As the song says, ‘There are more questions than answers’ – especially when predicting the outcome of the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, but let’s just go ahead and ask them anyway!
- Can Red Bull secure their first 1-2 finish since 2016?
Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of Max Verstappen that day and they start from the front row, with the Australian on pole. But can they carry their practice and qualifying pace into the race? ‘Hopefully we are the quicker car all day,’ says Danny Ric, ‘but we’ll keep it chilled for now and just do what we’ve got to do.’
- Will Mad Max get over his fit of pique after missing out on his first F1 pole?
That leaves him only Brazil and Abu Dhabi to take the record for youngest pole-winner away from Sebastian Vettel, who did it in 2008 at Monza for Toro Rosso. Max’s disappointment comes partly because Mexico offered the Red Bull its best chance of beating the Ferraris and Mercedes.
- Can Lewis Hamilton score the five points he needs for his fifth title?
He says he wants to do it in style with a race win – but no-one has won at AHR from anywhere other than the front row and Hamilton is third, on the second row.
- Can Sebastian Vettel do anything to prevent Hamilton from achieving his target?
The same applies to Seb as to his rival: he starts from fourth, i.e. off the front row – and he has never even been on the Mexican podium, while Ferrari has not won here in the modern era.
- Who will win the race to the first corner?
It’s an 890-metre drag race in which Max and Lewis have history. ‘You saw what happened last year,’ Hamiton said, ‘with the red car behind. But third place is a nice place to start, you get a good tow from the guys up ahead, so naturally I’ll be fighting to try and gain a position’ But Lewis is the one who most clearly has to balance risk versus reward: he needs only 7
th pace if Seb wins, and if Seb doesn’t, Lewis is champ.
- Can Checo achieve his best result at the AHR?
Pérez has finished 8
th-10
th-7
th here and is going for seventh in the Drivers’ Championship. His Racing Point team is playing the long game – putting its drivers on the Ultrasoft tyres for qualifying instead of the faster Hypersofts because they now have the freedom to determine their own starting tyres. ‘I am confident about our chances tomorrow.,’ he said. ‘We believe our strategy is the correct one and we can move forward in the race.’
- What can F1’s rising star Charles Leclerc do from ninth on the grid?
He and Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson are in rare air but Leclerc already has six top-10 finishes and a best result of sixth in Azerbaijan in a stellar season that has won him a Ferrari call-up in 2019.
- It’s Fernando Alonso’s final appearance at AHR before he quits F1.
‘I stop because I want to, not because I am being forced to,’ Alonso said. ‘I want to stop because I achieved in F1 more than I dreamed of and it's time to achieve bigger things outside F1.’ What can the popular Spaniard do from back in 12
th place?
- One stop or two?
The top six on the grid start on Pirelli’s Ultrasoft tyres, which will clearly last longer than the Hypersoft and will allow those drivers to run a longer opening stint. Two-stopping is the faster option, says Pirelli’s Mario Isola, but he believes a one-stopper is possible. As he says, ‘It could be helpful to keep the strategy plans flexible…’
- Last but not least, when – not if – will we see the first new lap record?
Remember a lap record can be set only in racing conditions, as opposed to the outright track record, off which Ricciardo carved a full 1.729 seconds in taking pole. The lap record stands at 1:18.785, set by Vettel on lap 68 last year: how low can they go this time?
