Mexican Grand Prix preview

After an exciting week in Austin, we travel further South to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

It is a 2.67-mile circuit with a very long run from the grid into turn one, which is the best opportunity on the track for overtaking.

There are three DRS zones: one down the pit straight, one out of the chicane at turns two and three and one out of the high-speed corners of turns ten and eleven.

The stadium section of turns 12 through 17 provides a difficult braking and traction zone for the drivers and provides the bravest drivers a risky overtaking opportunity into 12.

Carlos Sainz won this race last year, which was the last time Ferrari won a race.

This is the first time we have seen this race without a Mexican driver on the grid since 2015, but Sergio Perez’s return to F1 with Cadillac will fill that void next season.

Here are three storylines to watch for the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Troubling Times Ahead For Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso probably wishes that this were like the F1 video game and he could just simulate to 2026.

While he has an Adrian Newey machine to look forward to next year, the AMR25 will likely not perform well in Mexico.

The team has found some performance in recent races, and there are aspects that could give you confidence, but I believe they will struggle to put it all together.

They have had major issues with porposing, which is when the car can bounce at high speeds due to significant amounts of airflow through the underfloor. This can cause the car to touch the track surface, also known as bottoming out, significantly slowing down top speeds.

This issue is solved by running a stiffer suspension, but the team appears to have taken that too far in recent races to fix the problem, as Alonso’s suspension snapped over a curb in Monza.

When this is combined with the AMR25’s tendency to overheat tires in heavy braking zones, the stadium section through the pit straight up to turn one could cause major issues.

Alonso has put up a wonderful season at 44 years old, but I think this weekend will be one to forget.

(Maybe for real this time) Impending Gloom In Maranello

I wrote this subheading last week, and I am happy to report I was wrong. Charles Leclerc put it on the podium on Sunday, and Hamilton finished P4 in both the Sprint and Grand Prix.

However, I have concerns this week.

Ferrari has an issue with ride height, as I discussed in the COTA preview, but they also have a major issue with brake overheating.

This was demonstrated best in Singapore.

Kimi Antonelli was able to easily dispatch of Leclerc while going for an overtake after a long straight due to Leclerc having to do significant amounts of lifting and coasting into corners to not overheat the brakes.

This was unfortunately not enough for Hamilton, who lost a handful of positions due to his brakes failing late in that race.

Mexico City is one of, if not the single most extreme deceleration zones of the year.

The drivers go from flat out at 210 MPH down to 45 MPH in a matter of moments.

When combining this with the thin air due to elevation, this has the brakes blazing.

While teams do bring specialized brake ducts for Mexico, I think this will be a difficult weekend for Ferrari.

I will not be as harsh in my prediction as I was last weekend, but it will not be anywhere close to last year’s win and P3.

The Three Title Contenders, Again

He couldn’t, could he?

After Zandvoort, Max Verstappen trailed in the World Drivers’ Championship by 104 points.

Somehow, four races later, that deficit is down to 40.

He has won four of the five competitive sessions since then, and the only one he didn’t win was a P2 in Singapore.

Oscar Piastri looks lost behind the wheel, and Lando Norris looks like he is driving scared.

Piastri has been on a poor run of form in the last three weekends. He crashed him and his teammate out of the Sprint Race and only finished fifth in the Grand Prix, behind three cars that the McLaren machine should not have been behind.

In one weekend, he lost 23 points to Verstappen.

For Norris, it looks like he is driving to avoid a DNF.

In six of the last seven years, a driver starting on an even grid place has led the US GP after turn one due to having the inside line into turn one.

Not only could Norris not do that, but he also let Leclerc throw it around the outside and overtake him into the first turn as well.

It took him 52 laps to overtake Leclerc, which feels much longer than it should have.

He was not attempting any bold overtakes, and it seems like Verstappen being on his tail has gotten in his head a bit.

I am predicting another Verstappen win, putting all the more pressure on McLaren.

Prediction: 1st: Verstappen, 2nd: Norris, 3rd: Russell, 4th: Piastri, 5th, Leclerc, 6th: Antonelli, 7th: Sainz, 8th: Tsunoda, 9th Albon and 10th: Bearman

Edison Pellumbi is a first-year student studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at ejp5889@psu.edu.