Mexican Grand Prix – Max Verstappen is hopeful that the hydraulics issue that prematurely ended his FP2 session can be diagnosed and rectified for the rest of the weekend.
Whilst the Dutchman was fastest in both Friday practice sessions for the upcoming race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, his day ended with a stoppage in the closing moments of FP2.
The car appeared to shut down completely whilst on approach to turn one, which was later confirmed to be related to a hydraulics issue.
However, speaking after practice, Verstappen was very happy with the pace of the car and that the better qualities of the RB14 were shining through in Mexico.
“Today has been really good, better than expected. Not just for me but for Daniel also, it’s nice to have us both at the top,” said Verstappen.
“We have a very good car at this circuit, good downforce and good mechanical grip. This was already clear from Monaco earlier in the year and you can see again it is working really well here.
“If you have good grip you can make quite a big gap quickly because the surface is quite slippery out there. As always there are areas to improve but for now it’s looking good. I said in Japan that it was one of my worst Friday’s in F1, this has been one of the best. The car was quick here last year but after today I think we are more competitive than 2017.”
He then confirmed the hydraulics issue before saying he believed it wouldn’t affect the rest of his weekend.
“We think I had a small issue with hydraulics at the end but we haven’t been able to check the car yet. We are not too concerned ahead of tomorrow, the guys will investigate this evening but hopefully it is a quick fix.”
