Russell warns of Ferrari advantage in Mexico

Frédéric Vasseur and Charles Leclerc hinted at the end of the Austin weekend that Ferrari’s moment could finally come in Mexico. George Russell also warned of the Italian team’s pace on Thursday, suggesting Ferrari would have a significant advantage thanks to its turbo.

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez sits 2200 metres above sea level, presenting a major challenge for power unit cooling. We expect to see huge cooling openings this weekend, revealing which team has the best solution for dissipating heat from the engine.

Power unit performance, however, will be an equally important consideration. George Russell believes Ferrari will have an advantage thanks to its smaller turbo, which requires less energy to spool up. With the air in Mexico around 22 per cent thinner than at sea level, getting the turbo up to speed using exhaust gases is not so straightforward.

“I think it’s going to be very interesting. I think turbo lag is going to be a big factor for a lot of teams this weekend,” said George Russell of the effects of the thinner air. “There’s obviously no secret that the likes of Ferrari have a smaller turbo than most, so they probably have quite an advantage in this regard. We’re not sure as yet how challenging it will be, but I can definitely foresee it being not straightforward.”

After the race in Austin, Frédéric Vasseur suggested Ferrari should aim to qualify better in Mexico and win on Sunday. Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, said he wanted to win “one, two, three and maybe five” grands prix before the end of the season.

On arriving in Mexico, however, Charles Leclerc tempered expectations. “Honestly, I think it’s getting very close, and we have good momentum. With Singapore and Austin as well, we’ve maximised our potential, and I was relatively happy with the pace we’ve shown.”

“Whether we are the favourites for this weekend, I don’t fully agree. I think Mercedes remains the favourite wherever we go. Red Bull are very, very strong as well recently. But if we maximise everything we have, then I hope it can be a great weekend for us,” smiled the home driver, who will soon become another father in the paddock.

Qualifying will be crucial for Ferrari. As we saw in Austin, even small differences in temperatures and tyre preparation can have a huge impact on where Leclerc and Hamilton end up.

“We’ve got a strong car but a car that is very sensitive whenever we get off the optimum window and we’ve paid a little bit the price recently in Q3, particularly when the track temperatures are going down,” he said, reflecting on qualifying in Austin. “We just struggle a bit more compared to the others to just keep everything in the right window. That’s what happened in Austin unfortunately on the lap that counted the most and eventually we lost a front row because of that.”

“It’s a limitation we know and that we are focused on. Whether we have the solution short-term I’m not sure, but at least it’s a point of focus and something that we’ll make sure to try and get as right as possible coming Saturday here,” Leclerc concluded.