While it wasn't entirely unusual to see a Mercedes driver missing from the top of the timesheets on Friday, it was to see them seventh and ninth, respectively 1.380 and 1.420 seconds off the pace of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

While the Silver Arrows, like most, struggled with its tyres, the German team was also concerned at overheating of its power units and therefore opted to turn the wick down.

"This is an unusual track, which places unusual demands on the chassis, power unit, cooling systems and tyres," said technical boss James Allison.

"From all our running today, we have to conclude that we have not yet found the best way to meet those unusual demands with good performance on both single laps and in the long runs.

"We were overheating the power unit in a number of areas today," he admitted, "and that meant we had to protect against this by turning it down as a precaution.

"With a bit luck, and no little hard work, we can get ourselves into better shape tomorrow and on Sunday, when conditions are also forecast to be cooler.

"We have plenty of work ahead of us overnight and in FP3 tomorrow to put ourselves in a stronger position than we were able to achieve today."

Check out our Friday gallery from Mexico City, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by f1fe, 27/10/2018 22:08

"I read the commentary regarding budget caps & I personally think it's a good idea. I'm tired of seeing the same three teams (really only two teams most of the time) win at almost every F1 race. Hamilton is looking at his 5th. world championship, but he also has the best performing race car on the circuit. So, would he be looking at a 5th title if he was running a middle of the pack race car, probably not! Not taking anything away from his driving abilities, there are many really good drivers on the circuit that could challenge him if their cars were equal. His 5th championship doesn't impress anymore, nor should it, because of the superiority of his race car.
Something needs to be done to even out the disparities that currently exist among constructors if the sport is to continue to attract an audience, or to survive the boredom of the same three top constructors ending up 1st, 2nd, &/or third. If the big three constructors have such huge budgets maybe only their budgets should be restricted, or required to share technology with the smaller budget teams, or how the teams are paid out at the end of the season But, please do something to make the sport more equal/exciting! "

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Overheating engine compromised Mercedes pace

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