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Tyres NorthamptonFormula One has the second half of its North American double-header this weekend at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Red Bull and Max Verstappen head into the final three rounds as the Constructors' and Drivers' champions, but it's still all to play for in the positions behind them. With millions at stake for the teams and records to break for Verstappen, don't expect any change in competitiveness in Mexico's capital.
The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has provided F1 with plenty of entertainment since its return to the calendar in 2015. The two DRS straights that dominate the track's first half allow for overtaking, and the technical turns in the latter half make the drivers work hard to stay close to their competitors. With the new ground-effect aero regulations, 2022 should be even better.
There is always plenty of conversation surrounding how the teams' power units will handle the high-altitude city. The circuit sits approximately 7,300 feet above sea level – or a mile-and-a-half higher than Zandvoort's coastal track – so getting enough of the thin air to the engines is a unique challenge.
High altitude or not, the air hasn't hurt Red Bull in the past, who have gone well in Mexico at each attempt. They're likely to excel again in 2022, too. The long start/finish straight with the heavy braking zone for the first chicane favours cars with high top speeds, and we saw in the USA how few answers Ferrari and Mercedes had to counteract Red Bull's horsepower advantage.
Elsewhere, the midfield fight is in full swing, and each championship position is worth millions of dollars in prize money to aid the teams' future hopes. Mercedes are just 43 points behind Ferrari, Alpine lead McLaren by six points, and Sebastian Vettel's three-race run of points sees Aston Martin just one point behind Alfa Romeo. Any top-10 finishes for the teams further back could prove massively consequential for their 2023 campaigns.
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As was the case in Austin, it's the C2, C3, and C4 tyres from Pirelli in Mexico City. The middle-of-the-road compounds are a safe bet from the tyre manufacturer, but with the thinner air meaning less conventional downforce, tyre degradation shouldn't be as extreme as we saw in the USA.
Pirelli will also use FP2 as an extended session for the third race running for their 2023 prototype tyre testing. With the rain in Suzuka stopping the teams from running the new rubber at the Japanese Grand Prix, a sunny day in Mexico City on Friday will pick up the slack.
Max Verstappen has won more world championship races at the circuit than any other driver and three of the last four Mexican Grands Prix. But, even with the title in the bag, he didn't slow down at COTA last week when hunting Lewis Hamilton. So Max will be the favourite once again.
However, Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez is the home hero and will hope to give the Mexican fans in the final sector's unique baseball stadium something to cheer about. The passionate local crowd were delighted with Perez's podium in 2021, but Red Bull's 2022 challenger is a better package than last year's car, so a win isn't out of the question. Perez beating Verstappen is a rarity, though.
Mercedes are the only other team to have won in Mexico City since the Grand Prix's 2015 return, and the team's race pace looked on par, if not better than Ferrari's in recent weeks. Hamilton wants to retain his remarkable run of taking a win in every season that he's contested but is rapidly running out of 2022 races to do so. Could that urgency propel him to the top step?
As with the USGP, it's a prime-time TV slot for the Mexico City Grand Prix. Lights out is again at 8PM on Sunday, with Qualifying at 9PM this Saturday.
Qualifying – On air: 8PM, Session start: 9PM Saturday 29th October
Race – On air: 6:30PM, Session start: 8PM Sunday 30th October
Qualifying – 12:30PM Sunday 30th October
Race – 1:05AM Monday 31st October, with a repeat at 7:25AM too.
Note – Channel 4's race highlights are on *Monday*.
Qualifying & Race – The weekend looks mainly warm and dry, with the only slight threat of rain coming on Saturday afternoon. Temperatures are forecast in the low-to-mid 20s for Qualifying and the Race.
