Ahead of the race weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – at 2,286 metres above sea level, by far the highest circuit on the Formula 1 calendar – the discussion in the paddock largely revolved around one subject: how much of a challenge Mexico City would pose for the 2026 power units.
Several manufacturers feared severe turbo lag, especially now that the MGU-H is no longer there to support the turbo. The lower air density also raised a crucial question regarding outright performance. At altitude, there are fewer oxygen molecules per cubic metre, meaning the turbo has to work harder to get the same amount of oxygen into the engine as it would at sea level.
Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara had already explained on Thursday that if a manufacturer cannot generate sufficient turbo boost at altitude, it would have consequences for the “engine operation condition”, in other words, the outright power the internal combustion engine can deliver.
Although this was an unknown for all manufacturers under F1’s new regulations, Red Bull Ford Powertrains, as one of the newcomers, was literally facing its first baptism of fire at high altitude.
It was a test that, according to team principal Laurent Mekies, the team passed with flying colours, perhaps even surprisingly so.
“Look, you’re right in saying that Mexico is an exception that presents a very, very unique challenge. Power unit wise, obviously it has worked well. So a huge well done and congrats to the guys”, Mekies said after Motorsport.com asked him about the power unit challenge at Mexico’s altitude.
“Also on the chassis side, it has also worked well, because you have a very large number of challenges on the chassis as well for the car cooling, for the brakes cooling, and for many other things.
“We knew that whatever we were going to see in Mexico would be to be considered as a one-off. We just didn’t know if we were going to enjoy a competitive advantage or a competitive disadvantage. But as it turned out, we were in the right mix.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Nevertheless, Max Verstappen believes there are still several areas for improvement with the DM01, Red Bull’s first in-house built power unit. One of those is the engine braking. In Austin, this had already given the four-time world champion an inconsistent feeling behind the wheel, and in Mexico Verstappen once again complained about it over the team radio.
“It happens randomly”, the Dutchman later explained in the post-race press conference.
“The engine just decides by itself what to do, to be honest, so I don’t know. Maybe I need to have a conversation with the engine before going into the race. Maybe it has to behave better”, Verstappen joked.
“We don’t know, sometimes it just happens. It’s not very consistent. But I think everything is running so hot here, also the turbocharger and everything, so it’s tough to make everything spot on.”
Has Red Bull found something to improve its starts?
While consistency with engine braking remains an area for improvement, perhaps the biggest positive for Red Bull was that its starts in Mexico were surprisingly good. Both Verstappen and Isack Hadjar had expressed some concerns about them after qualifying, particularly because of the extremely long run to Turn 1, but in practice things turned out much better than feared.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
According to Mekies, this underlines that Red Bull is steadily making progress with its starts, although he does not want to get carried away just yet. Red Bull’s team principal knows that more significant hardware changes will still be needed heading into next season.
“The situation is that we know we are not benchmark. There is a huge amount of work going on in Milton Keynes to improve the starts with what we have this year”, Mekies said when asked about the surprisingly strong starts by Motorsport.com.
“And yes, you’ve seen some of this progress, certainly under high stress conditions today, because we had several starts to make with that very long stretch to Turn 1 where everything is amplified.
“There is a huge amount of pressure and attention around it and I’m very proud of how they managed to give us the best we could today.
“Does it mean we are now the benchmark? No. Does it mean that we will have a perfect start or a start like today in every race? No. But it does mean that we will continue to try and improve with what we have.”
Read Also:
How Red Bull’s crucial strategy call helped Max Verstappen win the “Maxico Grand Prix”
Kimi Antonelli wants special photo with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen on his wall after F1 title
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