Christian Horner believes that Mercedes' Mexican Grand Prix tyre choices denied them the opportunity to fight for the win. Red Bull's Max Verstappen secured victory at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and teammate Sergio Perez. Mercedes' hopes of taking a first victory of the season were dashed by a tyre strategy that did not allow them to challenge Verstappen. Red Bull's Soft-to-Medium tyre tactics allowed the Dutchman to take a comfortable victory over the Mercedes, which ran a Medium-to-Hard tyre strategy. Team Principal Christian Horner explained that he didn't anticipate Mercedes using the harder-compound tyre. "I think we got the strategy right," Horner summarised to media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think, for us, the Soft-Medium [strategy] looked like a quicker race. "With the Hard [tyre], there's just not as much grip with the tyre. So we were quite surprised that Mercedes went as conservative as they did, with a Medium-Hard strategy."
Horner: Tyre choices cost them two race wins
In the closing stages of the 2022 season, Mercedes' having been pursuing their first F1 victory of the season, having gained competitiveness after their difficult start to the year. Prior to the Mexican GP, Hamilton had an outside chance of victory at the previous round in Austin, but Verstappen recovered from a slow pit stop to take the win. When asked if Mercedes could have won in Mexico with a race strategy similar to Red Bull's, Horner believed that Mercedes' Hard tyre choice had cost them up to two race victories. "I think we still had the edge, but they would have been a lot closer," added Horner. "I think you could hear that their drivers were not very happy about the Hard tyre. "That's the second weekend in a row that they've put that tyre on and it's cost them a victory. I was quite surprised at that."
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