Tricky day for Ferrari despite encouraging performance

On the back of a sensational double victory at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Ferrari had another impressive start at Mexico City, with Carlos Sainz coming out on top in second practice.

Having been three tenths back from the Mercedes of George Russell in the opening session, Carlos Sainz topped the second 90-minute session at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.

Charles Leclerc, who dominated last weekend’s F1 race in Austin, sat out the opening practice as part of the rule that requires each team to run a rookie driver in at least two FP1s. With Ferrari forced to repair his car after an incident between Oliver Bearman and Alexander Albon, the Monegasque missed the opening half an hour of the second session before putting his SF-24 in P4

“It was a tricky day from my side. It was planned for me to miss FP1, which was a good one to miss on paper, as we thought we would make up for it in FP2 given that it was 30 minutes longer than usual.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get that extra running time to make up for it due to the red flag after George’s (Russell) incident at the start of FP2.

“Things like this can happen, now we are already focused on maximising our result in qualifying as starting positions are crucial on this track. The pace was there from the start and I felt comfortable in the car, so let’s see what position we can secure tomorrow.”

The Scuderia’s Spanish driver Carlos Sainz finished second in the opening practice before going quickest in the extended second session. The Madrid-born driver revealed that he concentrated on fine-tuning the balance of his car in FP1 before focusing on race pace in the second session.

“Overall it was a positive day as I was able to complete our programme and work on car balance and the set-up, especially in FP1. In the second session we had to run the C4 compound and we collected good data, particularly on race pace.

“FP3 will be very important to fine tune the car for qualifying as we still have some margin for improvement, but today’s start was encouraging,” the three-time F1 race winner concluded.

Oliver Bearman’s practice outing didn’t go to plan as he collided with Williams driver Alexander Albon. Although the Briton tried to go off the racing line to give place to the Williams driver, the pair collided as Albon lost control of his FW46 in the dirty air.

Delivering his assessment, the Haas-bound Bearman added that he rued the missed chance of gaining experience in Ferrari’s 2024 F1 car.

“Unfortunately, FP1 did not go as we expected today as our session was cut short after an incident with Alex (Albon). It’s a shame, because this track is an interesting one and I was looking forward to gaining some more experience in the SF-24, but these things happen and they are part of racing. I’m looking forward to seeing what our team can do in qualifying tomorrow.”