2025 Mexico City Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
Oct 23
4 min read

Returning to Maxico City

Oh yes, we’re so back! Max Verstappen enters Round 20 of the 2025 Formula 1 Season “just” 40 points behind Championship leader Oscar Piastri, and only 26 points behind Lando Norris! The momentum is definitely with the 4-time World Champion, but he’s still going to need to be perfect if he wants to crash the McLaren party! The positive for Max is that this weekend just so happens to be one of his best, Mexico City! Or as I like to call it, Maxico City! Verstappen has won 5 times around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, dominating this Race back in the days where Mercedes would dominate everywhere else! Realistically, Max will need to do that again if he wants to keep himself in Title contention, but it’s also fair to say that the Dutchman really doesn’t have anything to lose!

The Scene of Carlos Sainz’s Last Win

The 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix will always hold a special place in the hearts of all Carlos Sainz fans, with this being the track where the Spaniard took his final win for Ferrari! Carlos was absolutely masterful 12 months ago, nailing a special lap to take Pole Position, before he dominated in the Race to win pretty comfortably! It was a pretty special moment when you consider that, at the time, it was unclear as to whether Sainz would ever get the chance to win again, and as of right now, he hasn’t! It’s interesting to note that until last year, Carlos had never been very quick in Mexico, but he’ll definitely have hopes of scoring points this weekend!

The 9 Rookie Drivers in FP1!

Yes, your read that right, nine Rookie drivers will be taking part in FP1 this weekend, as part of the FIA’s mandatory rule to have 4 sessions where Rookies take over the car (2 per driver/car)! I have to say, we’ve certainly got a range of drivers from different series/levels, with only Kick Sauber running their main 2 drivers all weekend long! IndyCar favourite and Mexico home hero Pato O’Ward gets a run out in the McLaren in place of Lando Norris, whilst former F2 Race Winners Frederik Vesti, Paul Aron, and Ayumu Iwasa get to drive for Mercedes, Alpine, and Racing Bulls respectively (in place of George Russell, Pierre Gasly, and Liam Lawson)! Two of F2’s current best in the form of Jak Crawford and Luke Browning will also step in, with Crawford replacing Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, whilst Browning gets a go in Carlos Sainz’ Williams! And finally, Red Bull’s next big thing, Arvid Lindblad, will drive in place of Max Verstappen in tomorrow’s FP1 session, whilst experienced drivers Antonio Fuoco and Ryo Hirakawa will get to show what they’ve got for Ferrari (in place of Lewis Hamilton) and Haas (in place of Oliver Bearman)! Honestly, it’s very cool to see so many rookies getting a run out: I’m particularly excited to see how Crawford, Lindblad, and Browning do!

A “Deciding” Weekend for Lawson, Hadjar, and Tsunoda

Dr. Helmut Marko recently came out that Red Bull Racing will make a decision as to who their driver lineups are going to be next season following this weekend’s Mexico City! Let’s be honest, I’m sure Red Bull have already made their decision, with one weekend probably not being enough to change things, but it’s still interesting to talk about! Yuki Tsunoda has clearly struggled this year, another driver to fall foul of the Red Bull second seat curse, and his time with the main team looks to be nearing the end! However, even though I find this quite silly, Yuki does still have a shot at returning to Racing Bulls next season, potentially in place of Liam Lawson! Speaking of Liam Lawson, Liam’s performances and results have definitely picked up recent times; I actually think he’s doing a decent job compared to his teammate, but whether that’s enough to keep him on the F1 Grid still remains to be seen! And then you have Isack Hadjar, a Rookie that’s taking the sport by storm, and he currently sits as the favourite to partner Max Verstappen next season! However, I’m not necessarily sure that that’s the right career move for Isack to make, and if you’ve listened to my Podcast recently, you already know my stance on the whole thing! However, the one other piece in this puzzle is Arvid Lindblad, and the fact that the young Brit is going head-to-head with Yuki Tsunoda in tomorrow’s FP1 session could prove to be far more important than you might first realise! I might even have to watch Practice for once!

What is Going on with Oscar Piastri?

For the large majority of 2025, Oscar Piastri has been pretty bulletproof; he’s easily been the driver of the season, but things have started to turn south for the young Aussie! Since being told by McLaren to let teammate Lando Norris back through in Monza, Oscar has scored just 22 points, with a horror weekend in Azerbaijan, whilst he had little to no pace last time out in COTA! Piastri’s lead at the top of the Drivers’ Standings now rests at just 14 points, with Max Verstappen only a further 26 back! Ultimately, there is an awful lot of pressure resting on the shoulders of Oscar Piastri, and it’s worth mentioning that Mexico City hasn’t always been kind to him! However, Oscar needs to bounce back this weekend, because the longer this slump continues, the worse his Championship chances get!