One week after the Austin downpour, the F1 teams once again fitted the rain tires during this first session. However, the conditions were much more manageable than last week. With the high altitude of the Mexican capital, the drivers managed to exceed 350 km\/h in top speed!<\/p>\n
Apart from the altitude, the drivers had to deal with very limited grip on a track that was only finished very shortly before this weekend, which led Felipe Massa to exclaim over the radio: “The grip is incredible: it’s very, very low and not just in the corners.”<\/p>\n
As conditions improved, the drivers took turns topping the timesheet. So, while Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen was the first to post a lap time of 1:37 after twelve minutes into the session, Valtteri Bottas achieved a 1:30 ten minutes later.<\/p>\n
With half an hour remaining, lap times continued to fall, with Valtteri Bottas (1:27.708), Lewis Hamilton (1:27.773), and Nico Rosberg (1:27.226) taking turns at the top of the timesheet. However, as the German sought to further improve his time, he went off track again, this time due to overheating brakes. Although Mercedes initially announced his session was over, the German managed to return to the track towards the end of the session. Lewis Hamilton was also called back to his garage for mechanics to adjust his cooling system.<\/p>\n
\nSerious over-heating in the rear brakes for Nico Rosberg and he is OUT of the remainder of #FP1<\/a> #MexicoGP<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/gv0GzAjRSU<\/a><\/p>\n