Mexico City Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton aware of Red Bull threat and says Mercedes will leave no stone unturned

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Watch Mexico City GP live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend, with track events starting Friday night from 5.30pm; Sunday’s race starts at 7pm, with 12 points between Verstappen and Hamilton with five races on the finish by James Galloway.

Last update: 04/21/11 at 11:01 p.m.

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Lewis Hamilton expects title rival Max Verstappen to be faster in Red Bull at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton expects title rival Max Verstappen to be faster in Red Bull at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes will try to “leave no performance on the table” in this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix as they try to counter what he expects to be a “quick” pace from title rival Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has said he just wants to win – or lose – his eighth world title “the right way” rather than his close duel with Max Verstappen that was ultimately decided by a contentious collision at the end of the season.

Twelve points clear of Verstappen ahead of this weekend’s event, Hamilton is the race winner from his last Formula 1 visit to the Mexican capital two years ago – but Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which sits 2,000 meters above sea level, is a circuit I have generally preferred Red Bull in recent seasons.

“[In 2019] They were a bit faster than us, so you have to say that’s a Red Bull track. “We’ve had success here in the past,” said Hamilton, who also won there in 2016.

“We won here the last time but that was only because Max made a mistake and got a penalty [which lost him pole]Otherwise, they would be much faster than us. So we expect this to be very similar this weekend.”

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He will join Simon Lazenby Martin Brundle and Jenson Button to look forward to the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.

He will join Simon Lazenby Martin Brundle and Jenson Button to look forward to the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.

Hamilton added: “We thought we’d be stronger, say, somewhere like Austin – they were a little bit stronger than us there in the race. So I can’t really foresee that.

“What I know is that in the past year [2019] They outperformed us here and have been in power over us all year long. Now they are way ahead of the power, there or there is, and they have a very powerful car that hasn’t been affected much by the rule changes that we have.

“So they will be fast this weekend, last year [2019] They were about half a second ahead of us, and our car is no better than last year’s car with these changes.”

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Despite the previous Red Bull’s success in Mexico, Max Verstappen is not taking anything for granted as he tries to win his first world title.

Despite the previous Red Bull’s success in Mexico, Max Verstappen is not taking anything for granted as he tries to win his first world title.

However, previous expectations for the race have been turned upside down on numerous occasions amid a closely fought Mercedes-Red Bull duel this year, with Hamilton saying his recent record in Mexico “doesn’t mean we can’t be strong this weekend”.

“But of course this means that we have to extract absolutely everything and push absolutely to the limit, trying not to leave any effort unchanged and not put any performance on the table, which can happen,” he added.

“So we’re just trying to make sure we cover every possible area.”

Unusually, engine reliability has been a tricky area for Mercedes this season, with both Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas already on their penalty-free allocations for the season.

However, despite suggestions that Mercedes might choose Mexico as a location to install another unit on Hamilton’s car in the final rounds of the second leg, the world champion said: “I think our engines are strong and as far as I know we hope to get to the finish.”

Hamilton: “I’m here to win the right way”

Speaking at Thursday’s press conference, Hamilton was also asked about comments made by Mercedes chief Toto Wolff in an interview with the Daily Mail this week in which the Austrian said he could envision a scenario where the fight for the crown was decided by a collision in Ayrton Senna style. and Alain Prost (1989 and 1990) or Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve (1997).

“If it comes to the scenario of the last race in Abu Dhabi and they have to race for the title, whoever is up front will definitely try to do the same as in the Sina Prost years,” said Wolff.

Hamilton and Verstappen have collided twice in a big way this year, at Silverstone and Monza.

But Hamilton said: “Firstly, I didn’t read what Toto said but I highly doubt he would hint.

“We’ve never won a tournament like this; I’ve never won a tournament like this and never would have wanted to. That’s from my point of view and from my perspective. I’m here to win the right way and that’s with just skill, determination and hard work.”

“I always want to win it the right way. If you lose it, you lose it the right way too. Knowing you gave your all, you did things the right way and worked as hard as you could.”

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