P3 in second Mexico practice: "Balance not right yet"
Published on 27 October 2017 by Stefan Meens
After setting the third quickest time in FP1, Max Verstappen once again occupied P3 I the second free practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix. His Red Bull Racing team mate Daniel Ricciardo was quickest, followed by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.
“The pace of the car was good”, said Max. “We weren’t able to a lot of laps this morning, because we tried some new parts for next year. I asked to switch back to this year’s parts and that takes time. At the start of the second session we were still looking to find the right balance. I’m not entirely happy with, but we still managed to be third. After that, we had some engine issues, but luckily they happened with an old engine.”
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) are the first two drivers on track. Both are eager to make for track time lost in FP1, when both their cars encountered technical difficulties.
Magnussen is the first driver to clock a lap, whilst his team mate, Romain Grosjean, has to account for the first save of day, after barely keeping his Haas out of the barriers. Despite missing the wall, Grosjean’s right rear tyre has delaminated and damaged the floor of the car, resulting in debris lying accros the track. Race control decided to red flag the session in order to clear the track.
When the session resumes, Stoffel Vandoorne is once again eager to get the laps in. Unfortunately for the Belgian, he does not make it out on track; the McLaren driver is forced to park his car at the end of the pitlane.
Meanwhile Max and the other front runners have started putting their lap times in. Lewis Hamilton has a big off but manages to keep his Mercedes out of the wall, whilst Sebastian Vettel’s fire extinguisher blew in the cockpit.
At the halfway mark, with Ricciardo leading the way ahead of Hamilton and Max, the latter reports on the radio: “The engine is acting weird on pick-up”. Nevertheless, the Dutchman is able to continue.
Later, in the final half an hour, Max has to cut short his long run because of an engine problem. “It’s a Friday engine”, said Christian Horner, adamant the issue does not need to impact the rest of the weekend. It means Max finishes FP2 in third, behind Ricciardo and Hamilton.
Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez - Friday 27 October
FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS 01 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:17.801 26 02 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.932 +0.131s 40 03 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:17.964 +0.163s 17 04 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:18.051 +0.250s 35 05 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.142 +0.341s 40 06 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:18.299 +0.498s 43 07 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:18.508 +0.707s 26 08 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:18.728 +0.927s 41 09 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:18.775 +0.974s 19 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:18.822 +1.021s 42 11 55 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:19.060 +1.259s 30 12 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:19.206 +1.405s 37 13 28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:19.423 +1.622s 40 14 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:19.524 +1.723s 42 15 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:19.844 +2.043s 32 16 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:20.306 +2.505s 38 17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:20.318 +2.517s 35 18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:20.362 +2.561s 38 19 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:21.745 +3.944s 10 20 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:25.526 +7.725s 3
