Of course, the most crucial point is that Leclerc knows he can't hold off Qin Miao even if he tries, as Mercedes' car, after improvements, is incredibly fast on the straights.
The Rodriguez circuit is also considered a comfortable track for Mercedes under current conditions.
Right now, many teams' R&D departments are struggling, because the two most competitive teams on the track, Red Bull and Mercedes, have completely different car design languages, and crucially, both teams' cars are very fast.
The smaller teams definitely don't match the big teams like Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of independent car development. At this point, they will certainly take the opportunity towards the end of the season to borrow easily adoptable designs from Mercedes or Red Bull to enhance their competitiveness for the next season.
