Mercedes further off the pace than expected - Bottas
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas says the gap to rival teams Ferrari and Red Bull in Friday practice at the Mexican Grand Prix was "bigger than we expected.''

While Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel edged Red Bull's Max Verstappen by a tenth to end Friday as the pace-setter, Bottas was six tenths off the pace in the quicker of the two Mercedes cars.
Mercedes was defeated in the past two F1 races at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and the team came into the weekend expecting the grand prix to be "the most difficult" of the 2019 season's remaining races.
When asked whether the Friday gap to rival teams was on par expectations, however, Bottas said: "It's bigger than we expected at this point of the weekend. But it's hopefully not a miracle [for us to] find some gains.
"It was pretty slippery today out there, especially the first session was very tricky, with the oversteer-y balance of the car.
"Felt a lot better in the second practice, actually not a bad feeling, but still I think we were lacking a bit of a grip.
"Both Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be performing well on this track so far, but as always, it's only Friday and there's usually lots of things we can do a little bit better next day, just need to work hard tonight."
Teammate Lewis Hamilton produced an inverse showing, as he had set the pace in the cooler conditions of FP1, but couldn't match his laptime in the afternoon.
Having ended FP2 a distant fifth with a "not spectacular" fastest lap, Hamilton described his Friday as "not a great day", albeit adding: "This is how it usually is for us anyways here."
"We've not had any particularly major dramas, it's just [about] trying to understand these tyres," Hamilton continued.
"It was cool in the morning and then a bit warmer in FP2 - and from the short run to the long run, it's just hard to pinpoint exactly how to get these tyres working. But that's the name of the game.
"I think we're not massively far off the Red Bulls, but the Ferraris, they just keep turning up their engine down the straights, the difference between us and them is massive down the straight line. I think between [them and] the rest of the drivers as well."

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Renault says braking system was used before this season
Albon says FP2 crash a "frustrating mistake"

Latest news
Hamilton: "Way more" to be done to help progression from W Series
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton believes “way more” needs to be done to help ensure progression from W Series and give women more opportunities in racing.
Nicholas Latifi: The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
Ferrari: Idea of F1 team orders discussed more outside than internally
Ferrari says the use of team orders between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is “more discussed outside Ferrari than inside Ferrari” as it targets parity with its Formula 1 drivers.
Aston Martin: CFD data shows F1 rear wing does not hurt rules intent
Aston Martin says simulation data it gave to the FIA proved that its radical rear wing idea did not scupper the intent of Formula 1's 2023 rules to improve racing.
Nicholas Latifi: The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time F1 champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24. And now it’s happening again at his current team
Why few would blame Leclerc if he leaves Ferrari in future
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior.
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbon fibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? Pat Symonds considers the alternatives to carbon fibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting