[NeilP]

Well we arrive at Mexico just in time for the Day of the Dead as always.  Dead could well be Lewis Hamiltons title hopes after this race, with Max Verstappens 12 point lead looking to increase to at least 18 this weekend with a win it could be the straw that breaks the camels back especially with Brazil to come where again Red Bull will be favourites.  Mercedes and Hamilton need to dig really deep if they are keep their number one drivers hopes alive. I just dont see it. In fact I think Hamilton will have a hugely difficult time to even finish second here.

I wonder if Mercedes will take a new ICU here for Hamilton. If they are going to do so it has to in truth be either here or Brazil but can they even afford to take the risk, I personally do not think so.  There are five races left and in reality you have to think Hamilton has to win at least three of them to retain his title. As a fan I am not blind I think that is highly improbable.  As I have said many times on here and in chat I will never write him out of anything but Verstappens win at COTA was in my mind a big dagger to the heart of his chances.

We have run this race five times on the current layout and have seen three wins by Mercedes to two by Red Bull. Hamiltons has two wins here including the last race held here in 2019. One for Nico Rosberg in 2016 and of course the salient issue two by Max Verstappen in 2017 and 2018 both by a considerable margin.  When Hamilton does not win here his results are poor finishing 4th in 2018 and 9th in 2017.  Anything other than second to Verstappen here would be a total disaster and of course even that may not be enough.

Outside of the Mercedes vs Red Bull fight the best battle on the grid is Ferrari vs McLaren.  McLaren currently have a 3.5 point lead for third place in the constructors race.  To my mind Lando Norris is the driver of the year.  That will obviously not be the case should Max Verstappen win the Championship but to me based on what he has carwise his performances have stood out the most. You expected Verstappen and Hamilton to do what they are doing they are easily the best two drivers in F1 right now and given the superiority of the cars they drive its totally expected.  I think Norris has wrung out better performances than he perhaps had a right to based on his car.  Just my thoughts there.

We have seen that practices in F1 have become pretty meaningless in terms of deciding who has any advantage for the races themselves.  It is qualifying more than ever that is now the benchmark and perghaps the only benchmark.  I have to say because of that my idea is not to be so much bothered with watching practice anymore which is sad because I enjoy the banter when online and it is great to see others opinions.  One reason I think we see less of us in chat both on practice days and even more so race days is because we are all seeing things happen at different times and do not want our enjoyment of the race especially spoiled by someone posting what they see happen ahead of what we are seeing in real time. In the USA I am always way behind you guys especially with races in Europe and Asia. Not sure there is anything we can do about that which again is somewhat sad but understandable.

Hope to see more posts from you guys it would be sad to see this site disappear.

Take care and be safe.