Mexico City GP preview: Will Verstappen extend his championship lead or is a late fightback from Hamilton on the cards?

(Motorsport) Formula 1 returns after two weeks to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the first time in two years as the intense battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton continues for the Drivers Championship. The Mexico City Grand Prix weekend has traditionally been one of the most colourful and energetic events in the calendar and that is expected to continue this time around in one of the most gripping Formula 1 season’s in recent history.

Having won in Texas, Verstappen currently has a 12 point lead over seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton but with five races to go, it has never been more important for Red Bull and Verstappen to pull up their socks and get the result they need to secure the title. After Mexico, three Grand Prix’s will be held in successive weeks and there will be little time for preparation between the two teams with races coming thick and fast as the season concludes. Verstappen’s performance this season has been close to immaculate, getting the maximum performance from his car, error free races, fantastic tyre management and race strategy to ensure he’s in the driving seat in the championship this time around.

For Hamilton, the Mercedes driver has reiterated that he wants to win or lose his eighth World Championship in "the right way" and will leave “no performance on the table” at this weekend’s Mexico City GP. The circuit has generally favoured Red Bull in recent seasons, being situated 2000m above sea level but it was Hamilton who won the race two years earlier. "[In 2019] they were quite a bit quicker than us so you'd have to say this is a Red Bull track. But we have had success here in the past," said Hamilton. "We did win here last time but that was only because Max made a mistake and got a penalty [which lost him pole], otherwise they were much quicker than us. So we expect that it will be very similar this weekend."

Hamilton added: "We thought that we would be stronger, for example, in somewhere like Austin – they were quite a bit stronger than us there in the race. So I really can't predict it. What I do know is that last year [2019] they outqualified us here and they were down on power compared to us through the year. Now they are ahead on power, there or thereabouts, and they've got a very strong car that's been affected less by the changes in the rules that we were affected by. So they are going to be rapid this weekend, last year [2019] they were almost half a second ahead of us, and our car is not better than last year's car with those changes."

Mercedes have been plagued by engine troubles this year with both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas exceeding the current engine allocation. Toto Wolff had previously said that if there are reliability concerns, a new engine change for Hamilton is not out of the picture as a DNF is more harmful from the bigger picture than incurring a grid penalty. However, a new engine for the Mexico City GP is out of the question for Hamilton who said “I believe our engines are strong and as far as I'm aware we're hopefully going to the end."

The other battle that will be fought at the Mexico City GP will be between Ferrari and McLaren for the third place in the Constructors Championship. Ferrari have outscored McLaren by 14 points in the last two Grand Prix’s and have reduced the British team’s lead to just 3.5 points with Ferrari in momentum, having introduced their 2022 engine to great effect. McLaren’s Lando Norris has admitted that their rivals will be tough to beat in the upcoming races “It’s always generally been very close [with Ferrari], since the beginning of the season – it’s not like we’ve run away with it at any point. It’s tense. We are working hard, everyone back at the factory is working hard, to find these little things we need for the rest of the season. But Ferrari are strong, you’ve got to give it to them. They’ve come on very strong the second half of the season and especially the last few weekends. So we are putting up a fight and we can definitely bring it to the end.”

Also read: Formula 1 could make the sprint format a standard approach for Grand Prix weekends

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