Strong at altitudes of over 2,000 metres: Why Piastri is hopeful for McLaren in Mexico

Oscar Piastri is looking forward to the Formula 1 race in Mexico with great confidence – McLaren seems to be coping well with the thin air

The thin air in Mexico City is traditionally regarded on the Formula 1 calendar as one of the toughest tests for both man and machine. Yet, following Friday’s practice sessions, there is a surprising amount of confidence at McLaren: after the second free practice session, Oscar Piastri concluded that his car coped significantly better with the extreme high-altitude conditions than had been feared beforehand.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is situated over 2,200 metres above sea level. The oxygen-depleted air robs the cars of much of their downforce and poses massive problems for the cooling of the power units. For Piastri, however, the opening session went better than expected.

“It was certainly difficult, but by no means worse than anticipated – if anything, it actually went a bit better than expected,” the Australian reassured everyone after the first 120 minutes of practice. “It all felt okay. To be honest, we seem relatively competitive.”

Mistakes on the soft-tyre lap mask the potential

However, the true potential of the Papaya car was not yet fully reflected on the timing screen. The reason: Piastri’s qualifying simulation on the soft tyres went anything but to plan.

“My soft-tyre lap in the second practice session was rather messy,” the McLaren driver admits candidly. “But I felt that the underlying pace was there.”

The fact that Ferrari set the pace on Friday comes as little surprise to the youngster: “Ferrari looked extremely strong, but I suppose that’s to be expected on a track like this. All in all, though, we had a pretty good day.”

If he can get a handle on his mistakes on Saturday, Piastri reckons he can make a significant leap forward – even as he warns against the competition from Maranello: “There were a few really big mistakes in there. If I can iron those out, I’m optimistic that I’ll move significantly further up the order. That’s a good feeling. Beating Ferrari tomorrow, however, will be a bloody tough nut to crack as things stand. The whole field is bunched up extremely tightly; you have to deliver absolutely spot on.”

Lack of grip and the turbo debate

The fact that the track feels like a sheet of soap didn’t come as a surprise to the Australian with the current generation of cars anyway: “It’s tough; the grip is just unbelievably low. But with the current cars, to be honest, it’s much the same story almost everywhere, which is why it doesn’t feel all that dramatic here. Nevertheless, it remains a challenge – not just in terms of car balance, but above all because of engine cooling. That’s always bloody difficult this year.”

In the paddock, a theory put forward by Mercedes driver George Russell also provided a talking point in the run-up to the race: on Thursday, the Briton speculated that Ferrari’s smaller turbocharger could offer a noticeable advantage at high altitude – particularly following the removal of the MGU-H from the current regulations, which previously eliminated turbo lag.

Piastri, however, does not entirely agree with this theory. Whilst Ferrari are certainly quick, he did not see them as having a threatening dominance on the straights: “They looked very quick today, but I don’t think the turbo will make as big a difference as we thought. If anything, they actually seemed a bit slow on the straights. Let’s wait and see what Saturday brings. Under certain circumstances, it will certainly help them, but under normal conditions it’s probably not as big a factor as we initially assumed.”