F1 News: Mercedes encouraged by early Mexico pace
After nineteen rounds without securing a race win, Mercedes will look to maximise their prospects of a good result this weekend in Mexico.
The Silver Arrows are unlikely to get carried away after Friday Practice, but they will certainly be pleased with what the data suggests on the first day of running.
Russell and Hamilton were both near the top of the timing sheets in Friday running, within a few tenths of the leaders Ferrari and Red Bull.
Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin discussed some of the team’s analysis from the first day of running.
“We had a bit of a messy first session as we were bumping into a few limits on system temperatures, but we managed to get that much better under control in the second session.
“Nyck was driving in place of George for the first session. Nyck was driving in place of George for the first session.
“The programme was never going to flatter him as we were only running the hard tyre and working through a sequence of test items, but he did another very solid job.
“That finishes off his planned driving duties for our team, and we are looking forward to seeing him race next year. The second session was focused on the 2023 tyres, although the regulations allowed George to do a few laps on medium and soft compounds.
“From what we can tell, the car is working well on both single laps and long runs. The balance isn’t perfect, so we’ve got areas to work on overnight, but a reasonable start at what is normally a very challenging circuit.”
