Rick's F1 Out-Takes: Verstappen the favourite for Mexico win

There aren’t many people who can move up the order that quickly or that well, so it became a little bit processional in America. I thought the qualifying for the Sprint Race was quite interesting. I expected Ferrari to do better than they eventually did. However, I’ll save my comment on Ferrari for when I talk about the race.

I thought the Sprint race was interesting. I get the feeling that Oscar Piastri, despite his coolness on the team radio, is definitely feeling the pressure now. He knows Max Verstappen is closing in. He knows Lando Norris is narrowing the gap between him and the top of the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship table.

I think Oscar turned into Turn 1 , knowing there were cars behind him and got clipped by Nico Hülkenberg, which sent him into his teammate.

I did say before the race that maybe Oscar was going to get his elbows out after the previous team orders, but actually, he wasn’t intentionally taking his teammate out. He was driving carelessly into Turn 1, which caused the collision with Hülkenberg, who he really should have known was going to be there. Someone was definitely going to be there when he took that sharp angle into Turn 1.

I thought Lando had a pretty decent weekend. And this is the other thing about Oscar, I don’t understand how he qualified sixth when Lando put it second on the grid. All season long, those two, in identical equipment, have been exceptionally close.

One weekend it’s Norris, one weekend it’s Piastri putting the car on pole. How was Piastri down in sixth? To me, that might mean the team is now favouring Lando Norris. Are they giving him more resources in the garage?

Are they taking mechanics and resources away from Oscar to work on Norris’s car? It just seems really baffling to me that Piastri underperformed so much in Austin, and I think he needs to have a good think as we head towards Mexico.

Now, I’ve always been critical of Ferrari, but for once it looked as if they’d come up with a perfect strategy, starting Charles Leclerc on the soft tyres.

They split the strategy between Hamilton and Leclerc, and for all intents and purposes, that strategy worked until Norris was able to catch Leclerc on two different occasions to eventually finish second. But at the start of the race, those soft tyres paid off, they gave Leclerc the advantage going into Turn 1, and he was able to get past Norris.

Next up this weekend, it’s Mexico. I look forward to this one. I think it’s a track that favours the brave. I also think it’s a track where Mercedes have done well. It’s got some really slow corners, and it’s got one massive straight, one of the longest in Formula 1, down to Turn 1, which always sees some interesting battles. The carnage can happen into Turns 2, 3 and even 4, as we’ve seen in the past.

I think Red Bull has to be the favourites here. Max Verstappen has to be the favourite. That car is now performing superbly with the recent aero upgrades; they’ve finally unlocked its potential. I think Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri need to get tough, need to get their elbows out if they’re going to have anything to say on race day.

It’s going to be an interesting Mexican Grand Prix — the Day of the Dead and all that — it’s all very exciting, and I look forward to the spectacle this coming weekend.