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The 2023 F1 Mexican GP will be the second race of the triple-header that spans three countries.
Admittedly the drivers and the teams will be tired after so much exertion but that is F1 these days. Having said that, the season is also coming to an end soon with only three races left after this one.
That brings us to the 2023 F1 Mexican GP with its own myriad of challenges for the teams and the drivers. The high altitude is certainly not an easy thing to adapt to for anyone and it takes some getting used to.
Having said that, what can we expect from the race this weekend? Let's take a look as we share our predictions.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 Mexican GP
Max Verstappen scraped through to win the race in Austin, especially with all the issues that he had.
The race in Mexico is going to come with its own challenges. Even last season the Mercedes was a potent contender and both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell stalked Verstappen before the Red Bull driver gained an advantage with his strategy.
For the 2023 F1 Mexican GP, expect Verstappen to face stern competition but unless there are some mitigating factors in play, we're backing him to win the race.
#2 It will be a three-way fight once again
The track for the 2023 F1 Mexican GP will require a high downforce front wing once again even though the straight is massive there is one thing worth keeping in mind here and that is the potency both Mercedes and McLaren have shown in similar conditions.
The low-speed sections are plenty throughout the track and so are the sections that require a strong car aerodynamically. Both Mercedes and McLaren will be a factor once again this weekend although it's hard to pick who will hold the advantage.
Overall we're looking at a three-way battle for the win.
#3 Ferrari is going to have a bad weekend
If reports from the Italian media are then the Ferraris will be starting the race at the back of the grid as both drivers are expected to take new power units.
Not only that, there seems to be a concern about how good the Ferrari power unit is at high altitudes. The team struggled last season as well in Mexico because of something and we expect them to face similar struggles this time around as well.
#4 Reliability could be a concern this weekend
There are two major limiting factors that could pose a serious challenge to the teams at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP. The first is the brakes overheating while following other cars.
This is one of the major concerns because it is tough to cool down brakes at high altitudes where the air is thinner. This could play a role while trying to pull off overtakes as well. Notably, last season it was Fernando Alonso whose brakes overheated and he had to retire his car because of that.
The second limiting factor could be the power unit reliability. At higher altitudes, the power units tend to be under the scanner because of the excessive stress that is put on them.
#5 Haas will struggle again
Haas is another team that brought a major update in Austin but couldn't make much progress. The 2023 F1 Mexican GP is going to be somewhat similar. The reason behind that has to be first the Ferrari power unit that tends to not have the best performance at high altitude.
The second reason is the car itself which tends to not yield the kind of results that would make it a potent challenger for points anyway.
