Sergio Perez, the hometown hero, will start fourth, but given Red Bull's recent dominance, it wouldn't surprise anyone if he ended up on the podium.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen maintained his strong form in 2022, taking his sixth pole of the season at the Mexican Grand Prix. Behind him, the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified second and third, with Russell making a mistake on his final run at turn 12, resulting in his lap time being deleted. Sergio Perez, the hometown hero, will start fourth, but given Red Bull’s recent dominance, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he ended up on the podium come Sunday. On a disappointing day for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz will start fifth, while his teammate Charles Leclerc will start seventh.
Pirelli, the Italian tyre company, has chosen to bring the same set of compounds used in Austin to Mexico City. The C2 tyre will be the hard compound, while the C4s will be the softest, leaving the C3 as the medium compound. While a lap around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit is the third shortest on the calendar, the high-speed nature of the circuit combined with the hard braking zones, particularly in the final second, may result in faster tyre degradation.
Read More – 2022 F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Schedule, Timings and Live Streaming details
As a result, Pirelli believes a two-stop strategy may be the best option since a race start on the soft followed by two stints on the medium C3s may be the quickest way to complete the race. Alternatively, drivers who do not have an extra set of fresh medium tyres could use a soft-medium-soft strategy as their best option. A one-stopper could also be on the cards, depending on the rate of degradation, with Pirelli predicting a medium to hard swap could also result in a similar overall race time.
“Over the course of a season, our tyres have to cope with a wide variety of conditions depending on the individual characteristics of each venue,” Pirelli’s Motosport Director Mario Isola said. “If you look back at the last two races, Suzuka was all about lateral forces and Austin was well-balanced aerodynamically, but Mexico this weekend focuses on traction and braking. The Hermanos Rodriguez circuit does not offer a lot of grip and the energy demands on the tyres are reasonably low, as the cars do not generate much downforce in the thin air at high altitude, especially in slow corners.”
“This year, the circuit might be more front-limited, as the current generation of car tends to understeer through slow corners – which Mexico has plenty of – and this can lead to some sliding on the front tyres. Due to the nature of the venue the circuit tends to feature a dusty surface with plenty of track evolution. Understanding this and getting the tyre warm-up exactly right is likely to be the key to success.”
