F1 News
Hamilton expecting more from tyres on Saturday in Mexico
Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes were struggling with tyres on Friday at the Mexican Grand Prix as he could only manage fifth in FP2. Hamilton has the chance to win the title this weekend if he outscores teammate Valtteri Bottas by 14 points this weekend, but he'll need to get over these tyre issues that blighted him throughout Friday.
The Brit secured both his fourth and fifth titles in Mexico in the last two years, but has failed to finish on the podium in that time, and a similar result would not be enough to take his sixth championship in 2019.
FP1 was a better session for him as he edged out Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, but he revealed the team had been struggling with tyres all day.
He said: "It’s not been a great day, but this is how it usually is for us in Mexico. We’ve not had any major dramas today, it’s just trying to understand the tyres.
"From the short run to the long run and with changing track temperatures, it’s hard to pinpoint how exactly to get these tyres working, but that’s the name of the game.
"The car felt quite good in FP1, but then we made some changes for FP2 and the track shifted a little bit in terms of grip levels and temperatures and we didn’t really get the set-up quite perfect and I didn’t get a perfect lap in either, so there’s definitely more to come."