Lewis Hamilton heads into the final five races 12 points behind Max Verstappen after suffering a narrow defeat in the United States Grand Prix, while Mercedes is 23 points cle𓆉ar of Red Bull in the constructors’ ⭕championship. 

Although Mercedes has won three of the five races to have taken place in Mexico ✃City since it returned to the calendar in 2015, Red Bull holds a strong record at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit and has been tipped to have the edge this weekend. 

Verstappen won the event in 2017 and 2018 when Red Bull was powered by Renault engines, and the Dutchman would have started on pole position in 2019 following the team’s switch to Honda power had it not been for a gಌrid penalty. 

Hamilton admitted after the race in Austin that Mercedes will have to “try to minimise how str𝔉ong they can be compared to us and see 🐻if we can do a better job”. 

The seven-time world champion challenged Verstaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚppen for victory late on at 🎉COTA last time out but ultimately fell just short at the flag. 

And Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin conceded fighting Red Bull as hard as it did in the United States will “probably the best-case scenario we’re going to envisage” for the Mexican 🅷GP. 

“There’s a lot to d🌊o,” Shovlin said. “It’s such a ꦑdifferent circuit and it’s such a different environment for the power unit to operate in but there haven’t been many circuits where we have been far off the pace.

“We’ve struggled in Monaco. We were struggling in Baku. We struggled a bit in that secoไnd Austria, but there are more of them where we can challenge them and we can challenge them for pole.

“We know where we’ve struggled in the past. We know what we need to be work♏ing on and that’s what we’ll get stuck into.”

Mercedes’ previous power advantage has been equalised in the paℱst in Mexico due to the circuit being a higher-altitude venue, sitting over 2000m above sea level with the air 25% less dense than normal. 

The reigning world champion out🌃fit is also battling engine reliability woes, but Valtteri Bottas believes Merced🥀es should be stronger in Mexico than in recent years after finding ways to “optimise” its power unit.

"For Mexico, we know it's usually been a bit of a weakness for us and it feels like quite a big chunk has been in the recent years from the power unit, because of the high altitude," Bottas explained. 

"But I think we've been a𝓰ble to optimise a lot since, so I would expect us to be in a better place than in𓂃 the recent years.

"Still, on paper, we think they're [Mex☂ico and Brazil] really strong places for Red Bull. We just really tried to do all the learnings we can from previous years and prepare in the best way.

"They're not🃏 goi༺ng to be easy weekends, but it's never easy in this sport."

Meanwhile, Mercedes team pꦏrincipal Toto Wolff stressed that this year’s US GP result - at a track that was considered to be a Mercedes stronghold - proves that past form has little relevance in this year’s title battle. 

“Red Bull have gone well ♑there in the past and it hasn't be﷽en our strongest circuit,” Wolff said. 

“But this year has shown that anything is possible and circuits where you were previously weak, you are suddeꦫnly strong, and v✃ice versa. 

“S𒁃o, it adds a layer of unknown in the build-upღ, which only increases the excitement.

“We'll keep taking things race by race and preparing the best we can, and we'll land in Mexico ready to hit the ground running on Friday, get a good understanding of the car's pe♒rformance and build from 🐟there.”