ROUND 20: 🇲🇽 Mexico
FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2024
Circuit stats
- Circuit name: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
- First Grand Prix: 1963
- Number of laps: 71
- Circuit Length: 4.304 km
- Race Distance: 305.354 km
- Lap record: 1:17.774 Valtteri Bottas (2021)
- 2023 winner: Max Verstappen
Lando in that McLaren is so weirdly gentle on the tyres. Like his outright pace is not ahead of the others but he seems to have minimal degradation. Either that or else he is taking it too easy at the start of the stint and not maximising the entire stint.
Piastri has been having a rough couple of months but from the season overall it looks like a car characteristic. We’ve seen several races where both McLarens seem to perform best towards the end of a stint.
I don’t get it though. If the car is so well balanced that he is always faster at the end of stints, shouldn’t it be faster at the start of the stint as well? Also not only is Lando faster than others at the end of the stint, he is faster than himself as well when compared to his pace early in the stint.
I don’t know. Could be a mix of both, the strategists knowing the car works better the lighter it is so the drivers are told to save tires early in stints to maximise the impact when the car is as light as possible?