F1 2018: 5 Early Predictions for Mexican GP

After a thrilling United States GP in Austin that saw Kimi Raikkonen take his first win since Australia 2013 in a Lotus, the Championship race between Sebastian Vettel & Lewis Hamilton will extend until at least Mexico. With 3 races to go, Vettel has a 70 point deficit, meaning he needs to close the gap by at least 20 points to keep the title race alive going into Brazil.

As that happens up front, Raikkonen has jumped 4 points ahead of fellow Finn, Valtteri Bottas to take third in the drivers' standings, and Max Verstappen has solidified his place in 5th as a string of unlucky finishes plague Daniel Ricciardo.

This time around in Mexico, the onus is on Vettel to make up places on Hamilton, and Ferrari will need a miraculous failure from Mercedes if they want to extend the title race even further. Meanwhile, in the midfield, Renault seem to have 4th place clinched, but anything can happen as Haas, McLaren & Force India vie for those last few points. Hulkenberg is also currently the best of the rest, but has Perez, Magnussen & Alonso not too far behind.

What will happen this time round in Mexico? Nobody knows, but as always, that won't stop us from guessing!

#1 Bottas gets pole in Mexico

With one of F1's Finn's grabbing the victory in the USA, we see it's the other Finn trying to one-up him and grab pole this Saturday. With Hamilton & Vettel squarely in the limelight, I believe the pressure will be building upon them, and a Bottas with nothing to lose will put in a blistering lap to grab pole in Mexico City.

Bottas has 6 poles in the past, and has shown that he has what it takes to find the right amount of time over one lap if need be. His skill in Quali has not always shined through, especially being paired up against the best qualifier of all time in Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes will need their 'wingman' to put in a good effort in order to keep Raikkonen & Vettel at bay, and whether or not he gets pole, they will want him to be ahead of the two Ferraris. That being said, I believe that the Nastola native will go above & beyond to pull one back in his fight for 3rd with Kimi & grab P1 on Saturday.

#2 Grosjean gets a race ban

Haas's French driver, Romain Grosjean has had a very up and down season in 2018. After a string of terrible performances at the start of the year, he seemed to bring it back in the second half. However, since then Grosjean has once again had a bad day in Texas where he careened into the back of Charles LeClerc, taking himself & the Monegasque driver out.

This resulted in one additional penalty point for Grosjean, therefore he is now only 2 penalty points away from getting a race ban. With Grosjean having a chip on his shoulder going into these last three races, he will undoubtedly be racing on eggshells to avoid getting that ban. However, sometimes this is the exact sort of caution that could cause the Frenchman to make a mistake from overthinking it.

We believe that in Mexico, Grosjean will tangle with somebody during the race and will end up getting his next two penalty points that will force him to miss the race in Interlagos.

#3 Kubica announced for Williams

Just last week, Williams F1 team announced that George Russell would be one half of their driver pairing in 2019. Alongside him, there have been a fair few rumors as to who could partner him. Could Williams retain Sirotkin? Or will they scoop up Ocon, who as of right now does not have a confirmed seat in F1 for 2019?

In our eyes, Williams will actually look to their test driver, Robert Kubica, who has been out of F1 since 2011. The Polish fan favorite who was pushed out of F1 after suffering a huge Rally car crash, could be set to make a comeback in 2019 after putting in a large amount of work for Williams as a test driver in 2018. Kubica is also currently managed by Nico Rosberg, meaning that he does have some push behind him, especially since Williams runs on a Mercedes engine.

While F1 fans would hope to have Ocon in F1 in 2019, we believe that in Mexico, the British outfit will announce Kubica for their second seat in 2019.

#4 Hamilton DNFs

With Hamilton currently having one hand essentially on the championship, it would take a real miracle for Vettel to come out with the win. Mercedes have had a fair amount of fortune, with Hamilton's last DNF being in Austria. If he does crash out again in Mexico, for either a mechanical or a racing reason, it would give Vettel the chance he needs to close up the minimum 20 points and keep the championship alive at least until Brazil.

Hamilton does not make mistakes too often, so it is more likely that the Brit will suffer a mechanical failure as he did in Austria this year, and famously in Malaysia in 2016. The championship fight seems like it isn't the most exciting as Hamilton is so close to his 5th world title, however, this sort of outcome would add the right amount of spice as it would give Vettel the chance to close in on Lewis going into Interlagos.

#5 Vettel wins after a Ferrari Switcheroo

While Ferrari are currently riding a high of fan support after fan favorite Raikkonen got the win in Texas, being the controversial team that they are, it is likely that F1 fans will get on their case again very soon. With my other predictions foreseeing Hamilton crashing out, Vettel would need the win in Mexico to keep his title hopes alive. For this to come while Vettel is currently not in the best form, it feels like there needs to be some sort of help for the German driver.

With Raikkonen also riding the momentum of the win, we see him leading the race going into the last few laps, with Vettel being granted the win on the last one. While this would make more sense than Ferrari's previous switches, of which we have had a fair few, it would still not rub all of the fans the right way for Vettel to cling onto hope only by having Kimi move out of the way.

Whatever happens in Mexico, we're sure that the fans will be excited to tune into the following two races, however you can't help but feel like the tension would be higher if Vettel has a joker's chance as we approach Abu Dhabi. For that reason, we see him close the 25 points on Hamilton in Mexico, but only with a little help from Kimi.

Edited by Arvind Sriram