Max Verstappen 'on ice' in Mexico City GP practice near-miss

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Mexico City GP, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Mexico City Grand Prix

Verstappen 'on ice' in Mexico City GP practice near-miss

Verstappen spun in the high-speed middle sector in FP1

Ewan Gale

Saturday 29 October 2022 01:16

Max Verstappen has described the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track surface as "like ice" after spinning in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Teams and drivers were afforded only 60 minutes of representative running on Friday as F1's tyre manufacturer Pirelli completed the second of its 2023 prototype tyre tests in an elongated FP2, as was the case last weekend ahead of the United States GP.

During the first session, Verstappen was pushing through the middle sector but lost the rear of his Red Bull through turns 10 and 11, collecting the tank-slapper one way and then the other before being forced to concede the battle with his own car.

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The double world champion was able to keep the RB18 out of the barriers, however, on the way to finishing fourth fastest, setting an identical time to team-mate Sergio Perez but trailing both Ferraris.

"I just had a moment as soon as I went a bit off-line," explained Verstappen.

"It was like ice so I was just drifting left, drifting right and I decided at one point to hit the brakes to not hit the wall."

During the tyre test, set-ups were fixed, whilst the heating of the tyres differed from the current regulations.

The compounds were also kept a secret from the teams, limiting the information that could be taken for this weekend but providing valuable data for Pirelli.

"On the softs, everything was alright but we only had one run on them and then in FP2, we had to do the tyre test again so that makes it a little more difficult and an unknown again like last weekend for everyone.

"But yeah, the harder compounds are a bit more tricky."

Asked how Red Bull performed in the first session, Verstappen replied: "We have very little information but from what we tried, I think everything was working okay."