Deprived of a podium last weekend in the United States in favor of Formula 1 world championship leader Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, second overall, will try to regain the upper hand over his Dutch rival from Friday in Mexico.
In Mexico, will Norris be the new dark hero? While it is a safe bet that the Mexican public will be all for the cause of their national star Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), the British driver from McLaren arrives in the Mexican capital with the firm desire “to give it his all” after “narrowly missing the podium in Austin”.
In the last round in Austin (Texas), Norris crossed the finish line in 3rd but due to a controversial five-second penalty imposed in the final moments of the race for his maneuver against Verstappen, he dropped back to 4th place , in favor of his Dutch rival.
Overall, the triple world champion is still holding out against Norris, who he is 57 points behind on the eve of the 20th round (out of 24) of the season.
With a maximum of 146 points still to be distributed from the last five rounds, the McLaren driver now needs to score an average of 11.5 points more per weekend than his Red Bull rival until the Abu Dhabi GP in early December to win his first F1 title.
Red Bull under pressure
Located at an altitude of over 2,200 metres, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez presents a technical challenge for single-seaters due to the scarcity of oxygen, which puts the cars at risk of overheating.
“It’s not easy to find the right balance to manage that while getting maximum performance out of the car, but we’ve prepared well for it at the factory,” assured Frédéric Vasseur, the boss of the Ferrari team, who arrives in Mexico galvanized by his one-two in the United States GP, Charles Leclerc having won the race ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.
Thanks to this performance, the Scuderia, third in the constructors’ championship, is now only eight points behind Red Bull (504 points against 496 for Ferrari) from whom it can regain second place on Sunday.
Although everything is still to be played for, the stakes are high since the final ranking of the season determines the share of F1 revenues paid to the teams: the better they are ranked, the higher their bonuses.
At the forefront, McLaren (540 points), which became the leading force in the field in mid-September thanks to the consistency of its drivers Norris and the Australian Oscar Piastri, has a 40-point lead over Red Bull.
Perez in danger?
In an attempt to contain Ferrari – and catch up with McLaren – Red Bull will first be able to count on Verstappen, who hopes to capitalise on the improvements seen in Austin on his RB20. In his sights: his 4th victory in a row in Mexico – which would be his first GP victory since the end of June.
His teammate Sergio Perez, only 8th in the championship, will try to shine at home to silence the rumours surrounding his future in the ranks of the Austrian firm.
“The most important thing for me would be to give a podium to my fans and my country, at home,” assured the Mexican, who has not had a top 3 since the Chinese GP in April.
Signed until the end of 2025 at Red Bull, Pérez could see his contract end before this date, due to his lack of performance.
Liam Lawson is one of the favourites to succeed him. For his first GP of the season last weekend replacing Australian Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls, the 22-year-old New Zealander finished 9th after starting from a distant 19th place .
Another young hopeful, the Argentinian Franco Colapinto, who was competing with Williams in only his fourth GP in the elite in Austin, also finished in the points on Sunday (10th ) – performances which could send him alongside the German Nico Hülkenberg to Sauber next year, where the last seat on the grid remains to be filled.
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