The second round in 2023’s sole triple-header of the season, Mexico City will play host to round 19 of the world championship.
Sergio Perez has struggled to match the performance of his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen for the vast majority of the year, so prospects of a home victory for Mexico’s sole F1 driver do not seem high. But after an improved showing last weekend in Austin, can Perez spring a surprise and spark a fiesta in the grandstands?Here are the six talking points for the Mexican Grand Prix.
Casa de Checo
From the moment Sergio Perez was announced as a Red Bull driver at the end of the 2020 season, the scores of Formula 1 fans in Mexico could hardly be blamed for getting their hopes up about the prospect of seeing one of their own win their home grand prix.
But in his third season in the Red Bull, Perez has never looked less likely to compete for victory at his home grand prix as he has this time around. Ever since winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix back in April, Perez has endured a torrid run where not only has Verstappen been comfortably quicker than him every weekend, he has also made too many mistakes and failed to get the most out of the fastest car on the grid on Saturdays as well as Sundays.
Perez was again off the level of his team mate last weekend in Austin – which did little to raise the expectations of him competing for the win in Mexico City. Last year, having already claimed the title before arriving in Mexico, Verstappen insisted he had no intention of doing any favours for Perez at his home grand prix. It’s highly unlikely that Verstappen will be feeling any more generous this time around.
Ferrari’s altitude sickness
Ferrari’s form has yo-yoed so regularly throughout the 2023 season that Charles Leclerc admitted he had effectively given up on predicting whether they would be strong or weak heading into each race weekend.
If Ferrari were hoping to bounce back with a more predictable performance in the next round, then Mexico is hardly the best venue for that. Last year, Ferrari suffered what was probably their weakest performance of the 2022 season in Mexico, as Sainz and Leclerc qualified down in fifth and seventh, respectively, before finishing almost a full minute behind race winner Verstappen on Sunday.
It was not just the factory Ferrari team who found it tough in the high altitude, but both their power unit customers Alfa Romeo and Haas too. After a spate of reliability problems during the 2022 season, then-team principal Mattia Binotto confirmed after the race that Ferrari “didn’t have the capacity to run maximum power” around the Mexican circuit. It’s also clearly something that Ferrari are not fully convinced about for this weekend, Sainz tellingly remarking: “let’s see how the engine behaves this year”.
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Friday practice cameos
As the season winds down with both world championship titles already decided, this is the part of the year when F1 teams begin to fulfil their Friday young driver practice allocations before the end of the season like a university student cramming in last minute revision before a big exam.
Ferrari academy driver and current Formula 2 competitor Oliver Bearman will get his first appearance in a grand prix session this weekend in the SF-23. The 18-year-old has driven a Formula 1 car at Ferrari’s Fiorano text track just a couple of weeks ago, but this will be his first outing in a modern-era ground effect F1 car.
At Alpine, junior driver Jack Doohan will fulfil his first Friday practice run at Mexico. It’s the second consecutive year that the F2 racer has been handed an opportunity to drive the team’s car at the Autodromo, so the team will be expecting to see improvement from their prospect compared to last year.
Mercedes junior driver Frederik Vesti will take over George Russell’s car as he makes his Friday practice debut – the first of two runs the 21-year-old will have over the final rounds of the championship.
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Plank problems?
While the scrutineers check cars for a variety of areas, not every parameter of every car is checked at the conclusion of the race. But what was notable about Austin’s scrutineering was that, according to the stewards, only four cars had their plank wear levels checked after the race – Hamilton, Leclerc, race winner Verstappen and eventual second-placed finisher Lando Norris.
Naturally, the fact that Hamilton and Leclerc failed this fundamental legality check begs the question of if their respective team mates may also have suffered similar wear levels on their cars. Under the regulations, rival teams have the right to demand a review which would lead to all cars having their planks checked. This is a potentially beneficial gamble for those teams who finished lower down the order, as if Sainz and Russell were also in breach, then they too will be disqualified and their points allocated to those behind them. But given the very bumpy nature of COTA, there’s no guarantee that Mercedes and Ferrari were the only teams who may have fallen foul of this rule.
It seems unlikely that anything further will come from this, but in Formula 1, where even a handful of points could mean millions of dollars of extra prize money for 2024, nothing can ever be ruled out.
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Battle at the back heats up
Now, just six points cover Alfa Romeo in eighth to AlphaTauri at the bottom of the constructors’ championship. Of the bottom four teams, three have scored points in the last two rounds. Only Haas have not recorded a top ten finish over the last two race weekends, but the team introduced a major upgrade package last weekend which could prove vital in their quest to get more points before the end of the season.
With both championship titles already sewn up and McLaren jumping ahead of Aston Martin to take fourth place last weekend, the most intriguing battle for the end of the season seems likely to be between the four teams at the bottom of the standings.
Tyre testing
As the 2024 season begins to loom over the horizon, Pirelli’s preparations for next year are ramping up as they typically do in October. This weekend in Mexico, Pirelli will look to gain valuable data for next season by bringing a trial C4 tyre to the circuit for all teams to test in representative conditions.
