quoteKimi: on this track everything works differently
It’s hard to know what to expect for this weekend. Physically I don’t really feel different, considering the altitude, but obviously the cars are working in a different way. The engine works slightly different and so do the wings as the downforce is reduced. Last year it was quite tricky here, the track was very slippery to start with, and then it obviously improved. We had a very difficult weekend, how’s going to be this year and where we’ll stand against the other teams we’ll find out from tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be in a better position.
quoteKimi Raikkonen: Attention to detail key to form improvement
Kimi Raikkonen says attention to the small details has been key to his improved form in 2016, which has occurred despite a disappointing campaign for Ferrari.
Raikkonen dropped behind teammate Sebastian Vettel after retiring due to a botched pit-stop at the U.S. Grand Prix, having led the German in the standings for much of the season. Last year Raikkonen finished a huge 128 points behind Vettel, the second season in a row which had seen him comprehensively out-performed by a teammate.
The Finn says the improvement has come from change in mentality compared to previous years.
"Obviously the car is new, we had a good car last year also, but there were some changes with the people that I work with and I think they've been very good," Raikkonen said when asked to explain the reasons for his improvement in form ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix. "The guys are very good at what they do, we work very well together, but I don't think there's the one reason why we're doing better. I think the reasons are in the very small details, making sure that they are correct, they're not almost there or roughly there, they're exactly as they should be.
"To have this mentality pays off because we have a lot of details that can make a difference if they're spot on but if they're not then you'd adding a lot of lap time. We work very well together, we understand each other well, we have the same kind of idea of how we want to do stuff."
Despite acknowledging the improvement in his own form compared to 2014 and 2015, Raikkonen admits it means little in a year which has seen Ferrari fail to record a single victory despite pre-season expectations of a title challenge.
"I can drive the car well, that helps, but it hasn't been such a good season as I want to be at the front and win races, so it's difficult for me to say this has been a good season. But I understand that coming from the last few years this is better, but the end result is not what we want as Ferrari."
“Overall it was pretty ok today, but it’s still early to know where we are and how’s going to be. I had some understeer, mainly in the afternoon, with new tires on it was a bit tricky, but it’s still the first day of practice. Now we have to concentrate and work on a few things as we normally do after the Friday’s session and hopefully tomorrow, on new tires, we can push a bit more.”
I hope no change and Kimi will start from P6 tomorrow. Seems he has a problem with his engine
quoteKimi: "First Quali was pretty fine. I didin't have any problems & the car felt like better than the morning. The second Quali was a bit of a fight and I was hard to get the tyres to work properly as I would have liked. At the end (in Q3) it felt like something strange was in the car, and then in the final lap, something happened. I don't know what yet, but there wasn't pace in straight anymore."
quoteKimi’s woes starting from Q2 “In Q1 the feeling with the car was good, better than in the morning during P3. Then in Q2 it was quite tricky to get the tires work consistently and to know where the grip was. In the last qualifying stint we were getting there again, but in the first run I felt it a bit odd in the last part of the lap and felt I could have gone faster in a few places. On the second try, for whatever reason, I had no speed in the straight, something was not right and we could not even try to go faster. It’s a pity because I think there was easily quite a lot of speed there today, but we couldn’t use it. Now we have to find out what happened. Obviously it’s disappointing where we finished today but tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”
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Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:14 pm
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And Kimi has the longer breath 
FP1
