F1 2021, Mexico Grand Prix, qualifying — Max Verstappen will look to convert Red Bull’s early dominance in Mexico into a pole lap on Sunday (7am AEDT) at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The 24-year-old ended Friday’s practice half a second ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton, who conceded that Mercedes appears to behind Red Bull’s pace in Mexico.
Only 12 championship points separate Verstappen and Hamilton in the drivers’ standings, but the former appears to be well-placed to extend that lead in Mexico where Red Bull has historically been strong.
Just seven minutes into the session, Lance Stroll ran wide on the final corner and crashed into the side hoardings, causing the session to be red flagged. It resumed some twenty minutes later, with just seven drivers having set times before the session was paused.
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Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was inching down the road after reporting a complete loss of power, but it appeared to be resolved shortly afterwards.
Stroll was already set to be one of four drivers to start from the back of the grid this weekend for changing his power unit and exceeding his allotment for the season. The trio of others are McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
George Russell of Williams also copped a a five-place grid penalty needing a new gearbox on Friday evening after an issue ruled him out of FP2.
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“They’re definitely too quick for us at the moment,” Hamilton said of Red Bull on Friday.
“We’re giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, and I think they are just quicker than us at the moment. No real concerns. Just chipping away at our set-up and just trying to improve it.
“But we’re lacking downforce, which is… probably why we had that half-a-second difference ahead of us.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, however, suggested that Mercedes wasn’t showing all of its cards.
“I think Mercedes have still got a bit in the pocket, so I don’t think we’ve seen their full potential yet, but focusing on ourselves, it was a reasonable day,” Horner said.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will look to shrug off a frustrating Friday, in which he spent most of the second session in the McLaren pits with a gearbox issue.
“We have to get it all together tomorrow, but we will obviously have the morning session to get on top of it,” Ricciardo said.
“It’s definitely not written off yet … I mean it obviously gives us a bit more work to do but it’s definitely not out of reach.”
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