Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen think Ferrari could be unbeatable in qualifying for the rest of 2019.
The Scuderia is currently on a run of five straight pole positions since Spa, four for Charles Leclerc and one for Sebastian Vettel.
In the case of Hamilton, he is currently on his longest pole drought in four years, having last taken P1 on a Saturday at Hockenheim and he sees little hope of that run ending in Mexico.
“Oh, I don’t think a lot has changed,” he told Formula1.com on his expectations.
“We are going to go into the weekend knowing that Ferrari are massively quick, usually on the straights, and obviously straights are a powerful element of the circuit so I don’t know when we’ll be getting another pole.”
Instead, the Briton is pinning hopes on possible rain showers that could impact Saturday, suggesting that would “change everything”.
As for Verstappen, he realises the single lap deficit is even bigger between Ferrari and Red Bull, something that could be decisive with the two teams expected to lead the way at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“We brought updates, others did too and we didn’t make the performance step like we did last year compared to them,” he told Crash.net.
“From the Ferrari side, they gained over the year more and more power, just very hard to beat that, even if you have a car that is half a second faster, it’s still almost impossible to beat them in qualifying, as you can see with Mercedes.
“They [Mercedes] definitely have the best car compared to them [Ferrari] but still in qualifying, they are lacking lately. It’s insane the speed difference they have.
Also Read:
- Vettel casts doubt on Ferrari expectations in Mexico
- Hamilton, Mercedes play down chances at ‘our worst race of the year’ in Mexico
- Red Bull praise Ferrari engine, suggests reasons for performance advantage
“We keep pushing from our side to try and gain more power, but the deficit is really big,” the Dutchman added. “When we look to Mercedes and Renault, we are looking strong, we’re not lacking that much.
“Mercedes always run more downforce than us, but yeah, we’re close to them. It’s already a good achievement, we just need to keep on pushing.”
The notable positive for both teams, however, is the engine gap is considerably smaller in the race and while that is the case, Hamilton isn’t too concerned by the lost poles.
“As you’ve seen in previous races it’s not necessarily all about qualifying these days, it’s about making sure you’ve got the car also ready for the race,” he noted.