Mexico City Grand Prix: Practice Recap

Esteban Ocon stepped aside in FP1 as TGR Haas F1 Team reserve driver Ryō Hirakawa participated in his third planned practice session of the season – following previous outings in the VF-26 in Austria and Hungary. The Japanese driver sampled both the Pirelli P Zero White hard and Yellow medium tire compounds during the 60-minute session. A fastest lap of 1:19.982, set on the mediums, placed Hirakawa P15 at the checkered flag with 30 laps banked. Bearman ran the same tire compound selection in FP1 with his best lap earned on the medium rubber, a 1:19.412 – the Briton capturing a top 10 slot with P9 on the timesheets.

FP2 later in the afternoon saw Ocon return and the Frenchman was straight to work running the medium tires before switching onto the softs for Quali sim runs. Ocon subsequently posted a best lap of 1:18.774 to land P13 overall – one spot ahead of Bearman who clocked a fastest lap of 1:18.849 for P14, also on the soft tires. Bearman’s participation in FP2 followed a solid stint in the garage from both crews, a power-unit replacement necessitated between the sessions on his VF-26. Both cars then ran high-fuel stints through to the checkered flag to conclude Friday’s track action.

TGR Haas F1 Team ran a total of 122 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 60 by Bearman, 32 from Ocon and 30 from Hirakawa.

Ollie Bearman:

“Overall, it’s been a positive day on track. We encountered a lot of issues in FP1, as we lost our latest spec engine, so we’re having to revert to the previous one which is a shame, as obviously there’s some performance involved in there. The car was a bit more tricky in FP2, so we need to understand why, but in general I’ve been happy with the day. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, I think things will be feeling better and I’m excited to see how it goes.”

Esteban Ocon:

“It’s always challenging when you miss out on a session, but Ryō did a good job and collected some valuable data. In FP2, we had a small issue at the start of the session, which we quickly fixed, and then it was about getting up to speed as quickly as we could. I still don’t feel super comfortable in the car, so there will be some adjustments to make and some work to be done overnight ahead of FP3 and Quali tomorrow.”

Ryō Hirakawa:

“First of all, a big thanks to the team. I’m really happy to feel the step in terms of performance since I drove in Budapest, so hats off to the team. We completed the run program, had no issues on the car, and we’ve made a step forward for FP2 with Esteban being back in the car. I’m really happy I had a good session, so hopefully we can score good points on Sunday.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“We made a very good start. The car was competitive straight away, and both Ollie and Ryō looked very comfortable. It was good to hear from Ryō, as the last time he gave feedback was before our update, so he confirmed what our drivers have been saying about consistency, predictability, and stability of the package. Ollie was very happy, in low-speed he was mega, even in high-speed – which is one of our weaknesses – he was doing a very good job. Unfortunately, we had a PU issue, so Ollie’s FP1 was cut short at the end. The team did an unbelievable job between sessions to replace the engine and other damaged parts to send the car out on time. In FP2, Ollie was less happy with the car, operationally it was okay, but less of a clean session, if you like. Fundamentally, the car is still performing reasonably competitively, so we just need to clean up some areas overnight and prepare for FP3.”