With Pirelli bringing the C3, C4 and C5 compounds to Mexico City – one stage softer than last year and the softest combination available in their range – teams will be able to perform side-by-side comparisons with the prototype 2024 compound as each driver will receive two extra sets of trial C4s to use over the two hour-long Friday practice sessions.
In order to encourage teams to run the trial tyres, the second practice session will be extended by half-an-hour to 90 minutes, rather than the typical 60.
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Are you going to the Mexican Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Mexico for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Mexican Grand Prix? Have your say below.
2023 Mexican Grand Prix
- ‘I’m so s*** in qualifying’: Norris berates himself despite pole-winning lap
- Ferrari reaping the benefits of having F1’s most closely-matched team mates
- Norris had “no chance” to beat Verstappen in Mexico even without Q1 exit
- Transcript: How Ricciardo’s race went awry soon after he was told to “bring it home”
- Mercedes see “very encouraging signs” from Austin floor update
Jere (@jerejj)
25th October 2023, 7:45
Casa de Checo – I expect his recent subpar performance level to continue.
Ferrari’s altitude sickness – I don’t expect much from them relative to their closest rivals.
Friday practice cameos – I’m still surprised most teams left fulfilling their requirements this late into the season while last season with big technical regulation changes, they used some earlier opportunities.
Plank problems? – Probably a non-issue, given the high rearity.
Battle at the back heats up – Williams should be safe for P7, but P8-10 order could be anything, depending on AT’s performance level & points opportunities.
Tyre testing – Nothing extraordinary.
Ajaxn
26th October 2023, 10:07
The preassure is on Redbull to allow him to perform and not have him in a subpar par to rule out competition between the drivers. His performance dipped after Max ‘there can only be one’ Verstappen started whining about his position within the team.
baasbas
25th October 2023, 7:52
Nothing on the Otis hurricane? It seems like it might come close enough
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th October 2023, 8:17
Otis made land so lots of rain but at Saterday only 12% chance left it will be cooler then Texas but humity higher. It could be that sunday the rain returns but that just too far to say now.
baasbas
25th October 2023, 9:03
@macleod
Thanks. I thankfully have no experience with hurricanes. It would sound plausible to me heavy storms could remain as an aftermath all the way up to Sunday. But I guess it dies down quickly when reaching land?
Hope the people at the coast are okay
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th October 2023, 14:13
hurricanes change into tropical storms over land and losing their strenght every hour over land so 24 hours later you have only wind and rain left over. Over higher pieces of land like Mexico it will dissolve very fast.
MichaelN
25th October 2023, 17:09
And Mexico City in particular is very high up, its center is over two kilometers above sea level. It has its own challenges weather wise as it’s surrounded by even higher mountains, which also amplifies the problems posed by the air pollution for which it is infamous.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th October 2023, 12:35
baasbas – Zero threat anyway. People shouldn’t over-react & panic.
AlexS
25th October 2023, 9:03
Make no sense this phrase. Should not be “irregularly” ?
David (@nvherman)
25th October 2023, 9:13
No. It means that their form has yo-yoed regularly. Sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re nowhere.
Zann (@zann)
25th October 2023, 22:01
that’s irregular, not regular. As AlexS says. But also frequent. Or, ‘a lot’. Or, bit boring but – ‘so much’ :)
Of course once they’ve written ‘yo-yoed’ they’re a bit boxed in, as that’s a down and a matching up always, so it’s a pair and not really unpredictable. Tho it is a nice image. Anyway Bard accepts it, and actually writes quite a nice article from it
melanos
27th October 2023, 20:38
Well, no. They are regularly irregular.
AlexS
25th October 2023, 9:09
Concerning tires Pirelli failed their Hard Tire as consequence we don’t have drivers starting in different compounds and strategies as it should be, every racing circuit seem to have dominant tire and everyone goes for that.
Leclerc disaster show what happens to whom deviate from the norm.
Lets hope they make a better job next year.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
25th October 2023, 9:46
No chance. Expect the expected. A siesta in the stands.
I kind of miss the days when engines made a difference, they’d come to a track like this or street circuit and it brought a few different teams into play. Although there were months and months of not-Renault-again or whoever dominating.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th October 2023, 10:40
Yes, in the years 2017-2018 for example ferrari and merc were generally the quickest and battling for the title, but red bull could come into play, usually having the best car at street circuits or in mexico, so you could have different teams that could have the best car depending on the track, and also on whether the session was quali or the race, even in 2019, a dominant season for merc, there were lots of quali sessions where ferrari did better and sometimes they took wins on merit, as did red bull.
With such a dominant red bull and obviously verstappen, who at least to me seems more complete than hamilton, there’s only the breadcrumbs left for the others, apart from singapore, where red bull looked like the 4th-5th quickest car in quali and joint-best in the race, which doesn’t cut it when having to overtake cars with similar pace at that track.
