Yahoo Autos Most Dominant F1 Season Ever? Max Verstappen Wins F1 Mexican Grand Prix
Formula 1’s Mexico City Grand Prix started with promise but fizzled out into a drab encounter, as World Champion Max Verstappen made history with win number 14 of his championship season.
Max-ico again!
Verstappen was undoubtedly the favorite heading into the weekend in Mexico, having taken three victories in 2017, 2018 and 2021, and he duly delivered. But the high-altitude nature of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, located 2,250 meters above sea level, masked some of the deficiencies within Mercedes’ W13, propelling the team into contention up front against Red Bull.
The two teams opted for divergent strategies, with Red Bull using soft tires for the start, while Mercedes went for mediums, from a grid order of Verstappen, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. Hamilton and Perez both cleared Russell, with Verstappen maintaining the lead.
Red Bull took on medium tires at the pit stop, with Mercedes switching to hards, and the Silver Arrows expected the mediums of their rivals to fade as the race progressed. But the tires held up firmly, aided by more cloud cover that lowered track temperature, and ultimately it was a cruise for Verstappen as he managed matters through to the flag. The order after the first sector of Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez and Russell was the same almost 71 laps later.
The result—with Verstappen comfortably beating Hamilton, and Hamilton just about keeping Perez at bay—was near-identical to 2021’s Mexico City race.
“We left (the strategy) open to see how the degradation would be, and the (soft) tire was holding on surprisingly well, until 4-5 laps from the end of the stint, but I never felt that I was under pressure,” said Verstappen. “We had questions on the mediums but after a few laps it was really good and we felt like we could go to the end.”
Hamilton added that “the mediums had no drop-off” and doubted that Mercedes would have been able to beat Verstappen if they’d have adopted a similarly aggressive strategy.
“I think ultimately they still have the upper hand—they’re still quicker, maybe today was the closest we’ve been, maybe a couple of tenths (behind) a lap,” he said. “They’re quite quick in a straight line and not losing through the corners. I was in his tow and was struggling to keep up, they’ve got more in the tank that we do, but we’re getting closer.”
Verstappen’s victory was his 14th of the season, surpassing the record of 13 previously held by Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2011), but he was fairly unmoved by the achievement.
“I was never really interested in stats, I just live in the moment, I do the best I can every weekend and win races, that’s the most important,” he said. “If I can go home and say I maximized, or close to maximized, I’m happy. I’m just enjoying the moment, I’m not that interested in keeping in touch with every stat, but of course it is an amazing season and I am happy with winning so many races.”
Ferrari Flops Again
In terms of pure pace, Ferrari had one of its worst weekend of the season.
Ferrari qualified only fifth and seventh, seven-tenths off Verstappen’s pole time, while in the race it was no where to seen. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc settled into a rhythm in fifth and sixth place respectively, and you’d have had a hard job noticing the red cars at all.
Sainz was 58 seconds behind Verstappen after 71 laps of racing, with Leclerc 1 minute, 8 seconds down on his one-time title opponent. Ferrari admitted it had to make “compromises” with its power unit, due to the altitude, but this was not held as the full reason for its lack of performance.
“It’s true that in terms of turbo, yes we are not as efficient (as some), and do not have the capacity to run maximum power here,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said. “But that is part of the equation. There is more than that, certainly, and it is something that we need to look at. The ride was not great, the balance was not great, and as for the reason why, I think it has to be looked at, and we do not have a clear explanation right now.”
Ferrari remains second in the Constructors’ Championship but Mercedes is only 40 points behind and has had superior race speed of late.
“We maximised the package, but we are one minute behind the leaders, which we need to understand,” said Leclerc. “We (have) our ups and down, and when we are in a down, it seems to be a big one, so we need to look into it to be more consistent even in our bad days.”
A Resurgent Ricciardo
McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo will not be on the Formula 1 grid in 2023—and his 2024 prospects hardly look sunny—but Mexico City was a reminder of the Australian’s talent, when the stars align.
