The three-way Constructors’ Championship battle between McLaren, Purple Bull, and Ferrari will dominate the rest of the 2024 Method 1 season.
However fascinating battles are shaping up everywhere in the grid, with maybe probably the most intriguing being the competition between Haas and Visa Money App RB F1 Workforce for sixth within the Constructors’ Championship. Whereas VCARB entered final week’s United States Grand Prix with a three-point lead in that battle, an amazing week for Haas on residence turf noticed them depart Austin with a two-point lead in that conflict. Solely a large restoration drive from Liam Lawson — who picked up two factors with a ninth-place end after beginning in P19 — mitigated the injury for VCARB.
Now Lawson and firm are wanting ahead to a “battle of effectivity” within the excessive altitude of Mexico Metropolis.
“From Austin, we head south to Mexico Metropolis for the second leg of this triple header. The most important and most densely populated metropolis in North America sits at an altitude of 2240 meters and this brings distinctive challenges for the groups,” mentioned Alan Permane, VCARB’s racing director, within the crew’s media preview for the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix. “The a lot decrease air stress considerably reduces the downforce generated and forces the groups to run Monaco ranges of drag, with decrease than Monza ranges of downforce. The opposite burden this brings is on all of the cooling methods.
“It’s a battle of effectivity as a result of the extra the bodywork is opened for elevated cooling, the extra downforce is misplaced and drag is elevated. The observe has a pleasant mixture of technical low velocity corners and excessive velocity adjustments of path earlier than the drivers enter the stadium part for the ultimate corners.,” added Permane. “Pirelli will convey their softest tyres of the 2024 vary and even with these the race is prone to be a one cease technique because of the clean tarmac and altitude results.”
“Mexico is an uncommon occasion due to the excessive altitude of the circuit, which suggests you run a most aero package deal, however solely really feel Monza ranges of downforce and the automobiles hit a number of the highest prime speeds of the season,” mentioned Tsunoda, who completed 14th in Austin. “You even discover the shortage of oxygen just a little bit out of the cockpit, however not a lot when you find yourself driving. Though it’s not a Dash weekend, we can have barely much less time than standard to work on automotive set-up and guarantee now we have the proper cooling ranges on a observe the place it’s straightforward to overheat lots of the elements, together with the ICE. That’s as a result of FP2 might be spent completely engaged on a Pirelli take a look at for subsequent yr’s compounds. Austin wasn’t nice, so I’m glad we go racing once more instantly.”
As for Lawson, who delivered a stupendous restoration drive in his return to the grid, the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix is an opportunity to choose up the place he left off in Austin.
Mexico could be very totally different to Austin; a special type of circuits, with the primary distinction being right down to the altitude, that means we run a excessive downforce on the automotive. The speeds we attain are a number of the highest of the season, which suggests via the corners, particularly the high-speed part of the observe, there’s so much much less downforce in comparison with someplace like Austin. Grip is sort of low, so the automobiles slide round rather a lot, making it troublesome to handle tires,” mentioned Lawson. “For me, I’ve solely been there as soon as earlier than to do a free observe session in 2022, so it’ll be much like Austin, having to re-learn all the pieces, however with the luxurious of three somewhat than simply the one. Hopefully a number of the issues we learnt in Austin will assist this week, however given the observe is so totally different, we’ll even be working the automotive in fairly a special window.
“I’m wanting ahead to getting again to it and I’m excited to get again within the automotive!”
