Max Verstappen scores 51 like Alain Prost. The Dutchman wins the Mexican GP and equals the successes of the “professor” and puts Sebastian Vettel, who had climbed to 53 victories, in his sights to enter the F1 Olympus and get closer to Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. The three-time world champion had given up the front row to the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Taking advantage of Sergio Perez’s foolish start on the outside, the orange driver didn’t need a lap to take the lead with the Red Bull.
The RB19 did not show that sidereal superiority that always allowed the Dutchman to get away with ease in the first half of the race (until Kevin Magnussen’s red flag), but after the restart on lap 36, Verstappen made a standing start at rocket and no one saw him again until the finish line, signing his 16th victory of the season, beating the record he himself held.
Max gained 13.8 seconds in half the GP, demonstrating that if Red Bull decides to bring out its claws, it leaves very little to its opponents. Sergio Perez was missing in front of the home crowd as he did not finish the first lap: the Mexican repeated an accident at the start similar to that of Lewis Hamilton in Qatar. Checo started very well and from fourth he pulled Leclerc to the outside to even try to take the lead. Sergio, however, convinced that he was in front, closed the line, closing in on the Ferrari: the result was terrible for the South American who went off on a tangent with the Red Bull which literally took off before ending up on the escape route. The driver from Milton Keynes slowly returned to the pits and for three laps the mechanics attempted a repair which seemed in vain. The RB19 had a large hole in the right side with damage that required it to be stopped. Christian Horner comforted Perez, acclaimed by his audience despite everything.
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes emerged behind the Red Bull: the Englishman was able to overtake the two Ferraris after an unimpressive qualifying (sixth position). Upon restarting after the race was stopped due to Kevin Magnussen’s crash, the seven-time world champion decided to take a risk by fitting a set of medium tyres, while all the others at the top of the standings had opted for the hard ones. Lewis was right: the W14 held up well for the 37 laps of the second half of the race and the black arrow pipped the two reds, unable to defend the front row. Hamilton also set the fastest lap at the checkered flag with an excellent 1’21″334 which demonstrates how Mercedes has become fearsome in terms of race pace.
George Russell was not impressed by finishing sixth: the Englishman is suffering from Hamilton’s verve and at the end he suffered an extraordinary overtaking by Lando Norris who snatched fifth place from him with the McLaren starting from 17th place. George isn’t having a great time: he hoped to play them in Hamilton and the old man instead cut him back.
Ferrari took home the podium with Charles Leclerc and fourth place with Carlos Sainz: the reds achieved the best they could hope for, although the two SF-23s started from the front row. Nothing has changed in the challenge with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ World Championship: the gap remains 22 points, but there are only three races to make up for. The Scuderia seemed able to keep up with the pace of the leaders despite the front wing breaking in the contact with Perez. The Mexicans paid some boos to the Monegasque, but Charles is not to blame for the Mexican’s withdrawal.
The red never found her pace again in the second part of the race played on hard tyres, almost as if she was suffering from the heat and thin air. The risk was to make a mess and the Maranello men did well to adapt their performances to avoid reliability risks.
Mexico, after Leclerc’s pole position, had deluded Ferrari that Mercedes could be in difficulty: the track said that this is not the case and Maranello must adapt to the idea of finishing in third place among the Constructors.
Lando Norris was voted driver of the day for his ability to invent overtaking in the most unthinkable places with McLaren: from 17th to fifth, offering a spectacle to the Mexicans. Oscar Piastri is eighth with the other MCL60, ahead of Alexander Albon who brought the Williams to ninth place. The top 10 was closed by Esteban Ocon with Alpine.
Among the heroes of the day was Daniel Ricciardo with the AlphaTauri: the Australian started from the second row and finished in seventh place, adapting his pace to the pace of the AT04. The Faenza team was dreaming, because Yuki Tsunoda had also moved up in points after starting at the back of the grid: the Japanese exaggerated with an overtaking on the outside of Oscar Piastri. An impossible maneuver that pushed him back to the rear. Sin!
We were saying that the Mexican race was interrupted on lap 36 due to Kevin Magnussen’s bad crash: the Dane had to deal with the sudden failure of the left rear suspension in the sequence of turns 8 and 9. The Haas ended up in the barriers and in the At the rear there was a fire in the brake system which was immediately put out. Kevin got out of the cockpit with his means: it’s not nice to crash due to failure.
Disastrous for Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso was called to the pits to retire due to a problem, while Lance Stroll had to stop after a slap received from Valtteri Bottas with the Alfa Romeo. The “greenie” is lost…
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