Daniel Ricciardo says he expected the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico to have “more grip after a year”, following a tough opening day of practice.
Drivers reported slippery and low-grip conditions throughout Friday’s two 90-minute practice sessions in Mexico City.
Ricciardo finished seventh quickest in FP1, before ending FP2 in fifth. He thought there would be higher grip levels one year on from the Mexican Grand Prix’s return to F1 and believes we could see a “mixed bag” of tyre compounds used in Q2.
“It’s really difficult to find the right set-up with these conditions, when there is low grip you have a bit of understeer and also a bit of oversteer so setting the car up is tricky,” he explained.
“I think we improved from the morning but there is still some progress to make so we’ll still prepare for a pretty low-grip track tomorrow and try to improve the balance.
“I think it will get better, I expected the grip to be higher after a year but it was still very slippery. By Sunday the last half of the race will be better but I think we’ll fight the balance from now until the end, trying to get comfortable with a slick-feeling track.
“The super-soft today wasn’t a great tyre for the long runs as it wasn’t lasting. I don’t know how the others got on but I believe everyone has had a few problems with that compound so it’ll be interesting in qualifying tomorrow. We might see a mixed bag again.”
