Lewis Hamilton declares Red Bull enters Mexico

Hamilton has secured a second-place grid position behind the Red Bull duo, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. The reigning world champion – who must finish seventh or more to win a fifth title – seemed unconvinced during the first practice sessions on Friday.

"It's a great day for us," Hamilton said after qualifying. "Given the difficulties we experienced yesterday for us, so I really want to thank all those who are back at the factory and who have been working hard for one night, as well as the guys here, to rectify the problems. the car returns to a milder place Congratulations to Daniel.

"These guys were just too fast, they were in a class of their own in general until qualifying and even qualifying, and if you look at his midfield, it was impossible for me to get it. To be as close as I. I'm really happy with that, and being third is not a bad start. "

Hamilton said his Mercedes felt like a car completely different from what it had been 24 hours ago.

"Honestly, it's different night and day." Yesterday we were really in trouble, FP1 was fine, but once arrived in FP2, it was not fun to drive, it was sure, and there were several different problems in the car, mechanical side, aerodynamic side, mainly mechanical and a little aerodynamic and a little engine.

"Considerable changes and improvements have been made overnight and we are coming back today to suddenly conflict – we did not think yesterday with this performance that we would be able to qualify on an ultra for massive disadvantage for us tomorrow if we were to start with hyper, for example.

"As soon as we entered qualifying, I immediately understood how the car behaved and said to myself," OK, we are in a much stronger position to fight for this position. " I'm just happy to be able to get there – work, improve on my second lap – the qualifications have been very good for me. "