A key detail has been spotted behind the scenes at McLaren ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix, potentially giving Max Verstappen a major advantage in the world title race.
Verstappen continued to close the gap on his championship rivals in the United States last weekend, winning both the sprint race and the full Grand Prix.
Despite being 104 points behind Oscar Piastri earlier in the season, the four-time and reigning world champion is now just 40 points adrift with five races remaining.
Piastri has struggled in recent weeks and has not finished on the podium since the Italian Grand Prix at the start of September.
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His McLaren teammate Lando Norris is also chasing a maiden world title and is just 14 points behind the Australian.
With three drivers in contention for the championship, it is shaping up to be one of the closest title fights in several years.
Now, Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt has reported that nerves are starting to grow within the McLaren garage.
He said: “Yes, I think some people in the paddock are saying that the real favourite for the title is now Max Verstappen, even though he is still behind.
“The thumbscrews are tightening even tighter for the McLaren drivers, and also for McLaren as a team.
"You notice that the lightness they had is gone. So, they don’t win the races anymore, just like that.
Schmidt continued: “They had a cushion of two tenths over everyone else, and even if things went badly, they were still at the front.
"Now, if things go badly, you end up sixth on the starting grid, as we saw with Piastri, and you can’t move up any further.”
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City is considered to be one of the easier tracks on the calendar.
Eight teams plan to give a rookie the first practice session of the weekend as a result, with regulations dictating that rookies must be given two opportunities throughout the season.
Both Norris and Verstappen will sit out first practice, potentially giving Piastri a crucial opportunity to gain track time ahead of an important race.
The circuit has also been described as a 'very low-grip track' by journalist Julianne Cerasoli, something which the Australian has struggled with.
She said: "The team is saying that he has difficulty when the track has poor grip.
"And that’s what McLaren, they don’t say he doesn’t perform well, they say he has opportunities to improve when there are low grip conditions.
"The problem for Piastri is that the next race, the Mexican Grand Prix, is on a track with very low grip, precisely because of the altitude there."
It provides Norris with a potential opportunity to take the world title lead at a circuit where he has performed well in the past, including a second-placed finish last year.
Topics: Formula 1, Max Verstappen, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris
James Taylor