Ferrari had a mostly positive start to their 2026 F1 Mexico City GP weekend, with Charles Leclerc topping both Friday practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton came in 4th in FP1, but his FP2 was cut short by issues halfway through, and he only placed 11th in the session.
“It’s a shame to have lost the session”
After the session Hamilton had no answers for what went wrong as he was told to stop the car. He had lost power at the end of his qualifying simulation, when he was on course to be right in the mix for P1.
“It just told me to stop. I saw some sort of problem. It felt like really good up until then. The car was doing great. I think we did a good job. Good setup changes. The car was in a good place. But even on my lap, we were losing power in a few places. I think I lost three tenths, then a little more, I lost another six tenths. I’m underlining that we’ve got a good car this weekend. It’s a shame to have lost the session.“
Team principal Fred Vasseur was equally unsure: “It’s a bit too early, because I have to do the press before the debrief, but we’ll have a look tonight.”
Regarding Leclerc’s runs, Vasseur remarked that, “the pace was OK from the beginning on the long stint on the one lap. Charles was pushing perhaps the limit in the afternoon. But it’s a good moment to do it, and the right spot now. Let’s see tomorrow. We know that qualy is a challenge, it’s probably even more of a challenge in these conditions with low downforce.“
Smaller turbo “not making a difference”
There was a narrative heading into this weekend that Ferrari might have an advantage in those conditions on account of a smaller turbocharger on their power unit. Both Hamilton and Vasseur downplayed any perceived boost from that turbo.
Hamilton said: “I don’t really agree on the turbo thing. If you look at the speeds to the Mercedes and the Red Bull, they’re still quicker at the end of the straights like they are every race. The turbo is not making a difference. It’s still pulling a lot more at the end of straights, so I think we’re still losing a good two or three tenths. But the car is behaving well.”
Vasseur said that despite any advantage at present, “everybody will improve, everybody will fine-tune the package with the altitude.
“It’s true that it’s completely extreme compared to what we have to face, and the fact that for the drivers to come with this [lower] level of downforce in Mexico, it’s a challenge. They used to have the biggest wing of the season. I think the delta compared to last year is much smaller in Monza than in Monaco or Mexico, and it’s even more of a challenge for them.“
Vasseur: “We have to work”
Hamilton was downkey on Ferrari’s chances for Saturday. “I don’t know how qualifying goes. The others seem to take another step. But it obviously feels like we could be close to competing. I don’t know how the car is going to work. For my runs, I didn’t get to do it. So I just have to take note of how others did and guess where we need to be. For example, in settings and braking. It’s a difficult decision to make.
“I think the car feels like it’s capable of competing in the qualifying. But again, as I said, I don’t know what it is they do on the qualy. Everyone seems to take a step. I don’t know. We’re hoping to see if we can pick up a bit more performance tomorrow.”
When asked how confident he was about Ferrari’s chances, Vasseur said: “I don’t have to be confident or not. We have to work, we have to try to get the best for tomorrow. Conditions are mega extreme, but we knew before with the altitude, it’s a challenge for us but also for the others. It means that we have a lot of work to do tonight and it’s mega bumpy, probably a bit too much before Turn 1, it’s almost dangerous. We’ll have to do something tonight but overall I think that it was a good start of the weekend but still a long way to go.“
