Martin Brandl on the results of the Mexican Grand Prix

Former Formula 1 driver, Sky Sport F1 commentator Martin Brundle summed up the results of the Mexican Grand Prix…

During the Grand Prix in Mexico City, there is always a festive atmosphere created by vociferous and emotional fans who support Sergio Perez. But when you factor in external factors, a 55,000-seat stadium and a dramatic podium, you have to admit that the races on this track haven’t been particularly interesting lately.

The first three at the finish – Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez – were the same as a year ago, with very similar margins. And the Ferrari drivers were again in fifth and sixth place, but this time Sainz was ahead of Leclerc.

Verstappen was smart to go from pole position to dusty, but easily defended the right side of the track at the start. This benefited George Russell, who was able to accelerate until he was forced to shift to the left and get in next.

Having had some tense moments lately, including seven days earlier in Austin, George first left a lot of room for his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first corner, then in the second, and in the third Lewis did not turn him back, Russell was between the cars and left on the sidewalk

The Ferrari guys flew side by side in the back trying to regain a few places, but those first few corners determined the order of the drivers to the finish: Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Russell, Sainz and Leclerc. The 800-meter stretch before and after the first chicane determined the outcome of the race.

The main intrigue was that the Red Bull drivers started on rolled Soft tires and the Mercedes drivers on the new Medium. For a moment it looked like Red Bull tires would lose efficiency, Mercedes would be able to drive for a longer stretch at a good pace and seize the initiative.

At that point, the Ferrari drivers were no longer involved in the fight. The cars tuned for maximum downforce clearly lacked speed, at high altitude they had to limit power, losing a minute to the winner at the finish.

However, the Ferrari power unit in Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo performed very well, although in the end he only earned one point and finished tenth after starting from sixth.

Red Bull called Perez on lap 23 and Verstappen on lap 25, both got Medium tires. The Mercedes riders rode ahead with two questions: how long would they be able to run at a good pace on the Mediums starter set, and could they finish in Red Bull on those Mediums they had just been given.

“Not very long” and “yes” – these are the two answers that robbed the breed of intrigue. On lap 29 Hamilton turned into the pit lane where he got hard tires – and this decision turned out to be a mistake. On lap 34, and Russell, who wanted to tighten up the section on Medium and get Soft for the second part of the race, was put on Hard. The question of strategy was closed.

During the pandemic, Formula 1 had to simplify the tire selection process and since then eight sets of Soft, three Medium and just two sets of Hard have been allocated to each driver. This means that if you want to use hard tires in a race, in practice you can only work with one set.

In Austin and Mexico, the second practice was extended to 90 minutes for the Pirelli tire tests of 2023. In addition, many teams have fulfilled their obligations for the mandatory participation of young drivers in Friday’s first practice behind the wheel of each of the cars as much as possible. delayed, which together disrupted normal preparation for the past two Grand Prix.

Sometimes switching to hard tires is a surprisingly good decision. But on slippery roads in Mexico City, they didn’t get the right load, didn’t get to the right temperature and didn’t provide optimal grip.

In the middle group, the struggle was traditionally active. The best at it was without a doubt Fernando Alonso, until his car’s power plant failed. His determination and attitude were so strong that after leaving the broken-down car, he desperately rested his head on the tire barrier. It’s not an emotion we often see from him, but he has lost a lot of points this year due to reliability issues.

Daniel Riccardo’s race turned out to be interesting. He did 44 laps on the Medium starting set and then did what Russell wanted to do: set Soft. And hurried forward. In the battle against Tsunoda, he steered the car into turn 6 with a double apex, hoping to distract the Japanese driver and force him into a wider trajectory.

Instead, they collided and Tsunoda withdrew from the race. It all looked awkward, but the stewards pleaded guilty to Riccardo. Probably because Tsunoda got out. Daniel was given a 10-second penalty, which was added to his result, for not going to the pit lane.

As a result, Daniel rode in such a way that we remembered his best races, won back the penalty, finished seventh and became the “Rider of the Day”. It will be interesting to see where it appears next year and in 2024.