2023 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 27 - 29

[AMG.Tzan]

Anyone remember what tire compounds we had last year?? C3-C5 again?? I mean Mediums last year did the whole race without any degredation...they must have been a hard compound or something! A shame it's a one stopper again really...

[organic]

Anyone remember what tire compounds we had last year?? C3-C5 again?? I mean Mediums last year did the whole race without any degredation...they must have been a hard compound or something! A shame it's a one stopper again really...

We are a step softer this year with C3-C5. Last year was C2-C4

The fastest strategy last year was a C3/C4 one stopper and I expect the same again today

[Sieper]

Yep, yellow-White one stopper.

[Oleo]

One stopper for the field, two stopper for Leclerc, because they can.

[Spoutnik]

I would not be surprised if the race turn out to be a two stoppers

[atanatizante]

Anyone remember what tire compounds we had last year?? C3-C5 again?? I mean Mediums last year did the whole race without any degredation...they must have been a hard compound or something! A shame it's a one stopper again really...

We are a step softer this year with C3-C5. Last year was C2-C4

The fastest strategy last year was a C3/C4 one stopper and I expect the same again today

At the FIA press conference after the qualy all top 3 drivers were asked about had they think it`ll be a 1-stop race and they all said, including VER, that`ll be a 2-stop most likely due to the cars are more prone to sliding coz the tyres are a step softer this year:

But I am on the same page with you regarding VER's strategy that he can manage an M-H 1-stop bearing in mind how good are both the driver and the car in managing the tyres from all compounds.

Ferrari drivers could split strategy with LEC starting on medium tyres and SAI on the hard ones, bearing in mind that the latter will start on the dirty side of the track and has better tyre management. Then, from what we could see at the last race, LEC should do an M-H-M 2-stop this time around to be on the safer side and have a proper race with SAI betting both on a longer first stint or just for an SC/VSC phase, something like HAM would have liked to do at Cota ... An earlier SC/VSC phase could help him with this strategy and had he could do a longer first stint it`ll still be interesting to see what tyres he`ll put on the last stint: the soft or medium tyres ...

Hard to tell what strategy will sport both Merc drivers instead ... if I were them I`d start on the hard tyres for a longer first stint bearing in mind they`ll start on the dirty side of the track and also get mugged into the first corner from the drivers with better top speed ...

[atanatizante]

If it`ll be a low temp/a wet race are they allowed to change the engine covers before the race starts?
I know they could alter the air brake ducts with some duct tape but not sure what the regs say about the engine cover ...

[Spoutnik]

Anyone remember what tire compounds we had last year?? C3-C5 again?? I mean Mediums last year did the whole race without any degredation...they must have been a hard compound or something! A shame it's a one stopper again really...

We are a step softer this year with C3-C5. Last year was C2-C4

The fastest strategy last year was a C3/C4 one stopper and I expect the same again today

At the FIA press conference after the qualy all top 3 drivers were asked about had they think it`ll be a 1-stop race and they all said, including VER, that`ll be a 2-stop most likely due to the cars are more prone to sliding coz the tyres are a step softer this year:

But I am on the same page with you regarding VER's strategy that he can manage an M-H 1-stop bearing in mind how good are both the driver and the car in managing the tyres from all compounds.

Ferrari drivers could split strategy with LEC starting on medium tyres and SAI on the hard ones, bearing in mind that the latter will start on the dirty side of the track and has better tyre management. Then, from what we could see at the last race, LEC should do an M-H-M 2-stop this time around to be on the safer side and have a proper race with SAI betting both on a longer first stint or just for an SC/VSC phase, something like HAM would have liked to do at Cota ... An earlier SC/VSC phase could help him with this strategy and had he could do a longer first stint it`ll still be interesting to see what tyres he`ll put on the last stint: the soft or medium tyres ...

Hard to tell what strategy will sport both Merc drivers instead ... if I were them I`d start on the hard tyres for a longer first stint bearing in mind they`ll start on the dirty side of the track and also get mugged into the first corner from the drivers with better top speed ...

Actually, I think it's Leclerc who should start on the Hard and Sainz on the Medium. Sainz will get a better launch, and could keep Verstappen behind, if Ferrari can do smart team play at the start. Leclerc will have track position and tyre to go long.

[AMG.Tzan]

Anyone remember what tire compounds we had last year?? C3-C5 again?? I mean Mediums last year did the whole race without any degredation...they must have been a hard compound or something! A shame it's a one stopper again really...

We are a step softer this year with C3-C5. Last year was C2-C4

The fastest strategy last year was a C3/C4 one stopper and I expect the same again today

Oh so Mercedes's strategy from last year will be on point this year!

On the race front:
-I wanna see Danny battling Perez and coming out on top! That'll be quite a spicy thing to happen inside Mexico too! Hopefully the Ferraris do a better job of holding Verstapen until the first corner than the Mercedes did back in 2021! Give us at least some laps before another Verstapen walkover...

-This is one for Max's favorite tracks too! He has always been quite fast around here so I expect him to take the win by quite a big margin today considering his performances all year long!

-I hope Ferrari doesn't manage to put Leclerc on the wrong strategy as always. On the other hand Lewis will have to get rid of Danny and Checo at the start if he wants to have any hope of battling Ferrari! Otherwise I don't see him being able to catch them since Friday's long run pace suggested that there are no big differences! And if he doesn't manage to...then there goes their points advantage to Ferrari!

