Red Bull and Max Verstappen have made Mexico their dominant territory in recent years. The high-altitude track has always suited the Austrian outfit’s aerodynamic balance, and with Honda’s engine power, their job has become easier. In 2024, Verstappen stares down a sixth race win in Mexico, and doing so will make him only the fourth driver to win at a track six times.
F1 analyst Daniel Valente posted about the same on Twitter (now X), as he also denoted the other three drivers to have achieved this feat. Lewis Hamilton has six or more wins at several tracks like Silverstone, Hungary, Canada, China, and Spain.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher also comes on this list with six or more wins in France, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Japan. The third driver besides the two seven-time champions is Ayrton Senna, who won the Monaco GP a record six times.
Max Verstappen could become the 4th driver in F1 history to win at least 6 times at a circuit if he wins in Mexico.
• Lewis Hamilton –
• Michael Schumacher –
• Ayrton Senna –Max has won in Mexico in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2017.
— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) October 25, 2024
After winning the last three editions of the Mexico City GP, Verstappen can continue his streak of victories around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and also claim his sixth overall in Mexico City. Before 2021, the Dutchman won the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Mexico City GP.
While Red Bull were not the fastest team back then, the unique conditions in Mexico helped them be more competitive against Mercedes and Ferrari. Verstappen was the biggest gainer of these outlier high altitude conditions.
This season as well, the three-time world champion would hope to benefit from the conditions in Mexico with Red Bull looking to defend its championships. While they have fallen back in the constructors’ standings, Verstappen still holds a 57-point lead in the drivers’ championship race. As he hasn’t won for nine consecutive races, the Dutchman would hope to break his drought of wins in Mexico.
Can Verstappen break his winless streak in Mexico?
After winning the Spanish GP, Verstappen has only managed to win two sprint races in Austria and the USA. At the Circuit of the Americas last week, the 27-year-old wasn’t quick enough in the Grand Prix on Sunday and had to settle for a third-place finish.
So, it may seem a bit difficult for him to suddenly climb the top step seven days later in Mexico. However, as mentioned earlier, the high altitude conditions can help the Dutchman end his winless streak.
And if Verstappen can win in Mexico, it will also help him extend his lead in the championship, which will be a huge boost to his title defense against Lando Norris. The Briton has been pushing Verstappen at every race but hasn’t managed to beat the three-time champion on most occasions.
What could help Norris is McLaren’s revised floor upgrade for the Mexico City GP weekend. The Woking outfit has brought a heavily revised floor to Mexico, as they had promised to consistently bring upgrades to aid their championship battle at the business end of the season.
McLaren’s long-awaited new floor finally makes its debut in Mexico this weekend. Still not at its full potential yet, though. A few other things dotted around other teams, too 1/2 pic.twitter.com/1LQddEbiu0
— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) October 25, 2024
Time will tell whether it is effective or not. But looking at McLaren’s strike rate with upgrades this season, Verstappen could face a stern challenge from Norris if Red Bull’s upgrades from Austin don’t start working well to boost his car performance.
