Verstappen says active aero limits teams’ grip fix in Mexico

At Thursday’s media day ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen said Mexico City’s altitude would leave the 2026 cars with less grip. Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar expects heavy sliding and extreme demands on the cars this weekend.

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez sits 2,286 metres above sea level. Teams traditionally run near-Monaco wing levels because the drag penalty is minimal, but at altitude those settings produce roughly the downforce of a Monza-spec setup. Verstappen said active aerodynamics leave less scope to compensate for the loss, placing greater emphasis on low-speed performance.

In Austin, Verstappen described the RB22 as a reasonable all-rounder that does not excel in either high- or low-speed corners; he has also said Red Bull’s low-speed performance is not exceptionally strong. The results add context: Verstappen won at Singapore, a circuit with predominantly low-speed corners, and put the Red Bull on Monaco’s front row before the major upgrades.

Hadjar still expects substantial sliding, despite the circuit having been resurfaced and the new asphalt supposedly offering more grip. He recalled that he was already sliding a lot at Mexico in 2025 with a Monaco rear wing. He also predicts extreme demands on cooling, the engine, tyres and brakes.

Reliability in 2026 has generally been surprisingly good despite the major technical-regulation overhaul. Altitude also brings a turbo-lag challenge: the MGU-H can no longer help the turbo at high altitude. George Russell suggested Ferrari could have an advantage because of its smaller turbo. Hadjar did not rule out Red Bull, noting that the car had worked well on very different tracks in recent races.

Verstappen expects teams to spend the weekend fine-tuning where the engine operates and how the car and brakes are cooled. The Red Bull Ford power unit will face these extreme conditions for the first time.