The red riders ahead of the weekend on the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. In FP1 on the Fuoco track, winner at Le Mans in 2024 with the Ferrari hypercar
Austin turned the red back on. Ferrari, fresh from the well-deserved podium made in the USA (the champagne was missing from Spa), arrives at the Mexican F1 GP with confidence, recharged before the final sprint for second place in the Constructors’ classification. Leclerc, who was running like he hadn’t done for some time in the guided sections of the Circuit of the Americas, wants to “see a Ferrari like this again”. Hamilton joins, convinced that “there is still a lot of potential”. And on the circuit named after the Rodriguez brothers there will also be Fuoco, 16 years after the last Italian in a Maranello single-seater.
leclerc, “here to repeat ourselves”
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Protagonist of circus (sorry, rodeo) acts in Texas in order to keep Norris’ McLaren behind him, Leclerc explained that what made the difference, after the difficult Sprint, were the details. “After qualifying we asked ourselves what had allowed us to improve so much. We certainly hadn’t changed the car. In the end I can say that it was just small changes in the set-up and in the way we warm up the tyres, which we know are very sensitive this year.” Then the choice to start with the soft tyre. A gamble “that I expected to be replicated by many. Then on the grid I discovered that I was the only one among the first. At that point I started to wonder if it wasn’t the wrong decision.” And it wasn’t. “It turned out to be the right choice, and it makes me happy to know that we were the only ones who thought of that strategy. That’s how you make a difference.” Something that Charles hopes “to see again here in Mexico”, the land of the last red victory.
hamilton, “Ferrari improves”
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An encouraging Sunday was also needed to rekindle Lewis Hamilton, fourth in Texas after a weekend that allowed his Ferrari to breathe on the constructors’ standings front. On the media day that inaugurates the Mexican GP, Lewis assures that he is “still looking for the maximum potential of this car”. “In Austin – he explains – we were able to exploit it better, and I remain convinced that there is still room for improvement. I’m sure of it”. It’s worth believing him, even if: “each track will make its own story. The tracks we have left to tackle are very different from each other and obviously we will never know the level our rivals are at until we get on track.” Of course, emulating Carlos Sainz’s success last year will be a difficult mission for the 2025 red team, and yet: “having been strong here will help us to be strong this weekend too”, assures Hamilton. “Ferrari was really fast last year in Mexico, so we can definitely take advantage of what the team has learned and try to repeat ourselves this weekend. As for me, I expect a car with very different behavior from the Mercedes I drove last year here, as well as those I was used to in previous seasons.”
fire on the Ferrari
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Lewis Hamilton’s Mexican weekend will, however, begin away from his Ferrari. In his place, in the first free practices there will be Antonio Fuoco. For the winner of the 2024 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it will be his absolute debut driving a Formula One single-seater on a race weekend, “a moment that fills me with pride”. But the kilometers that the Calabrian will cover at the Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City will also mean the return of an Italian driver behind the wheel of Ferrari, 16 years after Badoer and Fisichella. Together with him on the track, there will be his friend Leclerc, with whom he shared the 2017 season in Formula 2. “I have had many experiences together with Charles, on and off the track. Then our paths separated, but we have always remained on excellent terms. Today we both wear the colors of Ferrari, and this makes everything even more beautiful. It will be a weekend to remember.”
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