Race Review: Mexico City GP

Chaos on the first lap made for an exciting but unsurprising Mexican GP. With an excellent start from Verstappen and pole sitter Bottas dropping to the back after a collision with Ricciardo, Mercedes were unable to capitalise on their 1-2 qualifying leaving the Red Bulls finishing P1 and P3 for the second weekend in a row.

Free Practice

Being the highest altitude track on the calendar, the Mexico GP circuit is a great track for the Red Bull Car, due to factors such as combustion, downforce, braking and cooling. So, it may have come as a surprise to some when both Bottas and Hamilton took P1 and P2 in FP1, with Verstappen taking P3.

Leclerc and Perez took a hit at Turn 16, spinning as they went into the corner and thus causing minor damage to their cars. Hamilton and Räikkönen were both called to the stewards after the session for breaching track limits, and not re-joining the track properly after Turn 1. Both were let off with a mere reprimand.

It was also announced that Stroll and Tsunoda would be taking engine penalties, and therefore starting at the back of the grid.

FP2 saw Russell and Ricciardo both struggling with gearbox issues, and eventually retiring from the session with their cars sitting in the garages. Russell would then go on to take a 5-place grid penalty for a new gearbox.

Latifi was another driver who fell foul of Turn 16, and we once again saw a ‘traffic paradise,’ for want of a better term. The top 3 in the championship took the top 3 places in second practice; Verstappen P1, Bottas P2 and Hamilton P3.

Leclerc looked a bit wobbly in FP3, spinning and locking up twice in the session. Lando Norris was the third driver who would be taking engine penalties, meaning he would join Ocon and Tsunoda on Sunday.

But it was the home hero Perez who topped the timesheets, with Verstappen and Hamilton behind him.

Qualifying

A spin from Lance Stroll in Q1 saw the session delayed for half an hour as the red flag was brought out; he lost control of the car due to oversteer coming out of the final corner.

Carlos Sainz was eager to get going again, and spent 90 seconds waiting at the pit lane exit to get going again. However, he crawled sluggishly down the 1.2km straight, reporting power unit issues. It’s not the first time he has experienced these issues, but he was able to get going again rather swiftly before Turn 1.

Räikkönen took his second reprimand of the weekend after crossing into the pit lane entry and back out again. Three reprimands in a season means a potential 10 place grid penalty for the driver in question. The two Williams drivers were also called to the stewards for an incident coming out of the pits after the red flag but faced no punishment. Giovinazzi went for a little spin but only caused a brief yellow flag.

Tsunoda and Norris made it into Q3, perhaps for the sole reason of giving tows to their teammates. It certainly worked, with Ricciardo setting the top speed of the session at 352kph.

All eyes were on the two Red Bulls who started their final flying laps with just seconds to go. Unfortunately for them, a bit of miscommunication messed up both of their final quali laps. Tsunoda had moved out of the way and gone off track for both Bulls to go past, however Perez lost concentration and went off track with him, with Max slowing down as a result of seeing both cars off track.

It was Mercedes who locked out the front row, rather surprisingly to themselves, with Bottas taking his second pole position of the season. Verstappen and Perez came in P3 and P4 respectively.

With penalties applied, the starting grid for Sunday was as follows:

P1 Bottas, P2 Hamilton, P3 Verstappen, P4 Perez, P5 Gasly, P6 Sainz, P7 Ricciardo, P8 Leclerc, P9 Vettel, P10 Räikkönen, P11 Giovinazzi, P12 Alonso, P13 Latifi, P14 Schumacher P15 Mazepin, P16 Russell, P17 Tsunoda, P18 Norris, P19 Ocon, P20 Stroll.

Race Day

It was three wide into Turn 1, as Bottas hadn’t managed to cover off the Red Bull of Verstappen who came around the outside.

The infamous late braker Daniel Ricciardo had made up 3 places at the start, and was looking to head out of the first corner in P4, but as he hit the apex, he clipped the rear of Bottas’ Mercedes who had slipped down to P3. Spinning the car around, Ricciardo lost his front wing as a result and had to make an early pit stop to repair the damage.

Scrambling to get out of the way, it was the back of the field who bore the brunt of this collision. Ocon slowed down to go round the left of Bottas, and there wasn’t much he could do, as he clipped Schumacher and Tsunoda, sending them momentarily into the air and swiftly out of the race.

A safety car was deployed and the race resumed on lap 5, Hamilton once again in between the Red Bulls with Max P1 and Checo P3. Antonio Giovinazzi had made it up to a very impressive P6 amidst all the chaos.

