After enduring a very difficult free practice session in the United States last week, Lance Stroll had a much more normal day in Mexico, finishing 10the Rank of the first training session on Friday.
Despite a preparation marred by braking problems when he only completed five laps before the sprint race and the Grand Prix in Austin, the Quebecer bounced back with a seventh-place finish on Sunday.
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The Aston Martin driver continued to push his car for 26 laps on Friday, finishing less than a second behind first practice leader Max Verstappen. His best time was 1 minute and 20.687 seconds, better than that of his teammate Fernando Alonso, who finished 16th with 1 minute and 21.347 seconds.
“We drove good laps in FP1 and completed our program, including passages with high and low fuel levels,” explained Stroll, and his comments were picked up on his team’s website.
An incident at the wrong time
While most drivers improved their performance in the second session, Stroll and Alonso stagnated. The Montrealer completed 16 laps, the lowest total of any rider, and clocked a time of 1 minute, 20.075 seconds, good for 18th place. His Spanish companion took 20th and last place.
“Unfortunately FP2 was interrupted by an issue we had when removing the left front wheel from the car, so we lost time fixing the issue. As always, we will work this evening to analyze the data and ensure that the car is in the best possible condition for FP3 and tomorrow’s qualifying,” said Stroll.
It was Verstappen again who was ahead with a time of 1 minute and 18.686 seconds.
Several young Formula 2 drivers had the opportunity to train in Formula 1 cars at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the first half of the day. Oliver Bearman (Haas), Isack Hadjar (Alpha Tauri), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes) and Théo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo) all drove, but none of them managed to finish better than 15th.
A third and final free practice session will take place on Saturday before qualifying. The Grand Prix will take place on Sunday.