If there is one statistic that encapsulates just how competitive and unpredictable 2024 has been over the final two-thirds of the season, it is that not only have there been seven separate grand prix winners, but that five of them have had multiple victories.
Carlos Sainz Jnr already has a grand prix victory to his name this season, taking a memorable win in the third round in Australia.
The Ferrari driver, who has just five rounds left at the team, was already feeling confident about his prospects after he ended Friday as the fastest driver. Unsurprisingly, Sainz was equally buoyed about his chances of taking another win before he departs Maranello at the end of the season – but there was one major concern for him heading into Sunday.
“I know my race pace should be good,” Sainz said after qualifying. “Probably the most difficult thing will be the run down into turn one and starting on pole with a slipstream. But I think you can still defend, you can still make it stick into turn one starting on pole and that will be my target tomorrow.”
Behind Sainz, championship leader Max Verstappen dealt another vital blow in his ongoing war with Lando Norris by beating the McLaren driver to the front row. But despite this, Verstappen admitted he “doesn’t expect miracles” about Red Bull’s race pace compared to their rivals – they have clearly been half a step behind Ferrari and McLaren in the last two grands prix.
Norris himself insisted that he was “happyish” with third, despite heading Q1 and Q2. Despite McLaren having been the strongest across so many recent Sundays, Norris is unsure whether Ferrari will have the edge over them today.
“I don’t have the confidence to say, ‘yes, we can just beat them on pace’”, Norris admitted. “Like today, not on their level. But Sunday’s another day. We’ll try our best, but I don’t think we have the pace comparing to them at the minute.”
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Weather
The tens of thousands of fans who will pack out the stadium in the final sector will not have to worry about getting wet on Sunday, as the forecast shows a dry race is expected.
Assuming the race runs without significant interruption, the Mexican Grand Prix will be a dry race. There is a risk of post-race showers at around 6pm local time, but this falls outside of the three-hour window that the race has to be completed in.
More cloud cover than…
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