Hamilton also hopes Ferrari can benefit from Mexico’s altitude

Ferrari fans have reason to be optimistic ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. The high altitude is expected to suit the SF-26 in several respects. Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari should capitalise on that.

Although experts no longer regard Ferrari as having comfortably the best car on the grid, it still has enough pace to fight at the front. The problem, however, is the power unit. Depending on the circuit, Leclerc and Hamilton are losing as much as four tenths of a second per lap on the straights through a lack of power.

The deficit might not be so pronounced in Mexico. George Russell has already suggested that the thinner air will help power units with smaller turbos, although that is not a given either. It depends on teams being able to cool their turbos sufficiently; a smaller turbo has to spin faster, and with the air in Mexico being 22 per cent thinner, cooling will pose a major challenge. That should be manageable in qualifying, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough for the race as well.

Ferrari should not suffer from the same power deficit as elsewhere. “So whether we can get the tyre switched on, I think the car should be good here,” reflected Lewis Hamilton. “Being that we have [high] altitude, hopefully straight-line speed won’t be as affected as it is on some of the other places where, at sea level, the drag is significant.”

The electrical element of the power unit will therefore not face such heavy demands. “I’m hoping that we are able to continue on the strong performance that we had last year and bring it into this weekend,” continued the seven-time champion, although, like Leclerc, he remains cautious. “Someone just said that it’s going to be good for our car, but I really have no idea,”

“Everyone is going to be max downforce here. It will be an unusual experience for us all, because it’s like 25 or 30 per cent less downforce than we had the last time we drove here, or even in Monza, for example,” said Hamilton, highlighting the differences.