[Xyz22]

We are a step softer this year with C3-C5. Last year was C2-C4

The fastest strategy last year was a C3/C4 one stopper and I expect the same again today

At the FIA press conference after the qualy all top 3 drivers were asked about had they think it`ll be a 1-stop race and they all said, including VER, that`ll be a 2-stop most likely due to the cars are more prone to sliding coz the tyres are a step softer this year:

But I am on the same page with you regarding VER's strategy that he can manage an M-H 1-stop bearing in mind how good are both the driver and the car in managing the tyres from all compounds.

Ferrari drivers could split strategy with LEC starting on medium tyres and SAI on the hard ones, bearing in mind that the latter will start on the dirty side of the track and has better tyre management. Then, from what we could see at the last race, LEC should do an M-H-M 2-stop this time around to be on the safer side and have a proper race with SAI betting both on a longer first stint or just for an SC/VSC phase, something like HAM would have liked to do at Cota ... An earlier SC/VSC phase could help him with this strategy and had he could do a longer first stint it`ll still be interesting to see what tyres he`ll put on the last stint: the soft or medium tyres ...

Hard to tell what strategy will sport both Merc drivers instead ... if I were them I`d start on the hard tyres for a longer first stint bearing in mind they`ll start on the dirty side of the track and also get mugged into the first corner from the drivers with better top speed ...

Actually, I think it's Leclerc who should start on the Hard and Sainz on the Medium. Sainz will get a better launch, and could keep Verstappen behind, if Ferrari can do smart team play at the start. Leclerc will have track position and tyre to go long.

This is one of the worst idea i've ever seen.

Anyway the usual simulator from Fabrega

[Spoutnik]

At the FIA press conference after the qualy all top 3 drivers were asked about had they think it`ll be a 1-stop race and they all said, including VER, that`ll be a 2-stop most likely due to the cars are more prone to sliding coz the tyres are a step softer this year:

But I am on the same page with you regarding VER's strategy that he can manage an M-H 1-stop bearing in mind how good are both the driver and the car in managing the tyres from all compounds.

Ferrari drivers could split strategy with LEC starting on medium tyres and SAI on the hard ones, bearing in mind that the latter will start on the dirty side of the track and has better tyre management. Then, from what we could see at the last race, LEC should do an M-H-M 2-stop this time around to be on the safer side and have a proper race with SAI betting both on a longer first stint or just for an SC/VSC phase, something like HAM would have liked to do at Cota ... An earlier SC/VSC phase could help him with this strategy and had he could do a longer first stint it`ll still be interesting to see what tyres he`ll put on the last stint: the soft or medium tyres ...

Hard to tell what strategy will sport both Merc drivers instead ... if I were them I`d start on the hard tyres for a longer first stint bearing in mind they`ll start on the dirty side of the track and also get mugged into the first corner from the drivers with better top speed ...

Actually, I think it's Leclerc who should start on the Hard and Sainz on the Medium. Sainz will get a better launch, and could keep Verstappen behind, if Ferrari can do smart team play at the start. Leclerc will have track position and tyre to go long.

This is one of the worst idea i've ever seen.

Anyway the usual simulator from Fabrega

Could you elaborate ?

[Xyz22]

Actually, I think it's Leclerc who should start on the Hard and Sainz on the Medium. Sainz will get a better launch, and could keep Verstappen behind, if Ferrari can do smart team play at the start. Leclerc will have track position and tyre to go long.

This is one of the worst idea i've ever seen.

Anyway the usual simulator from Fabrega

Could you elaborate ?

He would be undercut by the medium runners in a track where track position is extremely important. Moreover there would be a huge risk of losing key positions at the start and in the first lap due to the extremely low grip of the hard tyres at the beginning.

[Spoutnik]

This is one of the worst idea i've ever seen.

Anyway the usual simulator from Fabrega

Could you elaborate ?

He would be undercut by the medium runners in a track where track position is extremely important. Moreover there would be a huge risk of losing key positions at the start and in the first lap due to the extremely low grip of the hard tyres at the beginning.

That's what Sainz did at Singapore by starting on Medium while Leclerc in 3rd started on Softs. Track position being even more important at Singapore...
Actually, I think many front runners will think about starting on the Hard

[Xyz22]

Could you elaborate ?

He would be undercut by the medium runners in a track where track position is extremely important. Moreover there would be a huge risk of losing key positions at the start and in the first lap due to the extremely low grip of the hard tyres at the beginning.

That's what Sainz did at Singapore by starting on Medium while Leclerc in 3rd started on Softs. Track position being even more important at Singapore...
Actually, I think many front runners will think about starting on the Hard

Leclerc decided to start on the soft by himself to have the best possible chance at overtaking Russell in the first lap and thus be able to protect Sainz in the first stint. It was a "suicidal" move.

[Spoutnik]

He would be undercut by the medium runners in a track where track position is extremely important. Moreover there would be a huge risk of losing key positions at the start and in the first lap due to the extremely low grip of the hard tyres at the beginning.

That's what Sainz did at Singapore by starting on Medium while Leclerc in 3rd started on Softs. Track position being even more important at Singapore...
Actually, I think many front runners will think about starting on the Hard

Leclerc decided to start on the soft by himself to have the best possible chance at overtaking Russell in the first lap and thus be able to protect Sainz in the first stint. It was a "suicidal" move.

I thought it was a strategic decision from Ferrari in order to control the race by having two cars in front ?