Mexican Grand Prix: Max Verstappen comfortably wins the Mexican Grand Prix

Max Verstappen comfortably wins the Mexican Grand Prix. The current world champion started from the front after qualifying on the pole on Saturday. He managed to get off the line well enough to maintain his lead at the first corner. From thereon, Verstappen didn’t look back and, in the end, beat Hamilton to the line by 15 seconds. Hamilton had an excellent opening lap compared to his teammate George Russell. He overtook Russell on Lap 1 and, at one stage, looked like a serious contender to challenge for the race win. However, Mercedes didn’t have an answer for Verstappen’s Red Bull pace. Sergio Perez finished on the final podium spot after he also overtook Russell on Lap 1.

Red Bull and Mercedes started the race on different tyre compounds.

The top 4 cars on the grid got off the line at an equal pace. Neither Mercedes nor Red Bull drivers swapped any positions at Turn 1. However, after a few corners, Russell went wide on the apex, allowing Hamilton and Perez to pounce on the opportunity to overtake Russell. Interestingly the Red Bull started the race on soft tyres and the Mercedes on medium tyres.

There was a lot of expectation from the Mercedes garage that they would be able to use this strategy to significant effect in the race’s closing stages. After pitstops, Red Bull switched to medium compound tyres, and the Mercedes switched to hard compound tyres. The Mercedes pit wall expected the tyre performance of the medium compound to deteriorate rapidly at the closing stages, and they would have a chance to overtake Red Bull on the track. However, that notion didn’t bear any fruits in the end as Verstappen led the race comfortably from start to finish and at no point did he complain of any significant tyre wear after his first and only pitstop.

Ferrari was off the pace this weekend

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc could not challenge the top 4 cars at any point in the race. So much was the pace difference between them and the top 4 drivers that they couldn’t jump them after the top 4 cars made their first pitstops before Ferrari.

Mclaren wins this round vs Alpine

Alpine had a better start in the race compared to McLaren. Fernando Alonso and Estaban Ocon jumped Lando Norris in Lap 1. Norris and Ricciardo each lost two positions on the opening lap. The McLaren team put the drivers on different strategies. Norris pitted on Lap 33 for hard tyres, whereas Ricciardo pitted on Lap 46 for soft compound tyres. Ricciardo received a 10-second time penalty after he was involved in a crash with Yuki Tsunoda. In an attempt to overtake Tsunoda, the Aussie driver hit his right rear wheel. Tsunoda’s car bounced off the track and veered sideways. Tsunoda got front wing damage and a hole in his sidepod. He limped into the pits to get repairs done on his car. However, the team discovered that the damage was terminal and decided to retire the car.

Ricciardo produced a stellar drive after receiving a penalty

Daniel Ricciardo received 10 second time penalty from the stewards. Ricciardo drove incredibly fast from there on. He passed Norris for P10 after McLaren enforced team orders so that Ricciardo may build a gap between cars behind. Ricciardo then passed Bottas, Alonso and then Ocon.

After passing Ocon, Ricciardo managed to create more than a 10-second gap to Ocon and finished P7. Norris also overtook Bottas, and at that same time, Fernando Alonso’s engine exploded, which resulted in a DNF for the Spaniard. Ricciardo was awarded driver of the day for his performance in the race.

The rest of the grid

Pierre Gasly received another penalty after overtaking Stroll on Lap 14 by forcing him wide off the track. Gasly served his penalty during his pitstop.

He finished the race at P11 ahead of Williams Alex Albon. Zhou Guanyu finished P13 ahead of the Aston Martin duo of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen had an off day for Haas. They finished P16 and P17, respectively. Nicholas Latifi was the last of the finishers. He was the only driver to be 2 Laps down the lead cars. Every driver from P6 to P17 was 1 Lap down the lead cars.

Verstappen sets a new world record after winning the Mexican Grand Prix

Verstappen victory at the Mexican Grand Prix meant that he became the first driver to win 14 races in a Formula 1 season. Verstappen has broken the previous record set by seven times world champion Michael Schumacher and former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel.

Final Classification