Windsor says Perez and Bottas will make things difficult for their teammates

"Mercedes still have the slight performance edge over Red Bull Honda, we've been talking about it ever since Silverstone, ever since those stiffer rear Pirelli's came into vogue, Mercedes have been looking pretty good," Windsor started in his analysis.

On Friday, Bottas and Perez in particular impressed.

"Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton are looking very sharp in the Mercedes, although Sergio Perez is doing an excellent job in the Red Bull.
Looking at the times, it's Valtteri Bottas who is actually the most impressive of the lot. The track was a little bit slower this afternoon, and Sergio Perez almost matched his time. Mercedes had their focus on running more fuel in the car and getting longer suns, so we shouldn't read too much into that."

Windsor expects a fast Perez

According to Windsor, it's not easy to set a perfect lap in Austin. "There's something about the track that doesn't reward the great drivers, by which I mean, there isn't a corner there where if you get it absolutely perfectly there's a straight afterwards to reward you. Austin's a really difficult circuit, but I 'd be surprised if Sergio Perez isn't really quick this weekend."

"Max had traffic on the Friday, and he didn't get with the rhythm in the morning. Saturday is another day, but this is a circuit where it's not going to be easy for Max to actually do a considerably better job than Sergio Perez It's a circuit where Perez will be pretty near him, I think. In terms of Mercedes, Valtteri is quite capable of beating Hamilton around Austin,"  Windsor concluded.