Carlos Sainz victory-message in Mexico, Ferrari recalls days of 2004

In the second consecutive race of absolute dominance for Scuderia Ferrari, currently enjoying a period of dominance similar to that of 2000-’04 with Michael Schumacher, Carlos Sainz dominated the Mexico City GP – round 20 of this year’s Formula 1 championship.

The Spaniard was followed in 2nd place by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who capitalized on a mistake by Charles Leclerc with five laps to go to pass Monegasque and take 3 more points in his battle with Max Verstappen for this year’s title. leading.

Verstappen finished 6th, behind the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, as the Dutchman received two 10+10 second penalties, which he served at his one and only pit stop.

These penalties were imposed on the champion because in his battle with Norris for 3rd place, early in the race, according to the Stewards, he pushed the Briton from McLaren off the track, and then Verstappen himself went off the track and gained an advantage.

Charles Leclerc held 2nd place with relative comfort for almost the entire race, but in the end the excellent management of the hard rubber by McLaren allowed Norris to close in on him. Until, with five laps to go, a flick of the Ferrari’s tail momentarily sent the Monegasque off the track, allowing Norris to pass him for 2nd.

The Mexican GP at a glance

• All the protagonists started with the medium tire and made only one pit-stop, for the hard.
• At the start, Verstappen passed Saint and took the lead, followed by Norris, Leclerc.
• Tsunoda-Albon had an accident on the first lap, which brought out the safety car for 5 laps.
• After the safety car, Verstappen did not hold onto the lead for long as Sainz passed him in an elaborate move.
• Verstappen then defended himself against Norris’s attack, but with two moves for which the stewards imposed two penalties of 10+10 seconds.
• Max served his pit stop penalty, and it was impossible to get higher than 6th.
• Norris chased Leclerc over the final 10 laps, and a mistake by the Monegasque allowed the Englishman to pass.
• In the end, Hamilton passed Russell, who had a slightly broken front wing, for 4th place.
• Piastri came from the tail of the start to 8th place, overcutting several cars and entering the pits late.
• Alonso retired with a brake cooling system problem in the 400th GP of his career.

See the detailed standings after the Mexican GP here.

The evolution of the fight

A slightly quicker reaction from Max Verstappen as soon as the 5 red lights went out at the start allowed the Dutchman to duel with Sainz, and eventually take the lead in the opening corners of the Autobahn Hermanos Rodriguez.

Verstappen took the lead into the first corner, forcing Sainz to open up the line. The Spaniard returned to the track in the lead, but quickly gave the lead back to the Dutchman.

On the first lap, however, the safety car would come out as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly inadvertently pushed RB’s Yuki Tsunoda towards the edge of the track, causing the Japanese to hit the grass, lose control and end up in the barrier – also beating Alex Albon’s Williams.

Five laps later the safety car retired. Sainz stayed patiently behind Verstappen for two laps, until DRS-powered him past him with a brave move at Turn 1 – and managed to fend off the Dutchman in the next.

This left Max vulnerable to Norris, who soon launched his attack. As the two battled for second place, the Englishman attempted to pass the Dutchman on the outside of Turn 4, but went off the track. The stewards ruled that Verstappen had pushed him out, and handed him a 10-second penalty.

Later, in Verstappen’s attempt to regain the position, he dived on the inside of Turn 7 and on its exit went off the track with Norris. For this incident, the stewards judged that the Dutchman gained an unfair advantage, and imposed a penalty of another 10 seconds.

Leclerc took the gift of the two title contenders and passed them at that moment to take 2nd place. The Monegasque initially got within 1.5′ of Saint, but soon the Spaniard disappeared, and was never threatened at the top from then on – even after the one and only pit stop that (almost) everyone made.

Towards the end of the race, however, Leclerc began to experience significant wear on his hard rubber, unlike Norris who had a much better pace. With nine laps to go, Norris was now within touching distance of the Ferrari, and then the Monegasque swung his tail off the track at the exit of the final corner – handing 2nd place to McLaren’s Englishman, while flirting dangerously with the impact on the wall.

Norris did not have the time, and probably not the pace, to threaten Saint until the checkered flag. Leclerc, in the end, capitalized on his gap to Mercedes to put on a fresh set of tyres, and win – as he did – the extra fastest lap point, for the constructors’ title battle.

Further back, Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious in an extended battle with his Mercedes counterpart George Russell, after countless attempts to pass him – without, of course, risking any drama for the team. He finally got through on lap 66, out of 71, and pulled away to finish 3.7″ ahead of him.

Verstappen didn’t just have the problem of penalties. The medium tire gave him up early, then on the hard he struggled to find rhythm. So, he never threatened Mercedes.

Oscar Piastri was 9-12 laps slower than the rest of the protagonists in his tire change, and with the fresh rubber in the end he gained several places – but not 7th from the impressive Kevin Magnussen. The Australian, we recall, was disqualified in Q1 of qualifying tests and started from the tail of the grid today.

Sergio Perez capped off a highly disappointing home GP by finishing last as Red Bull pitted him at the end to attempt on fresh tires to claim fastest lap.

The Mexican had started with a 5′ penalty for positioning himself a few centimeters out of place at the start, and then in his battle with Liam Lawson he was left with damage to the side vent and floor of his Red Bull RB20.

Thus, for the Czech, the GP of his homeland ended ingloriously, as now the Formula 1 caravan is leaving directly for Brazil, where the 21st race (as well as the 5th Sprint) of this year will be held in the next three days (November 1-3). Formula 1 championship.