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With the two practice sessions for the 2022 F1 Mexican GP concluded, the teams would now get back to rattling their brains and trying to understand how they can find those extra tenths for the race on Sunday and the qualifying on Saturday.
Talking about qualifying, what assertions can be made about the team's one-lap pace after a 60-minute FP1 and a 90-minute FP2 that was more or less used for Pirelli's prototype tire testing? Let's find out as we share our predictions for the 2022 F1 Mexican GP qualifying.
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Disappointment of the session (Team)
The team has come here with a lot of momentum on its side, but Aston Martin has a car that tends to do its best work in the long runs. The team has more or less struggled to find the perfect balance when optimizing the Race and the qualifying position.
Looking at the timesheets, even though the Aston Martin cars showed impressive speed in the long run, the low fuel runs still don't put Vettel and Stroll in the top 10. For the 2022 F1 Mexican GP, get prepared for outside of the top 10 starts for both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll as the duo struggles to extract single-lap performance from the car.
Disappointment of the session (Driver)
Esteban Ocon's low fuel run in F1 Mexican GP FP2 was far from impressive. The French driver was third but around 3-4 tenths down on time set by Yuki Tsunoda in his AlphaTauri. This is a clear divergence from the kinds of laps Fernando Alonso could pull off in FP1.
Esteban Ocon struggled immensely when extracting lap time from the Alpine in Austin. Although it is too early to judge, Ocon might be looking at a second consecutive disappointing performance.
Surprise of the session (Team)
While Haas has kept its cards close to its chest in the 2022 F1 Mexican GP, there is undoubtedly a level of impressive underlying performance in that car. This was displayed in FP1 when Mick Schumacher did a soft tire run for the first time and went purple in S3.
While it is hard to predict where Haas will find itself, it is safe to say that the performance from the team would be much better than the P17 and P18 that it currently held. A Q2 is undoubtedly on the line for Haas, but even a Q3 slot could be in play if all the ducks align for either driver.
Surprise of the session (Driver)
Pierre Gasly has been relatively anonymous at times this season, and a massive part of it is due to the car at his disposal. The French driver can drive the wheel off the AlphaTauri, but it has not been competitive this season.
Having said that, one essential facet of Gasly's game makes him very impressive. Whenever the car appears to be performing well on a particular layout, that is the time when Pierre Gasly sees his motivation and tends to deliver.
During the 2022 F1 Mexican GP FP1 and FP2, what has been evident is that the AlphaTauri indeed has the speed to compete in the midfield. Expect Pierre Gasly to be there and make the most of the opportunity.
Top 3 in 2022 F1 Mexican GP qualifying
Let's get one thing straight. This weekend is the closest we'll get to a 3-team battle for the win. With its efficient higher downforce car, Mercedes has been a force to reckon with this weekend.
Not only Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull have shown impressive speed throughout the 150 mins of track time. When it comes to picking the top 3, we're going with the better qualifier in each of the three teams Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari.
For Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton takes the honors as he has not been out-qualified by his teammate even once since the summer break(6-0). For Ferrari, even though Leclerc can be a bit of a crash-prone driver, when it comes to single-lap pace, he hardly tends to relinquish anything to any driver. For Red Bull, the pick seems simpler as even though Perez has been keeping a respectable form for most of the time during F1 Mexican GP weekend, when it comes to crunch time, it tends to be Max Verstappen leading the charge.
Now, out of this top 3, we're predicting a Max Verstappen pole position, Charles Leclerc in P2, and Lewis Hamilton in P3.
