Carlos Sainz will be able to say goodbye to Ferrari with his homework done and without any problems after achieving his long-awaited victory in Mexico, the second of the season (after Australia) and the fourth in F-1, all in red. The Madrid native built his victory on a superb overtaking, of aggressiveness and genius, tearing off the Red Bull stickers of a Max Verstappen who had to give up and did his thing again with Lando Norris.
The Dutchman was penalized for two unsportsmanlike actions with 20 seconds left, which led him to finish sixth. The Englishman from McLaren, second, shaved off 10 points and is now within 47 points of the lead.
Bad start
Sainz wasted the pole advantage and Verstappen took the lead in the first corner
Despite the ease and authority with which he ended up winning the finish line, the race did not start well for Sainz, who started with the favor of the pole. The Madrid native was unable to convert the advantage of 7 meters ahead of Max Verstappen into leadership because the Dutchman started much better, even starting on the dirty part with less grip.
They matched each other when accelerating, the Red Bull reached the first corner earlier and opened the trajectory and the Ferrari, far behind and without space, had to go through the loophole, so Sainz had to return the position to Verstappen, who opened track as leader. Norris and Leclerc remained the same, third and fourth, and Hamilton rose from 6th to 5th by passing his teammate. Alonso gained a position at the start, 12th.
The race was neutralized on that first lap with a safety car due to a contact between Tsunoda’s RB and Albon’s Williams when braking for the first corner.
Sainz’s blow
The Madrid native pulled DRS to strike down Verstapppen in the straight and take the lead of the race, and the Dutchman messes with Norris again
When the race resumed, Verstappen was alive, pulling away from the Ferrari and preventing Sainz from taking advantage of the slipstream to overtake him on the very long 1,300-meter straight. The Dutchman could only open a small gap of 8 tenths, so as soon as he could, Sainz opened the DRS to overtake the Red Bull at the end of the straight. It happened at the beginning of lap 9. It left Verstappen struck down on the inside.
The next to try (v. 10) was Norris, who paired up with the Red Bull, but Verstappen clearly threw him off the track. The McLaren had to go through the loophole and return the position. When Norris braked, he also braked Verstappen, an action that Leclerc took advantage of two corners later to overtake the two rivals and place second, behind his teammate. Ferrari began to draw the double.
The unsportsmanlike maneuver cost Max a 10-second penalty “for throwing a driver off the track” at turn 4, and another 10 seconds for taking advantage by racing on the outside at turn 8 to maintain position against the Englishman. “This guy is dangerous!” Norris exclaimed over the radio when he saw how Max was messing around.
The double sanction, for two illegal actions on Norris, left Verstappen in a very bad position, who would lose the podium position in favor of his rival from McLaren. Norris chose not to try to pass him anymore, waiting for him to stop at the pit-stop that of Red Bull, to avoid another dirty play by the Dutchman.
Abandonment
Alonso had to retire due to a breakdown of the Aston Martin on lap 15, when he was far from the points (12th)
Although Fernando Alonso also suffered his punishment in his 400th Grand Prix. The Spaniard had to retire from the race on lap 15 when he was 12th due to a mechanical problem with his Aston Martin. It is Alonso’s first retirement this season.
No threats
Sainz secured his victory with a large margin over Leclerc and Norris coming out of the stop (v. 33)
On lap 27 Verstappen served his double punishment, having to stop for 20 seconds in the pit-stop. He ruined his race: he started 15th, behind Ocon and ahead of his teammate Pérez.
Meanwhile, at the head of the race, Sainz had already accumulated a lead of 6.6 seconds (v. 28/71) over his Monegasque neighbor and 13 seconds over Norris. He had the victory in his hand, although there were 43 laps left to go. It would take forever, but he had everything in mind: a very high pace, very low tire degradation and the rivals very far away.
The stop to change tires finally paved the way for the Madrid native. He stopped last and was able to return to the track with 9.2 seconds ahead of Leclerc, to dispel doubts about Ferrari’s leadership, at least for a day. The Cavallino’s double did not seem to be in danger, because Norris was 5 seconds behind Leclerc and the Ferraris seemed much superior in race pace.
final surprise
Leclerc had a slight off-track and gave second place to Norris; Ferrari was left without a double
However, in the last part of the race, the McLaren noticeably improved its pace, coming within 1.2 seconds of Leclerc’s Ferrari, which failed as soon as it was on top of the Englishman. It happened on lap 63, only 8 from the finish line. The Monegasque went off the track and left a highway open for the Englishman to pass and take second position. Goodbye Ferrari double.
Carlos Sainz’s victory was not in danger, with enough margin over Norris to be able to celebrate his second victory this season.
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