Mexican Grand Prix: Five key talking points

After an exciting and a thrilling race this year at Austin, United States, Lewis Hamilton’s victory wrapped up this year’s Drivers’ Championship. As a result, Hamilton became the first British driver to defend the world championship and also equal his childhood idol, Ayrton Senna’s record of three world titles.

We, now, move to the south of United States- Mexico. Mexican Grand Prix returns to the Formula One calendar after a long gap of 23 years. Here are the interesting talking points to look forward to before the GP.

5. Rosberg’s ‘cap gate’

Hamilton took his tenth win of the season in the United States, and thus, with three races to go, remains on course to equal Sebastian Vettel’s single-season record of 13 victories, set in 2013. Such dominance forced Rosberg to throw his cap at Hamilton after the US Grand Prix race, which was not only disrespectful to the Brit but also showed his lack of maturity in handling defeats. Rosberg, currently sits third in the Drivers’ Championship, should try to come clean of the incident and finish this year on a high and cut Hamilton’s lead as much as possible, even though it is of no value now.

1. Williams terrible form

   

After a lively and a promising start to this year’s Formula One calendar, Williams have been pegged by their poor outing in the last four races, having collected only 32 points. Their best result was a fourth place finish by Felipe Massa in Sochi. The twin retirement at US Grand Prix further added to their woes.

When asked by Autosport if he was confident Williams could get the problem fixed in time for Mexico next weekend, Williams performance chief Smedley said: “We have to, there is no alternative. We can’t not do it. Any kind of reliability issue we have to be able to sort, both understand and resolve and bring the manufacturing forward and get it on the car in a matter of days.”

After what happened in US, Williams will be hoping for a better performance from their drivers as well as their Mercedes powered cars.

3.Toro Rosso on the rise

Toro Rosso, the sister team of Red Bull, is in a fine form, performing pretty consistently and are improving with each race. Much of this success goes to their young drivers Carlos Sainz and the 18-year-old prodigy Max Verstappen. The way both these drivers have fought off big teams is a testimony to their potential and bright future. This was evident from the last race at Austin, where the young Dutch came 4 and Sainz showed immense character to finish 7 after starting from back of the grid.

After the race at Austin, Sainz believed that Toro Rosso can secure a place in top five in the future. With three rounds remaining starting this weekend in Mexico, Toro Rosso sits seventh in the manufacturers’ championship, 7 points off of Lotus and 39 behind Force India (5th place).

1. Tyre Allocation 

Pirelli will bring the yellow-marked soft and the white-banded medium tyres to Mexico.

“Nominating the compounds for a new track is not without its challenges, but simulation – one of the most important areas of growth in Formula 1 technology recently – is very accurate now, although it’s inevitable that we would incline towards a more conservative choice during the first year at a new track,” said Pirelli’s Paul Hembery.

“As always, we are still aiming for two pit stops at the Mexican Grand Prix, but the uncertain weather that is affecting a large part of North America during the next week or so will clearly have a big influence.

“The track has been designed with overtaking in mind, so together with the different options for strategy that will become clearer during a very important free practice day on Friday, there is clear potential for an entertaining race that allows drivers to move up through the field.”

1. The Mexican superstar- Sergio Perez

Mexico returns to the Formula One calendar after a gap of 23 years. The last race here in 1992 was won by British driver, Nigel Mansell. Sergio Perez, the local boy, will be just the third Mexican driver to start a race on home soil. The Force India driver has emerged out from the shadow of his senior partner, Nico Hulkenberg and been in prolific form finishing on the podium in Sochi and fifth at Austin. He has now finished in the points in five of the last six races and has every chance of becoming the first Mexican to score in his home race since the late Pedro Rodriguez was sixth in 1970.

He will be expected to carry his terrific form into his home race in front of an expected crowd of 100,000. Some Formula One drivers never experience the pride and passion of racing in a home Grand Prix, their countries unlikely ever to appear on the calendar, but Mexican Sergio Perez will not be one of them after this weekend. A podium finish in his home would send the crowd into a frenzy, although that seems improbable but not impossible with a slice of luck, like in Russia.

Here’s a look at the revamped Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.