This weekend marked Formula One’s long-anticipated return to Mexico City. In a race that didn’t disappoint, it was Max Verstappen who dominated, with teammate and home hero Sergio Perez becoming the first Mexican driver to stand on the podium at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton started second on the grid and finished second in the race. While sometimes it seemed as though he could have gotten closer to the leading Red Bull, brake issues and general speed issues hampered the Englishman all day long, even being close to being overtaken by Perez, which would have resulted in a Red Bull 1-2 finish. However, this didn’t happen. As a result, Mercedes has barely clung onto first place in the Constructor’s championship, only a point ahead of championship rivals Red Bull. It was a dismal day for Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who tumbled to the back of the grid following first lap contact with the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and being unable to make much progress throughout the race, eventually finishing in 15th place.
In contrast, it was an excellent day for the scarlet red Ferraris. Finishing in 5th and 6th place meant that the Italian team overtakes McLaren to take third place in the constructor’s championship, despite team orders switching the two drivers around periodically throughout the race. It can no longer be denied that Ferrari has stepped up from their performance last year and is now, once again, a team to be reckoned with.
In contrast, Ferrari’s closest rivals McLaren had a disappointing race – a rarity for the British based team. Only collecting one point thanks to Lando Norris finishing in tenth, the team has lost their advantage in the constructor’s championship. This wasn’t helped by the first lap contact between Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas – Ricciardo finished the race 12th and with no points, after starting in 7th. Nevertheless, it is expected that the British team will bounce back strong, so McLaren fans, never fear!
Race weekend review
News wise, not too much happened over the course of the week in Mexico. The amazing atmosphere did all of the talking as we saw on Friday from FP1, all the way to the podium celebrations on Sunday. Everyone was happy to see Sergio Perez on the podium, along with his son who also made an appearance in support of his father.
Snippets of talk did occur in the F1 world, and not completely F1 related, but linked to the McLaren team, it was revealed that Nico Hulkenburg would decline the opportunity to race for McLaren Arrow in Indycar in 2022 for personal reasons. Alongside that, it was also revealed that Keven Magnussen was approached by Williams to join Nicholas Latifi in their 2021 line-up, meaning the team were prepared to drop George Russell, which Magnussen called “idiotic” by the team.
A few drivers took engine penalties this weekend, meaning 16 out of the 20 drivers had surpassed the allocated engine uptake. Stroll, after his crash in Q1 was already starting at the back because of a penalty, was joined by Ocon, Norris, Tsunoda and Russell. A disappointing qualifying session for Alonso and Alpine, who was knocked out by his teammate Ocon, who was taking an engine penalty in Q1. But the main drama took place in Q3 as everyone expected Red Bull to lead the field, but mistakes that cost the Austrian team meant a surprising 1-2 for Mercedes.
Tsunoda was out on track in Q3, to give his teammate Gasly slipstream to qualify as high as possible but the home favourite Perez was distracted by the Alpha Tauri driver who was given instructions to make way for Perez. Tsunoda in an attempt to make way, went into the dirt, bringing some dust with him, which Perez seemed to be distracted by and in turn cost his Red Bull teammate time on his final flying lap as he was behind both cars when the melee occurred.
A lot of tension ensued when Tsunoda told the media he was worried about speaking to Helmut Marko. He took to social media, telling fans “he did all that he could” in that moment, to which he received a lot of support from fans. Christian Horner told the media they had been “Tsunoda’d” and this lead to major criticism of the two RedBull leaders as fans called Horner’s message an incitement for a mob against Tsunoda and that the team was a toxic working environment because it wasn’t the first time something like this was happening with Tsunoda and Marko. Franz Tost later came to defend his driver and said “Yuki did nothing wrong.”
Everything had blown over by Sunday morning as Horner then said “it wasn’t Tsunoda’s fault” and everyone was busy preparing for the race. All eyes were on the front as Verstappen’s blistering start and brave move around the outside of the two Mercedes essentially won him the race.
With not too much movement in the midfield, it meant that world champions, Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso all scored valuable points. Vettel and Alonso are currently tied for the most overtakes of the season, only a few more races to go to see who wins that trophy.
Lewis Hamilton looks to put Mexico behind him as we move onto Brazil, still optimistic about the next few races. With 4 races to go and 19 points the difference, can the 7 time world champion do anything to stop Max Verstappen from clinching the title?
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