Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Friday turnout in Mexico 'amazing' - Vettel

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Sebastian Vettel described the turnout for Friday practice at the Mexican Grand Prix as "amazing".

The first Formula One session for 23 years took place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday, with large crowds in the grandstands. The final sector sees the circuit wind its way through a large baseball stadium before cutting between two stands, and Vettel says he was shocked by the number of fans who turned up for practice.

"It was amazing to see how many spectators we already had on a Friday, it’s quite unique to enter a sort of stadium and see that many people in those big grandstands," Vettel said. "Then to go through those grandstands is a bit like in Singapore, just a lot bigger, and it’s a great feeling."

On-track, Vettel had similar complaints to the rest of the drivers who were struggling for grip throughout practice.

"There was very low grip and I think everybody was struggling to keep their cars on the track. It’s surprising low speed overall, as I was expecting the faster corners to be faster than they actually are but hopefully with more rubber on the track it should get a bit better.

"I think we are reasonably happy with how the day went. I’m sure we can improve but unfortunately the rain stopped our long run at the end of the session. But everyone else was affected too. Nevertheless I’m sure we can make improvements and I’m sure we’ll be in a good place.”

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.