2024 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 25 - 27

[search]

Test drivers coming in for FP1:

- Ferrari: Bearman, replacing Leclerc (tbc)
- McLaren: O'Ward, replacing Norris
- Mercedes: Antonelli, replacing Hamilton
- Aston: Drugovich, replacing Alonso
- Sauber: Shwartzman, replacing Zhou

Those skipping the session will get half an hour for "normal" practice at the end of the FP2 tire test. Likely only on mediums, though.

Mclaren must be crazy for O'ward not taking Piastri's seat for FP1

I haven't seen an official confirmation for this either, but Pato said "it’s really a great opportunity for me to be there with the team and obviously help them any way I can to get everything sorted out for Lando and make that as smooth as possible", so I guess that that means he'll be in his car.

Maybe they preferred Norris to have a full weekend in Abu Dhabi, where Verstappen potentially still has to skip one session (unless they do it at Vegas, and hope for 50 minutes of red flag anyway )

[Big Tea]

https://cdn.racingnews365.com/2024/_975 ... 1729779065
v=1729779065[/url]

What I wouldn't do for a white sidepod and full retro livery. It would look SOOOOOO cool in a full blown 90s Williams livery.

I always wished for the 1992 car to have a blue side pod
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/cont ... W14-_0.jpg

That looks so strange without the Halo. How we adapt

[Vanja #66]

Yellow and deep blue is always a spectacular combination

[basti313]

Test drivers coming in for FP1:

- Ferrari: Bearman, replacing Leclerc (tbc)
- McLaren: O'Ward, replacing Norris
- Mercedes: Antonelli, replacing Hamilton
- Aston: Drugovich, replacing Alonso
- Sauber: Shwartzman, replacing Zhou

Those skipping the session will get half an hour for "normal" practice at the end of the FP2 tire test. Likely only on mediums, though.

Mclaren must be crazy for O'ward not taking Piastri's seat for FP1

Well, they have to at some point. Last year most teams opted for the last race. Maybe McLaren wants to get this done and prepare for a possible WDC shootout in the end?

[Waz]

It's kinda weird though that Norris will barely get any meaningful practice. Only McLaren could be in a title fight and give up the only real practice session for their lead protagonist.

[Bill]

Charles is only 2 points behind Norris yet no one talk about is title chances. If he done better in Singapore and Baku he would already be ahead.

[the EDGE]

Charles is only 2 points behind Norris yet no one talk about is title chances. If he done better in Singapore and Baku he would already be ahead.

22 points

[dren]

Test drivers coming in for FP1:

- Ferrari: Bearman, replacing Leclerc (tbc)
- McLaren: O'Ward, replacing Norris
- Mercedes: Antonelli, replacing Hamilton
- Aston: Drugovich, replacing Alonso
- Sauber: Shwartzman, replacing Zhou

Those skipping the session will get half an hour for "normal" practice at the end of the FP2 tire test. Likely only on mediums, though.

Mclaren must be crazy for O'ward not taking Piastri's seat for FP1

I wouldn't worry about it either way. Antonelli is so fast he'll crash the car on his first lap and end the session.

[Seanspeed]

Charles is only 2 points behind Norris yet no one talk about is title chances. If he done better in Singapore and Baku he would already be ahead.

As pointed out, he's 22 points behind Lando, but more critically, he's 79 points behind Verstappen. If Max got injured and was out of the rest of the season, it might leave Charles with a chance but it's otherwise a practically impossible situation. Even Lando will have a very tough time overhauling a 57 point gap.

[Luscion]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... st-mexiko/

The second practice session will last 90 minutes instead of 60. And it is mainly reserved for Pirelli tire testing.

The Italian sole supplier is bringing new C4, C5 and C6 compound tires to the start. They differ from the current soles in terms of rubber compound and construction. C6 will be Pirelli's new superglue. It should reduce lap times by five to six tenths. This is also the projected gap between the C4 and C5 compounds.

The teams divide the comparative tests among themselves. Pirelli demands identical conditions for old and new. This includes qualifying laps as well as a long run of at least ten laps. All cars must have the same amount of fuel in the tank for this analysis.

Pirelli has set itself two ambitious goals for the last year of the 18-inch tires. Firstly, the tires should no longer overheat so quickly, which would make driving in traffic easier. On the other hand, the aim is to get the graining under control.

The hard C1, C2 and C3 compounds have already been evaluated in a special test in Mugello the week before Austin and found to be good. There will be another chance to test the softer tires after the finale in Abu Dhabi.

[djones]

It's kinda weird though that Norris will barely get any meaningful practice. Only McLaren could be in a title fight and give up the only real practice session for their lead protagonist.

Yep, utterly ludicrous thing to do. Add it to the list of self inflicted reasons why they will lose this championship.

[search]

which of the remaining weekends would you regard as better suited? Verstappen will probably need to skip FP1 in Abu Dhabi, which isn't ideal either (in case the championship is still open then)

[dia6olo]

I'm curious to see how Ferrari fairs in this one.
COTA was a sprint weekend so the various teams setups could have been a factor, that said, I think other than when they have compromised themselves with qualifying Ferrari have had front running pace for the past few races now.
It looks like Red Bull are still behind McLaren and Ferrari, at least based on COTA.
Mercedes are very hit and miss, on the day they could make it happen but generally they are 4th best.

For me It'll also be interesting to see how McLaren fairs too, my impression is that they have definitely been effected by the flexiwings clampdown, what remains to be seen is by how much...

[chrisc90]

New floor for Mclaren with increased load.

Wonder if it will be just enough or too much and cause bouncing issues.

[CjC]

Says here that any driver who gives up his seat in FP1 for a rookie will be given an extra set of mediums in FP2.
Might not be all that bad for Lando?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fri-w ... /10666351/