At around 2,200 metres above sea level, Mexico City presents a unique engineering challenge. The air is roughly 25% less dense than at sea level, creating a series of technical complications for teams, engineers and drivers.

The most obvious effects are reduced aerodynamic downforce and less efficient cooling for the engines and brakes. But perhaps the biggest challenge falls on the power units — particularly the turbochargers, which must work much harder to compensate for the thinner air and maintain adequate engine performance.

Historically, Mexico has been a tough test of turbo reliability, with power-unit failures never far from the conversation. And we have already seen an example this weekend: Oliver Bearman’s Ferrari power unit failed during FP1.

Reliability is therefore expected to be one of the major limiting factors throughout the weekend. In Mexico, extracting maximum performance is difficult enough. Keeping everything running is another challenge entirely. 🏎️🔧

Rule number one in F1: don’t crash into your team-mate. And while Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson drive for different teams, Red Bull and Racing Bulls are effectively part of the same family. So what exactly happened between them?

Lawson had been held up behind a Williams and was preparing for a push lap. Verstappen, meanwhile, felt that Lawson had got in his way during his own flying lap. Apparently unhappy with the situation, Max tried to squeeze Lawson but the New Zealander refused to back down.

The result? Verstappen went wide over the kerbs, the two cars made contact, and carbon-fibre debris was left scattered.

It was a bizarre and completely unnecessary encounter, especially given the relationship between the two teams. More importantly, it raises questions about the tension under the surface and how much longer these on-track confrontations can go unchecked.

A misunderstanding, a bit of ego, or something more? Whatever the cause, this is not the kind of battle Red Bull needs between its own drivers. 🏎️💥

PROBABLY THE BEST GIFT FOR EVERY F1 & MOTORSPORT FAN

OUR ORIGINAL RACING EBOOK

Countdown to Lights Out — a race weekend action thriller, inspired by our 2026 grid-access experience.

Get your FREE SAMPLE.
100% money-back guarantee.

And make it personal — include a personal dedication with your copy.

The perfect gift for every F1 fan. 🏎️📖

Get your free sample

Get your copy

With the lack of downforce making the cars harder to control, drivers were sliding all over the track in FP1&2. There were plenty of lock-ups at the end of the straights, along with high-speed slides and sudden snaps of oversteer.

Perhaps the scariest moment came from Charles Leclerc in the fast, flowing esses of Sector 3. He had a massive moment that could easily have ended in the barriers.

At the other end of the circuit, Oscar Piastri produced a spectacular power slide on the exit of the final corner. It brought back memories of Valtteri Bottas’s frightening crash in a Mercedes a few seasons ago, which began in almost exactly the same way. Thankfully, Oscar managed to catch the car before things got out of hand.

If today’s action is anything to go by, we can expect plenty more dramatic saves — and possibly a few less fortunate moments — as the weekend unfolds. 🇲🇽🏎️

Our F1 Start Reaction Challenge

George Russell — 0.170 seconds.

Think you can beat him?

Curious what yours is?

Measure your reaction time under the current F1 start regulations with our free web app.

👉 Reflex Champion

And there’s more than bragging rights: the fastest fans each week receive a FREE copy of our F1 racing thriller Countdown to Lights Out.

📩 Get in touch - [email protected]

🏎️ The Fastest Lap Team

All images and videos used in The Fastest Lap Newsletter are our own or have been provided by our partners, including https://www.spasgp.com/

The Fastest Lap Newsletter is an independent project and is not affiliated with Formula 1 or any F1 team.

Share it with a fellow F1 fan.

Not your thing? No hard feelings.

That’s a chequered flag 🏁 for today.

Tomorrow, best. 🏎️