Another race, another record. Also in Mexico Max Verstappen put his signature on yet another success which led him to achieve sixteen victories over the course of this season, improving on last year’s tally, when he stopped at fifteen.
The Dutchman’s race went through two elements: the start and the strategy. Starting from the second row, the idea was to take the slipstream and attack immediately at the first corner, with the hope of gaining at least one position so as not to get stuck in the train of Ferraris. So it was and, with a lightning start from third place, the three-time world champion was able to immediately take the lead, ahead of Charles Leclerc who had made contact with Sergio Perez against his will, causing damage to his front wing.
From that moment on, the Red Bull driver imposed his pace, extending the average until he was able to count on an advantage of around five seconds during the eighteenth lap, the one in which it became clear that the strategists of the Milton Keynes team had opted for a different strategy from that of its rivals. In fact, the plan was not to make a single pit stop covering the opponents, but rather to race one’s own race by aiming for a double stop with the two sets of hard tires remaining.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The moment of departure with which he overtook Leclerc
The red flag then changed the plans of many drivers, including that of Verstappen, who was able to remain in front after stopping under the Safety Car, with which he still remained ahead of Leclerc. The two then started from the front row with the hard tire, with which the Dutchman then reached the finish line with an advantage of almost fourteen seconds over Hamilton, who had instead faced the last part of the race with the medium compound. Leclerc, who had instead followed the same choice as the Red Bull driver, then finished in third place with a gap of over twenty-three seconds.
“I mean, to be honest, we’re having an incredible season. And today too, obviously, we started from third position. But I think the pace of the car was very, very good. We tried to adopt a different strategy from everyone else. And unfortunately, with the red flag, we couldn’t prove it. However, with the hard tires at the end, I think we are very, very strong,” Verstappen said when asked about the sixteen wins during 2023.
Having broken the record for the highest number of victories during a single season, Max is already aiming to extend the list: “17, 18 [vittorie] and so on,” the Dutchman explained what his next goal was after yet another success. He will be able to try as early as next week, when Formula 1 moves to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
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