Lap 7 saw Lance Stoll going wide as he tried to overtake Norris and Latifi, sending him onto the grass and having to give both positions back.

Hamilton was the first to pit, which brought him out behind Leclerc. What was perhaps slightly worrying for Mercedes is that Perez claimed his ‘tyres were getting really good,’ and Red Bull were going for the undercut.

With Verstappen pitting on Lap 34, Perez was leading his home Grand Prix, the first time a Mexican driver has ever done so. The cheers in Foro Sol were deafening!

With Perez pitting on Lap 40 and coming out behind Hamilton, the home hero was ready to hunt him down.

Bottas’ misfortune continued when he had a slow stop due to his front left tyre getting stuck.

Lap 60 saw Perez just over a second behind Hamilton, but with Lewis stuck behind Lando Norris who hadn’t been shown blue flags, it was a tense moment for Mercedes. Perez just couldn’t get close enough, however, and it would all go down to the final lap.

The two Ferraris switched positions in an attempt to catch Gasly who was sitting in P4 for the entire 71 laps. This didn’t work and Sainz gave the position back to Leclerc shortly afterwards. Post-race, Gasly called it ‘lonely,’ having no one to catch in front and no one to defend from behind.

Damage limitation saw Bottas pit on the penultimate lap for a set of softs, to try and go for fastest lap and take the point of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The first attempt saw the Finn caught up in traffic and he pitted for a fourth time, waited for 5 seconds before being let out behind Russell. He managed to take fastest lap away from Verstappen, however it doesn’t count as Bottas didn’t finish in the top 10. The fight for the championship really is coming down to every last point, as if the Red Bull’s had taken fastest lap, they would have sat even with Mercedes in the constructors championship

Perez was making great progress on Hamilton and it was looking incredibly close as we got down to the last lap. With DRS, he made a lunge but it didn’t quite land, and was stuck behind the Brit for the whole of the lap.

Nevertheless, Perez became the first Mexican driver to get a podium at his home race in F1 history, which came with roars of applause from the fans. Whether you like it or not, everyone became a Sergio Perez fan this weekend.

Driver of the Day: Gasly

Although Sergio Perez took a well-deserved Driver of the Day, our award goes to Pierre Gasly. He had a great weekend, and took a very respectable best of the rest P5 in qualifying. The crash on Lap 1 promoted him to P4, where he stayed for the whole race. His performance now means that AlphaTauri and Alpine are tied on points in the Constructor’s Championship.

Biggest Crash: Stroll

Stroll’s crash at the start of Q1 was hefty, and brought out the red flag for half an hour. Losing the rear coming out of Turn 17, he hit the wall before spinning around, taking out his front wing and tyres.

Overtake of the Day: Alonso

Alonso’s DRS fuelled escapade on Lap 10 saw him go round the outside of Turn 1 on George Russell, only making the move stick on the exit of Turn 3. It was reminiscent of their battle in Austria earlier this season.

Biggest Heartbreak: Bottas

From pole to P15, Bottas’ race was far from ideal. Being spun around by the McLaren on Lap 1 compromised his race heavily leaving him out of the points. After 4 pit stops, he did manage to take the fastest lap, so there is a positive amidst his chaotic race.

Best Team Radio: Vettel

Once again, we see Sebastian Vettel drive into the wrong pit box! Thankfully, it only occurred during FP2, but we definitely heard our favourite team radio of the weekend.

‘Look how handsome he is!’ Vettel said about one of his mechanics, Jamie. Never change, Seb...

You can watch the full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_gKL1dgTE

Takeaways

Going into this weekend, everyone was expecting Red Bull to dominate, we were shocked when Mercedes took the 1-2, but it was Red Bull who took the goods in the end. No one is quite sure what happened in qualifying, with the odd Tsunoda incident, but the team managed to pull it back when it really mattered. With Max now leading by 19 points and Mercedes by 1, the championship is too close to call.

Ferrari are now leading McLaren by 13.5 points in the Constructors Championship, and with McLaren taking some unfortunate blows in Mexico, all eyes will be on them to see if they can bring it back it in Brazil. The battle further down the midfield is also so close, with Alpine and AlphaTauri tied on points. It really could come down to Abu Dhabi!

Räikkönen also had a great weekend, finishing in the points after qualifying P12 (but starting P10 due to penalties). His teammate Giovinazzi also had some solid on track battles, finishing P11. With his seat still unconfirmed for next season, it will be interesting to see if good performances like this will make a difference.

Up next, we head to Brazil. There are so many close battles to come in the remaining races, who isn’t excited to see how the rest of the season plays out?