28/10/2022
NEWS STORY
Liam Lawson: "It's been great to be back on track with Scuderia AlphaTauri after my last shot out in Spa. This time we played a bit more with set-up changes, as the more I drive the car the more accurate feedback I can give. Due to the Pirelli test in FP2 we saved a set of tyres for that, so I only ran on one set, which I believe most the juniors did today. It's a really interesting circuit. I'd been on the sim a lot obviously, but when I first drove it was quite eye opening, there's very low grip and it's extremely slippery, especially through some of the high-speed areas. Driving through the stadium though was crazy, the atmosphere is incredible, even when I had to stop the car there, they were all cheering. Sadly, we had to stop because we had a loss of pressure. However, I was able to complete most the session anyway, so it didn't impact too much."
Pierre Gasly: "It's been a great day. In FP1, I felt good in the car, we know it's quite a unique track as it's at such high altitude, but usually this works quite well for us. This morning straight away I was on the pace, we know it's super tight in the midfield so I hope tomorrow, when we put it altogether, we can fight for the top 10. This afternoon we can't make many conclusions, as we don't know the compounds we've been running, but generally I felt quite good in the car, which is the most important thing. It feels great to be racing back in Mexico, both at the track and away from it it's absolutely hectic, but it's fun to be back here and feel the passion of the fans."
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm quite happy after FP2, of course it's not that representative, but straight away I felt confident in the car and was able to put in some strong laps. It was quite easy to adapt to the circuit, which I wasn't expecting, so it's been a positive FP2. I spent the start of the session just building up the pace and then I moved to the test tyres. As I missed FP1, I've got a lot of data to look through tonight and some more work to do in FP3, so that I can hopefully put it altogether for Quali tomorrow."
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer): "It was great to have Liam back driving for us in FP1, this time taking over Yuki's car. He did a very good job, particularly as he only ran a single hard tyre in that session. He got quickly up to speed and was setting competitive lap times even against the experienced drivers. We had several aero test items which we completed with him and captured very good data to help us with the setup direction. His running came to an end just before the end of the session, as we spotted a loss of pressure, but the mechanics did a great job to get the car repaired and ready for Yuki for FP2. Pierre was focusing on general setup work and long run tyre gathering in FP1 - it was a tight programme given the Pirelli test in FP2 - but we gathered enough data to prepare for Quali and the race on Sunday. Yuki was able to run the 2022 tyres at the start of FP2 before switching to the Pirelli test, which had to be cut short for all drivers due to the Red Flag. In general, the car balance was close even at the start of the weekend, so we will use Friday as a good foundation to make any subtle changes overnight. Our competitiveness is looking quite good, and we will do all we can to aim for a place in Q3 tomorrow."
Check out our Friday gallery from Mexico City here.