Lewis Hamilton admits his focus will be on the “red car behind” as he is wary of a repeat of the 2017 collision with Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Mexican GP.
Last year, the two drivers along with Max Verstappen battled through the tight opening three corners at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with Hamilton picking up a puncture after the Ferrari driver’s front wing touched his right-rear tyre.
The same three plus Daniel Ricciardo will be jockeying for position again on Sunday on what is the second longest run to a first braking zone on the Formula 1 calendar at over 800m to Turn 1.
“You saw what happened last year with the red car behind,” Hamilton warned. “It really depends how we get away but third place is a nice place to start here, you get a good tow from the guys up ahead.
“I’m going to fighting to at least gain a position but of course I’m aware of the Bulls as well up ahead.”
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Avoiding any race-ending trouble will certainly be crucial as the Mercedes driver needs just a seventh-place finish to claim his fifth world title at the same place he won his fourth 12 months ago.
Just finishing third in qualifying in itself though for Hamilton, as the cooler conditions meant there was no melting Hypersoft tyres from Friday practice.
“I’m really, really happy with it,” Lewis insisted. “We had a difficult day yesterday and it was a big improvement today.
“Yesterday we were much further back so I wasn’t expecting to be up as high as we got but the team did a great job last night.
“That’s as good as I could get. I’m really happy for Daniel so congratulations to him. Being behind the Red Bulls is not a bad thing.”