Verstappen favourite at happy hunting ground

Ferrari will have gone a year without a win in Mexico this weekend, and the wait looks likely to continue as Red Bull's Max Verstappen seeks to turn the screw on McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

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Four-time world champion Verstappen is staging an astonishing Formula One fightback, from 104 points down on Piastri at the end of August to 40 adrift now, and chasing a fourth victory in the last five grands prix.

The last Ferrari winner was Carlos Sainz in Mexico on Oct 27 in 2024, with Norris second and Verstappen an unhappy sixth after serving two 10-second penalties.

The Spaniard, now with Williams, can be counted out this time particularly since he picked up a five-place grid drop at the US Grand Prix on Oct 19.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, a two-time winner in Mexico, has yet to stand on the podium in 19 starts since he joined Ferrari in January, while teammate Charles Leclerc has had six podiums but only one second place, in Monaco in May.

The 28-year-old Verstappen, meanwhile, has a momentum that will be hard to beat at a high-altitude track where he has won five times previously.