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<\/p>\nThe uniquely demanding challenge of Formula 1’s highest-altitude race gets even tougher in Mexico this year, and there are some lingering frustrations from last weekend’s grand prix in the United States too.<\/p>\n
2026 turbos face toughest test\u2026<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Mexican Grand Prix will be the first of the modern era where F1\u2019s hybrid V6 engines have run without the MGU-H.<\/p>\n
Mexico City\u2019s altitude has traditionally put extra strain on the turbochargers as the lack of air density requires everything to function at higher RPM.<\/p>\n
According to Honda\u2019s trackside engineering chief, Shintaro Orihara, the loss of the MGU-H for 2026 makes the process of achieving sufficient boost pressure even more difficult here, calling it \u201cquite challenging\u201d to run without the complicated and expensive component ditched under this season\u2019s new engine regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year we had MGU-H, so we have some support from MGU-H, but this year we don’t have MGU-H, so it’s quite challenging,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, just only for idle, in idle condition, we have MGU-H support to get enough boost pressure [in 2025], but this year we don’t have any support. Even in idle, we have big difference from last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen also, turbo lag, that’s most interesting or important topic in this track. I think not only Honda, but also all manufacturers, they will struggle with turbo lag, or [find it] challenging for turbo lag in this track.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, not only turbo lag, normally in Mexico, turbocharger speed is quite high to get enough airflow. Then we may… we need to check, but we may have some restriction on engine operation condition, if in the worst case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, we have done a lot of dyno testing, and we believe there is almost no impact, or small impact on engine operation condition, but we need to check those things in free practice, and that can happen on all other manufacturers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo quite challenging for turbo lag, and also engine operation condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performance of the turbo is why Audi\u2019s not got stunning hopes for this race. Its bigger turbocharger will struggle even more than usual to run at the required speed and avoid crippling lag, although it will at least be partially offset by reduced air resistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy for us,\u201d said driver Gabriel Bortoleto. \u201cEspecially in that last sector, it\u2019s super important to keep the boost up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a first-gear last sector. And it\u2019s one of the slowest sectors because we don\u2019t have much downforce at this track, so the cars are going super slow. Then you want to get on the power as soon as you can to keep the revs up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s going to be tricky.\u201d – Ben Anderson<\/p>\n
\u2026with an extreme battery demand<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just the impact the air density will have on the already-struggling turbos in these cars without an MGU-H that is going to be a challenge in Mexico. There is a specific battery demand too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Teams are expecting high levels of \u2018torque infilling\u2019 this weekend, where the MGU-K is used to help combat the aforementioned turbo lag. But the circuit layout means lots of opportunities to charge the battery versus deploying it because deployment will be saved for the three long straights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without the MGU-H nothing keeps the turbo spinning when a driver lifts off the throttle. So in slow corners teams run the engine harder than the driver needs, and use the car\u2019s remaining electric motor, the MGU-K, as a brake on the engine. It soaks up some of the engine\u2019s power and stores it in the battery, so the wheels only get the share the driver actually needs. The engine keeps working hard, and that keeps the turbo spinning, ready for the exit of the corner.<\/p>\n
The catch is that this only works if the battery has room to store that energy, and Mexico leaves very little. With three long straights to cover, teams will save almost all their electric power for those and use barely any elsewhere. So when the battery is drained on a straight, the run of braking zones that follows, such as the one into the stadium section, quickly fills it back up. By the slowest corners, it is nearly full.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With nowhere to store the extra power, it would all go to the rear wheels and spin them up, so the engine has to ease off instead, and the turbo slows down with it. As we\u2019ve covered, Mexico\u2019s thin air makes that worse, because the turbo has to work even harder to recover, even if that\u2019s at least partially offset by less air resistance making it easier to spin the turbo in the first place.<\/p>\n
That leaves a bigger gap in power out of those corners for the electric motor to fill, sometimes more than it can cover. And every bit of energy it uses there, is energy that can\u2019t go into the straights. F1 2026 is an uber-complex balancing act between straightline speed and how drivable the car is out of the slow corners, and Mexico will push it to the extreme. – Scott Mitchell-Malm\u00a0<\/p>\n
This track\u2019s become new outlier for cars, too<\/p>\n
F1’s 2026 rules have moved the goalposts on the car side as well.\u00a0This is no longer just an outlier circuit for the engine, several leading drivers are flagging how it now stands alone as an aerodynamic challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The high altitude and lower air density has always had a specific impact on the cars here but now the context is different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Normally it\u2019s similar to the downforce you have in Monza, but given that you don\u2019t drop downforce for Monza anymore, or not much anyway, this is the outlier now,” said McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“So, it\u2019s going to be pretty challenging. It\u2019s probably not going to feel amazing in the car.”<\/p>\n
The 2026 cars have a lot less grip than their ground-effect predecessors already.\u00a0As Max Verstappen pointed out, previously “we have the wings to compensate a little bit for that” \u2013 so you’d run Monaco-style wings and still only get Monza-level performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“But now you basically just run one wing,” he said. “So there will be a lot less downforce on the car, which I think will already be quite challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“That probably puts even more emphasis on the low-speed performance.”<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton suggested there will be “25 or 30% less downforce than the last time we drove here”. His Ferrari team has been tipped to thrive in the conditions as its smaller turbocharger should cope better with the challenge of having to run at a higher RPM to achieve the same output as elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He’s also hoping “the car should be good here”, although that depends on “whether we can get the tyre switched on” with such little aerodynamic load through the lap. – SMM<\/p>\n
Cadillac borrowed F1 movie car for Perez demo<\/p>\n
Sergio Perez wowed 50,000 fans on the streets of Mexico City on Wednesday, ahead of the grand prix, despite Cadillac not having an F1 car he could use. <\/p>\n
F1 rules prevent you from using current machinery, so usually teams use their previous cars; 2026 F1 newcomer Cadillac, of course, doesn\u2019t have a previous F1 car…<\/p>\n
So Cadillac made a pragmatic decision to borrow one from Apple instead, as it still has the modified Formula 2 car that was used as an \u2018F1 car\u2019 in the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. <\/p>\n
Perez called it \u201creally enjoyable\u201d when asked by The Race, primarily because of a big advantage versus a more conventional showrun with an actual F1 car. <\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, when you do show runs, you’re always very worried about the cooling,\u201d Perez explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one was really, really good at it. I could do endless donuts with it, so it was really enjoyable. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were super happy, and that was the biggest thing, to see the people enjoying it so much. It was a very special moment.\u201d <\/p>\n
Perez is expecting a \u201cpainful\u201d weekend on track but with a bit of help from Apple, he\u2019s already done something donut-worthy for his home crowd. – Josh Suttill<\/p>\n
The priority from Red Bull drivers\u2019 Austin anger<\/p>\n