Frederic Vasseur fires McLaren and Red Bull warning despite bleak Mexico City Grand Prix prediction

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Ferrari dominated the United States Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc won ahead of Carlos Sainz yet team boss Frederic Vasseur voiced a bleak prediction for the Mexico City GP.

Formula 1 continues its journey around the Americas with the second race of the first triple-header to close out the year. After visiting Austin last Sunday, F1 travels south to Mexico City before heading south for Sao Paulo, only to return to the United States for the Las Vegas GP.

Leclerc dominated the US Grand Prix to win with the second Ferrari one-two finish this year. Sainz came home 8.562 seconds from his teammate, who held a 19.412s margin to Red Bull star Max Verstappen in third thanks to Lando Norris’ controversial five-second time penalty.

Frederic Vasseur doubts Ferrari will dominate the Mexico City GP like the US Grand Prix

Yet despite Leclerc winning the US Grand Prix by nearly 20 seconds to the best non-Ferrari racer, team principal Vasseur doubts they will dictate the Mexico City GP. Instead, he eagerly awaits the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as Interlagos is ‘more similar’ to the Circuit of the Americas.

Vasseur has warned their constructors’ championship rivals McLaren and Red Bull that they should expect Ferrari will be more competitive at the Sao Paulo GP than the Mexico City GP owing to the unusual nature of this weekend’s round taking place over 2km above sea level.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez sits 1,000m higher than Interlagos and puts additional demands on F1 engines. So, Vasseur doubts Ferrari will relish the Mexico City GP like the Sao Paulo GP. They even have upgrades in mind for the penultimate round, the Qatar Grand Prix.

“Mexico is an isolated case due to the altitude and the importance of cooling the brakes and engine,” Vasseur outlined, via AS. “Brazil will be more similar to Austin. As for the upgrades, we are trying to bring something that will probably not arrive for Las Vegas but for Qatar.”

McLaren and Red Bull must take advantage of Ferrari’s Mexico City GP fears

Leclerc and Sainz gifting Ferrari a one-two finish at the US Grand Prix also saw the Scuderia close on McLaren and Red Bull in the constructors’ standings by 21 and 22 points. The gap now facing the Maranello natives to their rivals in Woking and Milton Keynes is 48 and eight.

Red Bull, especially, will hope Verstappen and home favourite Sergio Perez can deliver at the Mexico City GP to take advantage of Vasseur’s fears that Ferrari will not be as competitive. It might yet be decisive in holding off the Prancing Horse for millions of dollars in prize money.

McLaren may also fear Ferrari eating more and more into their constructors’ standings lead over the final rounds if the Scuderia can dominate the Sao Paulo GP before taking upgrades to the Qatar GP. A few repeats of their result at COTA could easily see Ferrari catch McLaren.