What to expect at Mexican GP: Lewis Hamilton to pile pressure on Rosberg; strong showing from Perez

Team to watch: Force India

• Force India are on course to achieve their best-ever finishing position in the championship this year. The Indian-owned, Silverstone-based team is currently holding on to fourth in the championship ahead of Williams.
• Sergio Perez has been the team's star driver this year, achieving podium finishes at Monaco and Baku.

• Azerbaijan was arguably the team's strongest weekend of the year. Perez would have started the race from the front row had he not clipped a barrier during qualifying and damaged his gearbox, earning a penalty for having it replaced. And this weekend's circuit has significant aspects in common with the Baku circuit, namely a very long straight but little in the way of medium or high-speed corners. Perez therefore arrives at his home track, where some 140,000 people will be cheering for him on race day, able and ready to deliver another strong result.
• Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was on course for a promising weekend at the last race having announced he will leave Force India at the end of the year. But a first-lap misfortune - his third of the year - ended his race. Both will be targeting top-ten start and significant points hauls, but the crowd will only have eyes for one of them.

Also on the radar: Haas

• Esteban Gutierrez is racing at home for the first time in Formula One and he can expect just as warm a reaction from the crowd as Perez. But will he be around again in 12 months' time? Haas is yet to renew his contract.

• At Austin Romain Grosjean took his fifth points finish of the year, moving Haas on to 29 overall, to which Gutierrez has contributed nothing. Yet more brake problems thwarted him last time out: not something either driver will want to contemplate as they hurtle towards turn one at over 360kph this weekend.

Will Rosberg crack under the pressure?

• Despite Hamilton's victory in Austin the world championship beckons for Rosberg this weekend. If he wins and Hamilton does not finish in the top ten, Rosberg will be champion.

• But can Rosberg soak up the pressure? Hamilton has been through the strains of a championship fight many more times than his team-mate, and he has the advantage of being the hunter rather than the hunted.

• Rosberg won this race last year but Hamilton had already won the championship by that point. Expect a higher level of performance from the defending champion this year.