Lewis Hamilton described his long-run simulation during the second practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix as the “best I’ve ever done” as he gears up for a potentially title-clinching race.
Hamilton finished second in both sessions at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, having emerged as the closest challenger to Valtteri Bottas in FP1 and Daniel Ricciardo in FP2.
Hamilton suffered a high-speed spin through Turn 11 during the early stages of FP2 but recovered to complete his long-run simulation, and lauded his feeling after the session.
“It didn’t really start out great, particularly in the second session with the big spin on my first lap,” said Hamilton, who needs a top-five finish to secure the crown.
“That really threw off the session and obviously made it a little bit tricky to get the run on the Supersoft. So I put myself on the back foot.
“But the single lap and then the long run on the Ultrasoft was probably one of the best I’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever done 26 laps that consistent, apart from in the race maybe.
“We got lots of information, the track was feeling better in the second session once the temperature came up.”
Bottas led the way in FP1 but slipped to sixth place, albeit within half a second of Ricciardo, in the afternoon, and pinpointed an incorrect set-up direction as the root of his problem.
“We made some set-up changes for FP2 which went in the wrong direction,” he said.
“So in the end of the session we went back to the original set-up.
“For some reason I also struggled to get the tyres to work in the second session. That’s why it didn’t look as good as the first one.
“But I think it was a positive day overall, I’m looking forward to qualifying.”
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