Sunny. Dry. Air +25C, highway +48C
The weekend in Mexico City was the second in a series of three U.S. Grands Prix in a row and the only one without a Saturday sprint, allowing the teams to work with new products, albeit in the unique conditions of the highlands.
On Friday and Saturday morning, Verstappen led the protocol, but the Ferrari drivers were faster in qualifying – Charles Leclerc won pole, Carlos Sainz showed the second time – for the first time since last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, the Scuderia pilots occupied the entire first row of the starting field. Verstappen and Ricciardo started from second place, Perez and Hamilton from third place.
Lance Stroll started the race from the pit lane after the team breached the parc ferm conditions.
Pirelli brought three ‘soft’ compounds to the podium: C3, C4 and C5, labeled Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race, Albon and Ocon started on Hard, Norris on Soft, the rest on Medium.
At the start, Leclerc did not immediately move, Verstappen attacked and took the lead, and Charles collided with Perez.
Sergio rolled back with a broken front wing and turned into the pits, where he stopped.
Top ten in round 2: Verstappen – Leclerc – Sainz – Ricciardo – Hamilton – Piastri – Russell – Hulkenberg – Gasly – Zhou.
On lap 5, race control briefly announced a virtual safety car to clear debris.
Hamilton put Ricciardo under pressure for a long time in the battle for fourth place, but three DRS zones in Mexico City were not enough for an attack.
On the 10th lap Tsunoda changed the tires.
On lap 11, Hamilton overtook Ricciardo and moved up to 4th place.
On the 12th lap, Norris, who started on Soft, made a pit stop.
On lap 15, Albon passed Zhou for 10th place.
On the 20th lap Verstappen changed tires, on the 22nd – Zhou, on the 23rd – Sargent, on the 24th – Hulkenberg and Magnussen.
Back on the track, Verstappen gained position after position, gaining a lead of 1-2 seconds per lap.
On the 25th lap, Hamilton made a pit stop, on the 26th – Piastri, on the 27th – Russell, on the 28th – Ricciardo.
Piastri stayed ahead of Bottas in the battle for eighth place.
On lap 29, Verstappen overtook Sainz for second place. Gasly changed the tires.
On the 30th lap Alonso made a pit stop, on the 31st lap Sainz and Stroll, on the 32nd – Leclerc and Bottas,
Norris overtook Albon for eighth place.
On lap 33, Magnussen crashed the car in turn eight after a sudden suspension failure. The brakes caught fire. The safety car came out. Verstappen, Norris, Albon changed tires. The race was stopped with red flags.
Top ten under red flags: Verstappen – Leclerc – Hamilton – Sainz – Ricciardo – Piastri – Russell – Russell – Tsunoda – Hulkenberg – Norris.
After Perez’s departure and the red flags, fans began to leave the stands.
The break lasted 22 minutes, after which the riders continued the battle, changed tires and started from a standstill.
Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Hulkenberg, Norris, Albon, Ocon and Sargent started the second half of the race on Medium, while the rest opted for Hard.
At the restart, Verstappen retained the lead, Russell was ahead of Piastri, Stroll overtook Zhou and Norris lost several places.
On lap 40, Hamilton passed Leclerc for second place.
Top ten in lap 42: Verstappen – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Russell – Ricciardo – Piastri – Tsunoda – Albon – Hulkenberg.
Norris climbed to 10th place ahead of Gasly, Ocon and Hulkenberg.
On the 48th lap, Alonso put the car in the pits and stopped.
On lap 49, Piastri and Tsunoda made contact while fighting for position. Yuki turned around, but he kept moving.
On lap 56, Piastri was asked to let his teammate pass – and he made way for Norris so he could try to stay ahead of Ricciardo in the battle for sixth place.
On lap 66 Ocon passed Hulkenberg for 10th place.
In the fight between Bottas and Stroll a contract emerged, Lance spun around, he turned into the pits and left the race.
On lap 67, Norris passed Russell for sixth place.
Top ten in lap 69: Verstappen – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Norris – Russell – Ricciardo – Piastri – Albon – Ocon.
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On the final lap, Hamilton claimed the fastest lap of the race.
Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix with his 51st victory of his career and 16th of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished second, repeating his best result of the season and closing the gap on Perez in the battle for second place in the individual competition, Charles Leclerc finished third and reached the podium for the fourth time this season.
The battle continues next week in Brazil.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | – | 3 | |
| 2. L.Hamilton | Mercedes | +13.875 | 2 | |
| 3. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | +23.124 | 2 | |
| 4. K. Sainz | Ferrari | +27.154 | 2 | |
| 5. L.Norris | McLaren | +33.266 | 3 | |
| 6. D. Russell | Mercedes | +41.020 | 2 | |
| 7. D. Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | +41.570 | 2 | |
| 8. O. Piastri | McLaren | +43.104 | 2 | |
| 9. A. Albon | Williams | +48.573 | 2 | |
| 10. E. Okon | Alps | +62.879 | 1 | |
| 11. P. Gasly | Alps | +66.208 | 2 | |
| 12. Yu.Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +78.982 | 2 | |
| 13. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | +80.309 | 2 | |
| 14. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +80.597 | 2 | |
| 15. G.Zhou | Alfa Romeo | +81.676 | 2 |
Best round: Lewis Hamilton (Red Bull Racing) – 1:21.334 (lap 72)
Reasons for the meetings
| Pilot | Team | Kroogov | Cause |
| S. Perez | Red Bull | 2 | accident |
| K. Magnussen | Hare | 33 | accident |
| F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 47 | mechanical problems |
| L. Walk | Aston Martin | 67 | mechanical problems |
Championship Position: Individual Competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1. Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 731 |
| = | 2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 371 |
| = | 3. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 349 |
| = | 4. McLaren F1 Team | Mercedes | 256 |
| = | 5. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | 236 |
| = | 6. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 101 |
| = | 7. Williams Racing | Mercedes | 28 |
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8. Scuderia Alpha Tauri | Honda RBPT | 16 |
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9. Alfa Romeo F1 team stakes | Ferrari | 16 |
|
10. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 12 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
