Hamilton knows “there’s more pace in the car” after opening day in Mexico

Ferrari’s seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton was left to rue his pace on a single lap, but he suggested things might be different across a longer distance after the opening day at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc looked quick in the opening session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, setting the fastest time of all on the softs. The Monegasque went on to end up second in the late afternoon session, just over a tenth of a second behind reigning champion Max Verstappen.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton sat out the opening session as he handed over his car to Ferrari’s simulator driver Antonio Fuoco. The Italian completed his first ever FP1 session, having made no mistakes as he kept things clean and concentrated on correlation work between the virtual and the real world.

Despite having missed FP1, Hamilton was not too far adrift. The Briton set the third quickest lap on Pirelli’s mediums before ending up ffifth fastest following the qualifying simulation runs.

Reflecting on Fuoco’s outing, Hamilton added: “I think Antonio did a great job this morning. We took away some valuable learnings from his running, which I really appreciate, and it was great to watch him in the car during FP1.

Speaking of the performance, the Ferrari man was left to rue his pace on a single lap, but he suggested things might be different across a longer distance.

“FP2 was a bit more challenging on the single lap as the pace didn’t feel strong, but our long-run pace looked more consistent. There’s still performance to unlock, and we’ll be doing our best to get into a stronger position for FP3 and qualifying.”

“I’m surprised how relatively close we are, given how not great it felt,” said the seven-time World Champion. “Every time you come here, because of the altitude, we’re all running really high downforce, but it feels lower than Monza, so you’re sliding around trying to find grip, but it’s not there.

“The car was sliding around a lot. The balance is very open. I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight to try to figure out how to find a more streamlined balance.”

“I definitely don’t want to race what we had today. The long run balance wasn’t disastrous, but we just need to get more from the tyres. I know there’s more pace in the car,” concluded Hamilton.

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