in the second practice session for the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He lapped over four-tenths of a second faster than the quickest Mercedes, driven by Valtteri Bottas, while Hamilton was half a second adrift.Hamilton said the balance of his car felt good, but the lap time deficit to their main rivals was clear to see.
“The car’s generally been feeling okay,” said Hamilton. “I’ve not really had any major issues.
“I think we were giving it absolutely everything we’ve got. It was just they’re just quicker than us at the moment.
“I’ve got no real concerns, just chipping away at our set-up and trying to improve it. We’re lacking downforce which is probably why they had a half-a-second difference to us.”
Bottas agreed Red Bull “definitely seem quicker today, at least on the single lap.”
“They had really strong pace on the soft tyre. So we need to find a bit of time if we want to fight for the pole,” he said.
However he was satisfied with the progress Mercedes made as the track conditions improved rapidly on a circuit which was very dusty when practice began.
“Starting the day it was quite tricky with the low grip, it was a really dusty track and that’s why it was quite difficult to get a proper read on how the car actually is. But I felt it was not far off how it should be and we could really fine-tune for practice two and actually it didn’t feel too bad.
“But there’s still definitely time we need to find because Red Bull seems a bit quick.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2021 Mexico City Grand Prix
- No one will win more F1 races than Verstappen this year
- Alfa Romeo’s misjudgement which prompted Giovinazzi’s sarcastic radio ‘thanks’
- “Nice catch”: How Verstappen’s canny bid to thwart Bottas almost succeeded
- 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix Star Performers
- Wolff “surprised” stewards did not investigate Ricciardo over Bottas collision
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
5th November 2021, 23:06
The
is coming from sir Lewis as predicted. I just wonder why, as a matter of coherence, he didn’t show any compassion for Max and Red Bull who were left eating dust by Mercedes in Turkey, as well as being convincingly outperformed by them on pure pace at Imola and Sochi, just to list recent events this season. Of course one of the reasons is because he failed to captalise on those races.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
5th November 2021, 23:12
Maximum haul of points only in Sochi with a kind of inherited win after another blunder yet in qualifying. Too many times this season not the form of a Champion.
John H (@john-h)
6th November 2021, 12:45
You want him to show compassion for Max @rodewulf ? I’m sure it would be reciprocal, don’t you think?
So far Max definitely deserves the championship ahead of ‘Sir’ Lewis as you call him, but we’re getting to the crunch part of the season so let’s see if he can hold up. I presume he will.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th November 2021, 16:34
@john-h
Yes, that’s how it should be, both in their success and in their troubles. In this case it was specifically this off-pace machinery thing, as he hadn’t seen Max doing this sort of drama in the weekends when Red Bull were clearly lagging behind.
I agree, and still believe this title fight will go down to the last round, unless Lewis receive some payback for his big luck earlier on this season.
John H (@john-h)
6th November 2021, 18:01
Ah yes, Lewis and his luck @rodewulf.
You had to get that in didn’t you lol.
I dunno, it’s really sad.
TurboMax
5th November 2021, 23:13
Max is too quick for you Lewis, both Mercedes were still ahead of Perez.
Lewis is no longer easily winning because he no longer has a massive pace advantage. Since 2014 Lewis only found himself really challenged twice and so far he buckled under pressure both times.
Lewis played dirty many times before and he will do so again just to stay in the race. In FP1 he already practiced cutting the 2nd corner to use it in the race as he did a few years ago.
Can only hope Lewis and dirty Toto are finally caught cheating.
Learon
6th November 2021, 13:24
Does this hatred help in any way?
John H (@john-h)
6th November 2021, 13:50
Most Hamilton fans respect Max. Doesn’t seem reciprocal.
Fab
5th November 2021, 23:56
Race is on sunday.
And everyone has to pass by the first corner at the start without … let’s say … bowling ? 😁
Red Andy (@red-andy)
6th November 2021, 8:53
There’s also the possibility of a yellow flag on Saturday to spoil Red Bull’s party … we’ve seen that before (although you suspect Max would be more circumspect with a championship on the line).
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
6th November 2021, 0:09
Lewis never wastes an opportunity to play the underdog.
Fact remains : on avg Merc has been (at least ) on par with RB this season.
MacLeod (@macleod)
6th November 2021, 0:34
Red Bull red (soft) and yellow (medium) fast, white (hard) mercedes looked very good
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th November 2021, 1:07
Which is pretty much the story of the season.
SteveR
6th November 2021, 1:44
‘My tires are gone, man’ Yep, sure.
iCarbs (@icarby)
6th November 2021, 7:39
If/when (will be a when) Max and Rbr win this weekend, I’ll say they will officially have a finger on the WDC.
Although this is the best I’ve seen the Mercs car perform at this track.
knightameer (@knightameer)
6th November 2021, 8:22
Mercs won here in 15,16 and 19. So 3 out of 5 times. Still they act as if they are suddenly at 2020 Ferrari levels here.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th November 2021, 9:54
Sure.
Mayrton
6th November 2021, 10:30
Of course Lewis
baasbas
6th November 2021, 12:57
In Austin Mercedes was almost a second ahead in fp1. ‘Championship over’ commenters (then and now) should not come to conclusions that quick