McLaren’s drivers suspect overtaking will be especially difficult in the Mexican Grand Prix this year.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has proved a difficult venue for passing since it was remodelled and returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2015. Despite the track’s long straights, Mexico City’s high altitude makes it difficult for drivers to cool their cars and tyres. As a result they cannot run close together for long periods.However the McLaren drivers suspect the characteristics of this year’s power units will make it harder to race in Mexico. “Overtaking I think is going to be terrible tomorrow,” predicted Lando Norris, who qualified sixth.
Oscar Piastri agreed “it’s going to be tricky” because the power available to the drivers is tightly regulations.
“It’s tough to overtake around here, especially in this generation of cars,” he said. “Everyone’s kind of stuck in this speed limiter on the straight because of the MGU-K rules.
“So it’s going to be a bit bizarre but we’ll wait and see.”
Piastri will start outside the top half of the grid after failing to make the cut in Q2. He improved his time by just a hundredth of a second compared to the first session and was at a loss to explain why.
“I felt like in Q1 we had plenty of pace and I feel like it was possible,” he said. “Just with the new tyres, I mean I barely improved, so that was the biggest issue.
“But in normal circumstances we should have been plenty comfortable enough and I don’t know what changed on that new set of tyres, but I just had no grip at all.”
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