BRENDAN LINES November 6, 2021

RED Bull team principal Christian Horner was confident Max Verstappen’s fastest time in FP2 by almost half a second might had swung the momentum of the weekend back the team’s way.

Verstappen led Friday’s final practice session setting an early medium-tyred benchmark time of 1m17.920s. 

Halfway through the session, Verstappen went on his soft-tyre run and set the fastest lap of 1m17.301s.

Horner said it was an important step gaining the ascendancy in what has been a tight battle against Mercedes in previous Mexico City races.

“We’ve won as many races as Mercedes have here, so we’ve always performed reasonably well here,” Horner said.

“And we’ve had a couple of victories but, as I said, this year, the form book, you can throw out of the window because the difference between the two teams has been so tight at pretty much all of the venues that we’ve been to so far. 

“I see no reason for that to be different here. It’s going to be about getting everything right on the day, nailing qualifying, getting the start, the right strategy, the right reliability and doing all the basics well. 

“That’s going to be crucial at this phase of the championship.”

With five races to go in the championship and Verstappen holding a 12 point lead a win might be the start of Red Bull’s charge on both drivers and constructors championships.

With Verstappen laying a clear marker in FP2, the championship could likely be a tit-for-tat battle in every session.

And as the championship moves into unchartered waters between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, the closest it has ever been between them in recent years, Horner dismissed comments that the fight could end up in Senna-Prost-like bad blood.

“I was disappointed to read in the comments that that was being condoned,” Horner said.

“We want a really fair fight between now and the end of the championship and I think any driver would want to win the championship on track. 

“We’re a team of racers and that’s… if we can pull off this feat – and it’s a massive, massive task – then we wouldn’t want to win a championship through a collision between the drivers.”

FP3 for the Mexico City Grand Prix begins 3.30am ACDST.

Full results

1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.301		28
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:17.725	+0.424s	31
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:17.810	+0.509s	26
4	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.871	+0.570s	26
5	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:18.318	+1.017s	29
6	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:18.429	+1.128s	29
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:18.605	+1.304s	28
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:18.644	+1.343s	31
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:18.681	+1.380s	32
10	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:18.732	+1.431s	27
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:18.841	+1.540s	25
12	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:18.979	+1.678s	27
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:19.227	+1.926s	31
14	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:19.431	+2.130s	37
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:19.521	+2.220s	7
16	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:19.620	+2.319s	30
17	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:19.730	+2.429s	36
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:20.820	+3.519s	17
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	1:21.581	+4.280s	28
20	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES			2