A historic weekend. At Round 20 of the 2024 Formula One World Championship Fernando marks a major milestone by becoming the first driver to take part in 400 Grands Prix. Vibrant and fast-paced, we're in Mexico City for the second leg of our triple-header. Get the thoughts of Lance and Fernando below after Sunday's action.
It was a day of mixed fortunes for the team on Sunday at the Mexico City Grand Prix, as Lance finished just outside of the points in P11, whilst Fernando unfortunately had to retire early into his milestone race.
Sunday round-up and reaction
Fernando started the race in P13, with Lance in P14. Both had a good start and made up places in the opening lap. Lance moved into P11 and Fernando P12 before a safety car was called at the end of the first lap.
On Lap 15, Fernando pulled into the pits from P13 and had to retire the car due to a suspected brake cooling issue.
After dropping to P12, Lance went head-to-head with Sergio Perez on Lap 19 for P11, and after going off the track, he had to rejoin behind the Red Bull.
Lance pitted on Lap 27 and swapped to the Hard compound tyre. After rejoining in P16, he continued to make good progress throughout the remaining laps and finished the race in P11, just missing out on the points positions.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Race
"It was a hard-fought race today. We did everything we could while managing some cooling issues, but we are still just lacking the pace to fight for points. It's been a tough couple of weeks, but hopefully in Brazil we can be a little more competitive."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Race
"We took advantage of a chaotic start and everything was under control from our side as we battled just outside the top ten. However, by lap 13 the brake temperatures were a little high and unfortunately a few laps later we had to retire the car. I felt a lot of love this weekend with lots of nice messages and respect from people. Despite the result, I have a positive feeling from the weekend and I'm confident we can have better performance in Brazil."
Mike Krack | Team Principal
"Lance drove a very strong race today, but points were just out of reach. We did not have great pace all weekend, but Lance managed the race well, looked after the tyres, and enjoyed some fun battles on the track. It was a shame Fernando's 400th Grand Prix weekend ended early with a front brake issue. The temperatures were getting too high so we had to retire the car. Even though we just missed out on points today, we take the learnings and the positives into Brazil next week. Full credit to the trackside team, too, for their continued hard work across this triple-header."
Next up
We're back on track on 1-3 November for the final leg of our triple-header at the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Saturday
Lance and Fernando were some of the first drivers out on track in FP3, and unlike Friday's sessions, it remained uninterrupted allowing for run plans to be complete.
Both drivers spent the majority of the final practice session on the Soft tyre compound, Fernando finished in P15 and Lance P17.
The first Qualifying segment was incredibly tight, and Fernando and Lance both progressed into Q2 in P12 and P15 respectively.
A late red flag in Q2 scuppered both driver's efforts of progressing into Q3.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Qualifying
"I was on my final flying lap when the red flag came out, but I think Q3 would have been a challenge anyway. Getting through to Q2 was the goal here in Mexico, so we can be happy with that. Still, we are definitely not where we want to be and there's a lot of work to do to improve the car's performance."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Qualifying
"We have struggled most of the weekend for performance but in Qualifying the car felt a lot better than in Free Practice and I was much happier. We opted to use three sets of tyres in Q1 and we made it through. I was doing a good lap in Q2 just before the red flag ended the session and I think we might have made it through into Q3 had we been able to finish the lap. I don't expect any miracles tomorrow, but I am ready to fight and enjoy my 400th Grand Prix. I dreamt of becoming a Formula One driver as a child and I'm here with more than two decades in the sport so I'm extremely lucky."
Mike Krack | Team Principal
"Two cars through to Q2 is more than we expected after the pace we showed in practice. We might have made the top ten had the red flag [for Tsunoda's crash] not impacted the end of Q2. We were learning and adapting as the track evolved. The car has not been easy to drive, but Lance and Fernando put together clean and tidy laps across the sessions. The goal tomorrow is to try and compete for points in what will be Fernando's 400th Grand Prix – a remarkable milestone for an exceptional sportsman."
Friday
Our Test and Reserve driver Felipe Drugovich took to the track during FP1 in the AMR24, replacing Fernando for the 60-minute session.
Red flags on two occasions meant track time was impacted during FP1, but Lance and Felipe were able to complete a number of laps on the Hard and Soft tyre compounds.
FP2 was extended to 90 minutes to allow for 2025 tyre testing where we followed a specific programme outlined by Pirelli engineers.
Fernando returned to the cockpit in the second practice session, kicking off his history making weekend.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice
"It's been a busy day on track with the usual Friday work focussing on set-up. We ran several cross-car comparison tests to get more of an understanding of our recent updates, so we'll look through that data tonight. In terms of pace, we didn't feel especially competitive so we've got work to do ahead of Qualifying tomorrow."
#34 | Felipe Drugovich | Free Practice
"It was my first time in the AMR24 so I took a couple of laps to feel the car and get comfortable with it, especially with the wind and lower grip corners, but after that I was able to push. It was great to be back in an Formula One car. I got some good running at the end of the session, but we definitely lost out on a few laps due to the red flags. I'm happy with how it went though; I collected the data that the team needs to understand the updates and I know where I can improve for next time. Thanks again to the team for their support today - it's always a pleasure working with everyone trackside."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice
"It's good to be back and I've not been feeling 100% over the last few days. Today I did feel okay in the car, but it's very physically demanding driving an F1 car. Mexico City is always a nice race weekend and of course a double celebration here with the 400 Grands Prix. In general FP2 was a mixed feeling with the tyre testing and I don't think we can have any conclusions yet. We expect a difficult weekend as it's a tough circuit for our package, but we will give it our all."
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