Max Verstappen is the man of records: the Dutchman wins the GP of Mexico City and collects his 14th victory of the season, sweeping away the primacy of Michael Schumacher (2004) and Senastain Vettel (2013). The bi-world champion does not want to leave even the crumbs to the opponents. With a perfect start Max kept the Mercedes behind him, building another claim that leads him to the 34th victory. Think that he is seven wins behind a certain Ayrton Senna, a sign that he is quickly climbing into the elite of F1.
In qualifying, Max defeated the competition and left no hope for his rivals in the race. Red Bull was impressive because they started with used soft tires and finished the race with a single stop and moved to middleweight, while Mereceds hoped to force the world champion to two stops, having chosen the middleweight at the start to then move on alle hard. The strategy did not work and Lewis Hamilton slowly lost ground to Verstappen who stretched lap after lap relentlessly.
Red Bull has an unsustainable pace for anyone and Sergio Perez saw hopes of winning in front of his audience (396,000 spectators over the weekend) extinguish already in qualifying, grabbing the third step of the podium which, at least, allowed him to deserve the cheers of his fans. The Mexican consolidates his second place in the drivers’ championship, with a 5-point advantage also because Ferrari is shipwrecked and Charles Leclerc does not have the tools to defend himself.
Mercedes was hoping for a day of glory with Lewis chasing his first win of the season with the W13, but with this Red Bull there is very little to do. The Star probably puts away the dreams of glory despite having pumped its engine like never to attempt the impossible in thin air.
George Russell remains off the podium with the other W13 and the Englishman accumulates the usual gap from the RB18, but looks for the fastest lap on the last lap with a pit stop that allows him to steal another punch from Ferrari in the Constructors’ classification: with 1’20 “153 he takes away the taste of an exploit, although by now he regularly takes his pay from Hamilton.
And Ferrari? She has never been in the game. The feared turbo reliability problems have deflated the engine (but what is happening?), While the F1-75 continues to not find the pace during the race, proving to be a … red shrimp. In Maranello they have lost the ball and the red is no longer brilliant, not even a single lap. Bad sign: it is no longer even the second force, surpassed by Mercedes which is in full recovery. The Scuderia must defend 40 points ahead of the silver arrows.
The Star tries to tickle Red Bull, but Ferrari has ended up in no-man’s-land: Carlos Sainz, fifth, finished almost a minute away and Charles Leclerc, sixth, is the last of the not doubled. The red has just deflated showing a season finale that fails to be ennobled by a victory, bringing the Cavallino to an unexpected collapse.
First among the lapped, but seventh at the finish is Daniel Ricciardo: the Australian brings important points to McLaren, although he got a 10-second penalty for having “parked” Yuki Tsunoda off the track after a rough contact. Daniel played his game on the tires: he started with the medium and covered 44 laps before moving courageously to the soft ones and ending the race with a good comeback.
Lando Norris also brings lymph to McLaren with ninth place, as Esteban Ocon was caught in the grip of the two MCL36s with the Alpine. He was hoping for Fernando Alonso in seventh place who, instead, had to deal with another knockout of the Renault engine that cost him a steamy retirement.
Alfa Romeo finds the points zone with a strong-willed Valtteri Bottas: the Finn who started between the two Ferraris, understood that this was not his race, but he got up to speed with the revised and corrected C42. Pierre Gasly off points: the Frenchman continues to collect penalties with the AlphaTauri. This time he knocked out Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Too bad because he could aspire to stay in the points.
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