New Zealand motor racing driver Liam Lawson, 2024. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Max Verstappen has won five of the last six grands prix in Mexico and while Ferrari will fancy their chances this weekend, the Red Bull driver can take another big step towards a fourth Formula One title.
Verstappen arrives at the high-altitude Hermanos Rodriguez circuit 57 points clear of McLaren's Lando Norris with five rounds remaining.
Norris described finishing fourth at last Sunday's US Grand Prix in Austin, with Verstappen third, as a 'momentum killer' in the title battle while Red Bull saw a potential turning point.
The result was the first time in five races that Verstappen had beaten Norris, and the Briton has yet to finish higher than fifth in Mexico.
The constructors' title is far more open, with Ferrari poised to overtake Red Bull for second place after Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished one-two in Texas to reduce the gap to eight points.
The pair swept the front row in Mexico last year, with Leclerc on pole.
Red Bull need Sergio Perez to produce the points in his home race and turn around a dire run of form that has seen him score only 150 points to Verstappen's 354.
Perez's tally is the lowest of any driver in the top four teams, with nothing better than sixth since Miami in May and serious questions raised about his future despite a contract extension for 2025 and 2026.
Leclerc and Sainz have plenty to be optimistic about as they chase Ferrari's fifth win of the season.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is the only current driver other than Verstappen to win in Mexico, the seven-times world champion taking his 2017 and 2018 titles there.
Kimi Antonelli, the Italian who will take Hamilton's place next season when the Briton moves to Ferrari, will take part in first free practice using Hamilton's car.
Aston Martin's double world champion Fernando Alonso will chalk up a major milestone as the first Formula One driver to reach 400 grands prix.
To put the achievement into perspective, the 43-year-old Spaniard has started more than a third of all the races (1,120) ever held since the first in 1950.
New Zealander Liam Lawson gets the second start of his six-race stint to end the 2024 season on a high following his ninth place in Texas.
The RB driver impressed in his return to the sport and with no grid penalty hanging over him this weekend will be hunting a top ten in qualifying.
Lawson's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda is also expected to respond following his 14th place in Texas with the team looking to him to take on the challenge from Lawson.
Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Formula One statistics for the Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, round 20 of the 24-race season.
Lap distance: 4.304km. Total distance: 305.354km (71 laps)
2023 race winner: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull
2023 pole position: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari one minute, 17.166 seconds
Race lap record: 1:17.774, Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes 2021.
Start time: 2000GMT/1400 local
Mexico
The race is officially named the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Verstappen has won five of the last six races in Mexico, his joint most successful track with the Red Bull ring.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez is the only Mexican driver on the starting grid, and the most successful with six career victories, but he has yet to win this season.
Perez has twice finished on the podium in Mexico (third in 2021 and 2022).
Lewis Hamilton (2016, 2019) and Verstappen (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023) are the only active drivers to have won in Mexico.
The race was won from pole position in 2015, 2016 and 2022. Three of the last four wins have been from third on the grid.
Ferrari swept the front row last year.
Sunday will be the 24th time Mexico has held a championship grand prix.
The circuit is the highest of any on the calendar at 2,285m above sea level. Cars reach speeds of 320kph down the long opening straight. The final sector runs into the Foro Sol stadium section with 30,000 fans in high grandstands.
Wins
Seven-times world champion Hamilton has a record 105 career victories from 351 starts, Verstappen has 61 from 204.
Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes have all won races this season, the most teams since 2021 when Red Bull, Mercedes, Alpine and McLaren won.
Seven drivers have triumphed, the most in a single season since 2012 when there were eight.
Red Bull, who won all but one race last year, have now gone nine without a win.
Verstappen has won seven times this season. McLaren five, Ferrari four and Mercedes three.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won in Melbourne, McLaren's Lando Norris in Miami, the Netherlands and Singapore, Leclerc in Monaco, Italy and Texas, Mercedes's George Russell in Spain, Hamilton in Britain and Belgium and McLaren's Oscar Piastri in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Ferrari top the all time list with 247 wins, McLaren have 188, Mercedes 128 and Red Bull 120.
Liam Lawson of New Zealand and RB F1 Team mate Yuki Tsunoda of Japan, 2024. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Pole position
Verstappen has had eight poles this year. That includes the first seven, equalling Alain Prost's 1993 record, and eight in a row including the last race of 2023 -- equalling Ayrton Senna's 1988-89 record.
The Dutch driver was last on pole in Austria in June.
Leclerc took pole in Monaco, Belgium and Azerbaijan. Russell was fastest in Canada and Britain. Norris took the top spot in Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Singapore and Texas.
Hamilton has a record 104 poles, his most recent in Hungary in July 2023.
Podiums
Verstappen has 110 career podiums, Hamilton a record 201.
Verstappen has been on the podium 12 times this season, Norris 11, Leclerc 10, Piastri seven and Sainz six.
Championship
Verstappen leads Norris by 57 points with five rounds remaining.
McLaren are 40 points clear of Red Bull.
Milestone
Mexico will be a record 400th race for Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, although he qualified for but did not start three of his 399 to date.
-Reuters with additional reporting from RNZ