Max previews Mexican GP: 'Maybe opportunities in the race'

Published on 25 October 2019 by Niels Hendrix

Max Verstappen scored back to back victories at the Mexican Grand Prix in 2017 and 2018. However, ahead of this weekend’s race in Mexico City, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver does not rate himself as one of the favourites.

“Our car always has good mechanical grip in Mexico, but we don’t know how competitive we’ll be with the Honda engine this year. We’ll see what happens but I’m expecting it to be more difficult this year”, predicts the Dutchman.

“This year we don’t have as much an advantage on the chassis side of things and Ferrari is super fast on the straights. It’s difficult to gain all that time in the corners, especially in qualifying. I don’t think they have the same advantage in the race. There’ll still be a difference, but not as much. Perhaps the race offers us more opportunities.”

 Max is known for his excellent tyre management. Nevertheless, he does not reckon it gives him much of an advantage this weekend. “If you lose time on the straights, you have to push harder in the corners, which means asking more of your tyres. I think we’ve managed the tyres well in some races but it depends on the weekend. At this stage it’s hard to call how things will work out.”

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