Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Mexico 'like a go-kart track' - Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton says the lack of grip during Friday practice for the Mexican Grand Prix made it feel "like a go-kart track".

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is being used for a grand prix weekend for the first time since 1992 and grip levels were low on Friday. With the circuit at an altitude of 2219 metres, the air pressure means the cars are delivering less downforce from their aerodynamics, which is adding to the lack of grip.

Asked how he would sum up his day on Friday, Hamilton replied: "Interesting.

"It was very slippery out there and it’s crazy because we are so high in altitude that there is worse grip than we had in Monza, which is quite low. We are just sliding around and it’s more like a go-kart track in the slow areas."

Hamilton has so far won 10 races this season with three remaining, meaning it is possible for him to match the record of 13 in a season currently jointly held by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. However, the triple world champion says such a record is not his motivation.

"Not at all. [The motivation is] same as usual, I’ll just try to do the best I can. I don’t have any desire to [match] that, I don’t really have a care about what they’ve done because it’s not really the same."

AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix FP2

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.