Valtteri Bottas missed the first training session in Mexico City and lost his car to Theo Pourcher. In the second session, the Finnish driver returned to the wheel and set the fourth fastest time, while Pourcher was unable to work properly due to brake problems and set a fast time.
Guanyu Zhou completed both training sessions and showed the thirteenth result in the second. The Chinese driver said that he was mainly concerned with assessing the speed of the car in a racing configuration.
Valtteri Bottas (4th): “We found the cause of the problem with the brakes, so we didn’t have any problems in the second session. It’s a shame that Theo actually missed the training, but the team simply didn’t have time to solve the problem during the session. In any case, there should be no problems in the future.
My session was clean, which is important when you miss a workout. I did a lot of laps and was satisfied with the car’s behavior. I’m happy with how the session went, but it’s just a training session where we focused on our own tasks and finding settings.
With such a productive session, I hope we will finish higher in the race than we did in Austin. The round in Mexico City is short, so the gaps are minimal. I’m optimistic for the rest of the weekend.”
Guanyu Zhou (13th): “The car drives quite well. We tested several solutions in an attempt to close the gap we had in Austin by focusing on driving with full tanks in the long term.
Considering the lap times and the minimal gaps, I think we have a good chance to improve. We still have a lot to analyze to take the next steps forward, but I am confident that we will compete in qualifying to reach the final.”
Theo Gieter (20th in the first session): “There was a little problem with the brakes. I can’t reveal the details and the team isn’t 100% sure what the cause is. This happens during racing.
Unfortunately, problems arose just when I had to do my first training. Too bad, because I have prepared a lot. In addition, a lot of time has passed since the last time I got behind the wheel of Formula 1 – last year in Abu Dhabi.
I wanted to do a session because Mexico has an interesting track. I was able to do a few laps, but for safety reasons I couldn’t attack.
The problems started as soon as I left the pits – a warning appeared on the display. And the team saw problems with telemetry. We tried a lot to solve the problem, but nothing helped. The team has replaced a number of things in the car, and they are currently continuing with the checks before the second practice session. I hope Valtteri can hold a second session.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
