Formula 1 is back this weekend with the highly popular Mexico Grand Prix, arriving just seven days after Kimi Antonelli romped to victory in Austin, as Motorsport.com reports. That was the Mercedes driver's ninth win of the 2026 season after dominating from pole in a race largely defined by strategy with Antonelli nailing a one-stopper. He was joined on the podium by two-stopping duo Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen at round 18 of the season. As things stand, there are now just five left, so it is very much the business end of the season, where two titles could be clinched at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
There is probably more chance of Pastor Maldonado making an F1 return than there is Antonelli not becoming world champion this weekend. The 20-year-old sensation has obliterated the competition, holding a respective 123 and 124-point advantage over the last remaining title contenders in George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. This is with 125 points left available in the 2026 campaign - provided the Middle Eastern rounds go ahead - so all the Mercedes driver needs to do is finish ninth or higher to clinch his maiden crown. Quite frankly, there's a good chance he'd claim the crown in Mexico even by finishing outside of the points because it would require either Russell or Hamilton winning the race which, based on current form, is quite unlikely.
Antonelli is set to give Mercedes its first drivers' title since Hamilton took a record-equalling seventh crown in the 2020 season. The Silver Arrows' wait for a constructors' championship is a little shorter, however, as its last came in 2021 before four years of struggle in the ground-effect era. But, as expected, Mercedes mastered the 2026 regulation switch thanks largely to its highly efficient power unit and it came out of the blocks fast by winning the opening six grands prix from pole. Other teams - Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull - subsequently closed the gap by fitting upgrades and taking wins of their own, but not enough to truly challenge Mercedes' consistent superiority over the competition.
Across recent days, Ronald Vording has been hot on the case, reporting on two issues that are still plaguing Red Bull amid its late-season resurgence: poor race starts and technical problems on radio. Starting with the former, this is something that has cost Red Bull throughout 2026 and has so far culminated in Isack Hadjar claiming in Austin that the team needs to redesign its clutch. It came after both he and team-mate Max Verstappen respectively dropped two and one position at lights out. As for the latter, this problem emerged in Singapore with Verstappen, who was also affected at COTA as was Hadjar for the first time this year. So, the way things are going, expect further questions to Red Bull surrounding these two issues, especially as the race-start problem is highly complicated and likely to continue into 2027 according to team boss Laurent Mekies.
Ferrari has finished on the podium at three consecutive grands prix and outscored every other team across the past two, though its winless run now stretches to nine races. Fred Vasseur's assessment on Sunday at COTA was that Ferrari had got everything right except its Q3 laps, leaving Leclerc and Hamilton further down the grid and forcing them to go on the attack in the race. Leclerc still came away with second, and Ferrari left Austin encouraged, with further evidence that the SF-26's competitiveness is no longer dependent on circuit characteristics. At more than 2,200 metres above sea level, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez presents a very particular challenge, but Vasseur is confident the package is working.
Surpassing the 300-race milestone in Formula 1 is an achievement reserved for a very exclusive group, and this Sunday Sergio Perez will join legends like Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, and Michael Schumacher. However, this figure carries a deeper significance, as reaching 300 Grands Prix means 300 occasions in which 'Checo' shattered the "pay driver" stigma. Three hundred races later, the Guadalajara native boasts a runner-up finish in the world drivers' title, the record as the most successful Mexican driver in F1 history, and a comeback with Cadillac that forced many of his detractors to admit their mistake following his bitter exit from Red Bull at the end of 2024. In 2026, simply crossing the finish line with Cadillac will represent the biggest victory of the weekend in itself.