Ricciardo started from 11th place and ran a first long stint on Medium tires before pitting for Softs. His initial recovery drive wasn’t stellar, as he punted Yuki Tsunoda out of the way at Turn 6, earning a 10-second time penalty. But from there Ricciardo flew, and had such pace that he was able to climb up to seventh spot and negate the impact of the time drop, coming home 12 seconds ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Ricciardo had mixed emotions over the result.
“I wish I knew,” he said of the pace improvement to Speed City Broadcasting. “In terms of I wish we had this more often. But I can’t just do one good race and say ‘Hey, look!’ but the truth is I think when I do have a little bit of speed it’s nice to be able to show it. People forget and it’s just one race, but I just felt like I could lean on the car and had a bit more confidence in it and it returned the favor. Unfortunately it hasn’t been often enough that I’ve had that feeling, but we ran with it.”
It was only Ricciardo’s sixth top 10 finish of the season but one which earned him the Driver of the Day award.
Gasly Walking a Tightrope
Pierre Gasly must walk a tightrope across the next two events, and opening chunk to 2023, after picking up another penalty point in Mexico City.
Gasly was assessed two penalty points in Japan for a Safety Car transgression, another two in the U.S. for a different Safety Car violation, and one in Mexico for forcing Lance Stroll wide as they battled into Turn 4.
Under Formula 1’s system drivers are not permitted to amass 12 points across a rolling 12-month period, else they will receive a one-event suspension. No driver has yet reached the 12-point threshold but Gasly’s latest indiscretion brings him up to 10, and the Alpine-bound driver will not lose any of these points until next May.
“I’m tired of this,” said an irritated Gasly on another penalty. “I’ll have to change my approach because every weekend it seems the same story.”
Mexico Deserves Better Racing
Mexico City is always one of the best events of the season. The city itself is brilliantly vibrant, the event is bouncing all weekend, and the whole Grand Prix itself is enhanced by the passion of the locals—most in support of Sergio Perez. But, alas, the circuit has rarely been conducive to enthralling racing.
Very few of the races since the event’s revival in 2015 have featured scintillating action beyond opening lap drama. The situation is not aided by the circuit’s altitude, meaning drag is reduced, almost nullifying the impact of the slipstream and DRS. But given other tracks have made revisions in recent years in an attempt to open opportunities perhaps it is time for officials at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to evaluate whether a few tweaks to some of the corners may facilitate more exciting action.
The event has a contract through 2025, so why not take a leaf out of some other tracks and assess whether improvements are indeed feasible.
Results
F1 Mexican Grand Prix
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 71 laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +15.1 seconds
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +18.0
George Russell, Mercedes, +49.4
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +58.1
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +1:08.7
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, +1 lap
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap
Lando Norris, McLaren, +1 lap
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +1 lap
Alex Albon, Williams, +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, +1 lap
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap
Mick Schumacher, Haas, +1 lap
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1 lap
Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +2 laps
Fernando Alonso, Alpine, +8 laps
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +21 laps
Drivers' Championship Standings
Max Verstappen 416
Sergio Perez 280
Charles Leclerc 275
George Russell 231
Lewis Hamilton 216
Carlos Sainz 212
Lando Norris 111
Esteban Ocon 82
Fernando Alonso 71
Valtteri Bottas 47
Sebastian Vettel 36
Daniel Ricciardo 35
Kevin Magnussen 24
Pierre Gasly 23
Lance Stroll 13
Mick Schumacher 12
Yuki Tsunoda 12
Zhou Guanyu 6
Alex Albon 4
Nicholas Latifi 2
Nyck de Vries 2
Nico Hulkenberg 0
Constructors' Championship Standings
Red Bull 696
Ferrari 487
Mercedes 447
Alpine 153
McLaren 146
Alfa Romeo 53
Aston Martin 49
Haas 36
AlphaTauri 35
Williams 8
