inUncategorized

What To Look Forward To Ahead Of The Mexico City Grand Prix

The season’s final three races are upon us from one epic crowd to another, but there’s still plenty to play for, and an on-track dispute is rolling on between two teams. So here are some of the stories we think will have everyone talking this weekend in Mexico City.

Verstappen chasing a record

The United States Grand Prix was another thrilling race with three teams fighting for the win. Max Verstappen was at the top of his game and came out on top, as he has often done this year. He has done it so many times that Verstappen is on the verge of setting a new Formula 1 record this weekend in Mexico as he searches for his 14th victory of the season. No driver has ever won more than 13 in one campaign, but with two races remaining, Verstappen is only two behind Schumacher and Vettel, who both hold records for most wins in a single season (14 each).

While Verstappen is modest when it comes to the potential record, as he rightly points out there are more races this season than in any of the years that the two German drivers managed 13 wins, he has achieved the feat in the same number of races that Vettel did – 19 – and just one more than Schumacher managed in 2004.

That means if he wins in Mexico, he will have a better win percentage than Vettel in 2013, and he can get even better than Schumacher’s percentage this season, although that requires him to win all three of the remaining races.

Checo-mania fight for P2

It’s hard to deny that Verstappen has been the Red Bull driver to beat this season, but it would be a massive result for the team were was their other driver who claimed victory in Mexico. That’s because Sergio Perez enjoys massive support from his home crowd, who created an incredible atmosphere a year ago (as they do every year) when he stood on the podium for the first time. On that occasion, he was chasing down Lewis Hamilton for second place but had to settle for third place, and he’ll be hoping to go two better this time around. It’s important for Perez not because it is his home race but also because he’s locked in a thrilling battle with Charles Leclerc for second in the drivers’ championship. Leclerc moved two points ahead of Perez with a fifth podium in a row in Austin on Sunday, as the fight looks set to go right to the wire.

Mercedes getting closer

Leclerc had to settle for third despite finding himself in a strong position at Circuit of the Americas, when a well-timed Safety Car allowed him to make a pit stop and emerge in fourth place – behind Perez at the time – after just 18 laps despite a grid penalty that saw him start down in P12.

While it was perhaps not a surprise to see Verstappen have the pace to beat Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton would have been Ferrari’s target, but Mercedes had the upper hand in race trim.

Hamilton drove an excellent race and kept Verstappen honest throughout as a number of the new Mercedes upgrades introduced in Austin helped close the gap a little further to the top two teams. George Russell also had the pace to set the fastest lap on song tires late, albeit having seen his hopes of the podium disappear due to causing a collision with Carlos Sainz at the start.

Mercedes still lacks that final bit of performance that would make them favourites for a win anywhere. Still, their form fluctuates from track to track and it feels like they’re now in a position where they have a car good enough to capitalize when they find a circuit that suits them.

The challenge of the altitude

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at Mexico City is a challenging track, with high altitude and low pressure. Because of the altitude, cooling is an issue that the teams have to get their heads around. Items such as the power unit and brakes need extra attention as they can become tougher to cool. At the same time, the less dense air also impacts both power unit performance and the level of downforce generated by the cars. A simple way of thinking about it is that even when the cars are at their highest downforce setting – the same as they use in Monaco – they are only getting downforce levels more akin to Monza, where they run their lowest settings.

Protests and counter-protests

While there was some sensational racing throughout the United States Grand Prix, we are still waiting for the race result to be finally confirmed. An official result has been published, but it features a time penalty for Fernando Alonso that was handed out long after the race following a protest from Haas. That protest was successful as Haas argued Alonso’s car was unsafe when it had a loose wing mirror that eventually fell off, resulting in reduced visibility. However, Alpine feels the issue centers around a lack of a call during the race from Race Control and has a means of trying to reverse the decision. According to Otmar Szafnauer’s team, Haas lodged their decision to protest after the submission deadline, so we are now in a situation where Alpine has protested against the admissibility of the original Haas protest. They are not protesting the outcome at this point simply because the Haas protest was allowed to be heard in the first place. The next hearing will take place on Thursday evening in Mexico City.

 

Written by John N

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Boobs Play Ideas to Drive Her Crazy And Achieve Nipplegasms!

Form Guide Ahead Of the 2022 Mexico Grand Prix