Mercedes banking on Mexico's high altitude to challenge Red Bull

Toto Wolff believes Mexico City's high-altitude conditions could offer Mercedes a chance to give Red Bull "a run for their money" in Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.

Mercedes is still chasing its first win of 2022, but with only three races remaining on the docket, opportunities are running out for the Brackley squad to avoid its first winless campaign since 2011.

In the past months, Mercedes has improved the performance of its troubled W13, as Lewis Hamilton demonstrated last weekend in Austin where the Briton was leading the race until he was overhauled by Max Verstappen with just six laps to go.

But on pure pace and in normal conditions, Red Bull's RB18 remains out of reach of its German rival, thanks in large part to its superior straight-line speed.

However, Mexico City's location at 2.2 km above sea level and its thinner air will mitigate the draggy characteristics of Mercedes' W13, which in turn might tighten the team's performance gap to Red Bull.

Wolff admits that rational predictions have often been contradicted on race day this season, but the Austrian reckons conditions will suit his team.

"Sometimes this year I've said we should be good at a particular track, and we didn't [perform] and then the other way around," Wolff said last weekend in Austin.

"So on paper, Mexico looks good. Our draggy car should be effective in the thin air.

"It is good that it is coming next week so I hope we can give them a run for their money."

• Read also: Hamilton says 'sacrificing sessions' caused deficit to Russell

In addition to its winless track record this season, Mercedes' results at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez have rarely matched its credentials, with the team enjoying just one win in the past five years while Red Bull and Verstappen have collected three wins during the same period.

Last week, Wolff alluded to a change of "DNA" for next year's car, with Mercedes' design team hoping to produce a less draggy contender.

"That is something that we need to figure out for next year," confirmed the Austrian.

"The cost cap plays a role. We cannot just produce an infinite amount of low-drag bits, or spend a lot of time in the wind tunnel to come up with solutions. So it is for next year."

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