Coventry Climax
25th October 2023, 13:57
That’s the result of the FiA standardizing and restricting everything, including funds and testing. The result for the fake quest for ‘equal playing field’: Irrelevant of what rules apply, as long as they apply to any contestant, the playing field already is equal.
Without room to develop and/or deviate from the norm, nothing will change with respect to the order of cars during the season. Effectively, it’s the quality of the car that’s brought to a new season, that determines the general order of things. Sure, there’s -predictable- deviations over the different circuits.
And then the FiA is trying all sorts of artificial gadgets -which will always be the same for everyone obviously, and will thus make no real difference- to spice things up during a season, and make it all less predictable. The FiA are punching holes in their own boat. Below the waterline.
It’s not F1 anymore, even if it still uses that name.
It’s like Harrod’s. Founded in 1824, sold to Qatar in 2010. Same name, still claiming ‘founded in 1825’, but different shop. Good? Bad? I don’t know, but not the original Harrod’s anymore.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
26th October 2023, 0:18
Also, F1 is nownendurance racing instead of on the limit, and DRS prevents multiple lap wheel to wheel combat
Biggsy
25th October 2023, 11:00
The team that is notorious for the low level of patience it has even for their rookie driver, and for how ruthlessly it discards its under-performing drivers, even for slightly sub-par performances, is deciding to keep this guy, who is an absolute waste of space, in one of the most dominant cars ever seen.
It’s so disappointing.
SteveP
25th October 2023, 19:43
It’s the car.
Before Spain, Perez was happy driving it and Verstappen was not (the wife commented on “the persistent whine coming from one car”)
They changed something in one of the upgrades and Perez was unhappy while Verstappen was, and still is, happy.
Perez asked for the pre-Spain spec car and was refused.
I can’t think of any reason to refuse the request other than the likelihood of upsetting Verstappen with a resurgent Perez.
Konstantinos
25th October 2023, 12:35
What would Perez realistically have to do to regain trust in his skills at this point? It seems like his only saving grace is that an alternative to him is not clear (to us at least).
I know it’s unrealistic but I keep on thinking that there are a couple of pretty good but disgruntled drivers in a certain underperforming team that might be willing to make the jump if the contractual stuff could be somehow sorted.
tielemst
25th October 2023, 12:58
I’m thinking commercial value is the only thing keeping him in the car.
MichaelN
25th October 2023, 13:10
Red Bull likely sees Pérez as an important part of their company-wide strategy for the South-American market.
Coventry Climax
25th October 2023, 14:10
Would you buy and drink a Red Bull just because of Perez, that guy that performs so awful in F1?
What kind of commercial is that, other than a dumb and likely counterproductive one?
Coventry Climax
25th October 2023, 14:05
What he needs to do to regain confidence? Not just not crash or Ef U regularly, but finish no more than 2 places before or behind his teammate in about 95% of the races, each and every season.
No chance of that happening though, he’s just not good enough. And that’s putting it very mildly.
Coventry Climax
25th October 2023, 14:18
I agree with your assessment of there being a couple of unhappy drivers currently. Leclerc and Sainz are probably at the top of that list.
I sometimes wonder how fast the driver situation would change at Ferrari during a season, if it weren’t for contractual obligations. That’s given they’ve not had any success for so long now, and seem to lack the drive and insight to really, fundamentally change things, season after season.
MichaelN
25th October 2023, 17:20
Ferrari’s problems are particularly frustrating. If you look at the V6 seasons, they’ve finished (in reverse order) 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 4th. The 4th and 6th were in 2014 and 2020 respectively; seasons in which their engine was particularly deficient. First because they misjudged its importance and went for a aero-dominated design, and the second because of the Binotto shenanigans in 2019.
But other than that, it’s a lot of almost but not quite. They’ve been far better than anyone other than Red Bull and Mercedes, but have never made that final step, so when Mercedes dropped back it wasn’t Ferrari that took their place* at the top but Red Bull.
*Ferrari arguably had the best package at the start of 2022, but that was in large part because Red Bull was overweight. Once that was under control, Red Bull had a solid advantage. And then the added Mercedes-requested Technical Directive pretty much wiped out any hope that Ferrari’s concept would win anything of note. Hopefully they’ve learned from that and ditched this still Binotto-made concept for the 2024 season.
Nick T.
25th October 2023, 22:29
TBF, the only reason they had stretch of competitiveness was engine which was illegal. So, had they been within the rules, they would have been consistently similar in competitiveness to Force India/RP since 2013 until 2022. That’s nine years of mediocrity.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th October 2023, 23:45
The engine was deemed illegal in 2019, they didn’t say anything about 2017 and 2018, which were their most competitive seasons.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
26th October 2023, 0:19
With hands down a dominant car by a distance? Finish at least 2nd every race.
JimG (@jimg)
26th October 2023, 13:04
“scores”?! I think that may be underselling the Mexicans a little! ;-)