Hamilton and Russell told Mercedes have ‘pretty decent’ Mexico City GP chances on 1 condition

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Mercedes technical director James Allison claims Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be ‘pretty decent’ at the Mexico City Grand Prix this Sunday under one condition.

Formula 1 heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez straight off the back of the United States GP. Mercedes had a ‘miserable’ end to the weekend at COTA, Allison admits, after the stewards disqualified Hamilton. He finished in second but was excluded for skid block wear.

Hamilton showed strong pace in the Sprint and the United States GP as Mercedes debuted a revised floor. Russell would not fare as well, though, as the 25-year-old finished the Sprint in eighth. He improved for P5 in the race after Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s disqualifications.

Russell struggled as Hamilton was disqualified from the United States GP

Hamilton also finished the Sprint in second before challenging Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the United States GP win. Russell struggled all weekend at COTA, though, and never seemed likely of posing a threat. He will now hope for a better race on Sunday at the Mexico City GP.

Mercedes split the Red Bull duo of race-winner Verstappen and home favourite Sergio Perez at the 2022 Mexico City GP. Verstappen ran away with the win by 15 seconds to Hamilton in P2. Russell pitted on the penultimate lap to post the fastest race lap time with P4 in the bag.

Allison outlines Mercedes’ chances ahead of Sunday’s Mexico City GP

Russell threatened Perez for his spot on the podium before pitting after that challenge faded across the closing laps of the 2022 Mexico City GP. Now, Mercedes return to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with Allison confident as long as the Silver Arrows keep their car cool.

“We have four quite different races coming up,” Allison outlined on the Mercedes YouTube channel. “We’ve got Mexico first: high altitude, thin air, a track where the asphalt is quite different to the ones we’ve just been at.

“As long as we can keep the car cool there in the thin air of the Mexico track, then I think we will be pretty decent. The corners suit us and the pace of the car should be good.”

Allison admits Hamilton’s disqualification ‘embarrassed’ Mercedes

The stewards disqualifying Hamilton from the United States GP also dealt the Mercedes star what Allison considers a ‘significant blow’ to his chances of now catching Perez for P2 in the drivers’ standings. Perez has a 39-point lead over the Briton with just four rounds remaining.

“Of course, the disqualification is a significant blow,” Allison adds. “It’s a miserable feeling. It hurts and everybody here feels it.

“Everybody is upset, embarrassed to a degree as well because we absolutely don’t like being on the wrong side of the rules and just lamenting the lost points.”

Perez will be desperate to put on a show for the home crowd at the Mexico City GP. The 33-year-old is also still fighting to show he deserves to stay at Red Bull. The Guadalajara native qualified P2 for the US GP and P7 for the Sprint before ending them P4 and P5 respectively.