What Went Down at the Mexican Grand Prix: Norris vs Verstappen, Sainz's Victory, and the Clash Between Lawson and Perez

What an amazing race the grand prix turned out to be ! Sainz secured a victory with a flawless performance following a strong qualifying session, showcasing impressive driving skills and maintaining a solid pace throughout the race!

Moreover, this grand prix provided spectators with numerous thrilling battles and a significant number of overtakes, a spectacle not witnessed in quite some time!

FERRARI BACK ON TOP !

Ferrari signed an amazing race with a 1-3 with the brilliant victory of Sainz and the P3 from charles Leclerc !

Throughout the weekend, Sainz demonstrated remarkable speed by consistently placing his car in the top three during all the free practice sessions, while his teammate faced challenges in achieving car balance, largely due to Oliver Bearman's crash during FP1. This incident disrupted the team's schedule, forcing them to rely solely on Sainz's car setup for Leclerc's car in the subsequent session.

Nevertheless, the Ferrari demonstrated remarkable speed during a qualifying lap, with Sainz securing pole position with an impressive time of 1.15.946 minutes, two tenths ahead of Verstappen! Leclerc, on the other hand, achieved P4 with a time of 1.16.265 minutes, only three tenths behind his teammate.

This achievement is quite impressive considering Leclerc's limited driving time during the free practice sessions.

During the race Ferrari once again showed an incredible pace but most importantly a strong race craft from both driver with Sainz leading the race head to tow and Leclerc keeping his calm to cleverly take P2 on LAP 10 using the hard fight between Norris and Verstappen.

Does Verstappen deserved those 20 seconde penalty ?

Despite a mostly uneventful race for Sainz and Leclerc, Charles found himself under pressure from Norris, who was attempting to pass him. On lap 63, Leclerc lost control of his car, enabling Norris to regain second place from him. Leclerc was at risk of crashing into the wall but managed to save his car in an incredible display of skill !

This weekend, Ferrari showcased their regained speed and both drivers performed exceptionally well! With a 1-3 finish, Ferrari is now closing in on the constructor championship, with only a 29-point gap separating them from McLaren in first place.

The fight McLaren vs Red Bull !

LANDO NORRIS ON THE LEFT/MAX VERSTAPPEN ON THE RIGHT

Once again this weekend, we witnessed a fierce battle between championship leader Verstappen and his closest rival Lando Norris!

McLaren and Norris faced challenges in finding the right balance of the car during the free practice sessions, but it was in free practice 3 that they finally resolved their issues and found the solutions needed for the qualification.

Red Bull, on the other hand, seemed completely out of rhythm during the free practice sessions. However, Verstappen once again demonstrated his ability to stay competitive with Norris during qualifying, securing the second position just two tenths behind Norris.

When his teammate Perez was knocked out in Q1, it was the eighth occurrence this year!

During the race, Verstappen had an amazing start by overtaking Sainz to take the lead at turn 1, executing a brilliant move on the inside, as demonstrated below:

Despite his impressive start, Verstappen attempted to build a significant lead, but it became evident that it was unattainable due to the strong pace of Ferrari and McLaren. On lap 9, Sainz reclaimed the lead from Verstappen, who then engaged in a 16-lap battle with Norris. Verstappen received a 20-second penalty for forcing Norris off track on lap 9, yet he successfully held him off until lap 26 when he opted to pit and serve his penalty, dropping to P15!

However, Verstappen is not easily overtaken. After his pit-stop, he began to catch up with the other drivers, steadily moving up to P6 by the end of the race, finishing 59 seconds behind the grand prix leader Sainz! Despite lacking straight line speed and struggling in slow corners with significant understeer, he managed to make impressive progress!

Trying to minimize the negative impact of penalty against Norris on the championship lead.

Nevertheless, Norris is currently trailing Verstappen by 47 points in the championship standings.

The case Sheco Perez !

through left to right : Perez, Lawson, Horner

Despite a disappointing qualification P18, Sheco managed to climb to 5 position at the beginning of the grand prix, reaching as high as 11th place by lap 19. However, an early decision from his team caused him to drop to 17th position.

Throughout the race, Sheco's nightmare persisted as he faced challenges in getting into his groove, finding it hard to pass Liam, forcing his way past him on Lap 11 and actually damaged his car and thus his race. It's worth mentioning that Liam Lawson belongs to the sister team (RACING BULLS), while Sheco is part of the main team (RED BULL). Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull, was quite displeased with Lawson for nearly jeopardizing Sheco's race.

In the Red Bull hospitality, we observed Liam Lawson waiting for Horner, presumably to receive some intense feedback from the big boss.

After trailing Lawson for eight laps, his team made the decision to bring him into the pits on lap 20 for a longer stint on hard tires. Unfortunately, this strategic move caused him to fall back to seventeenth place!

Unfortunately for Sheco with a damaged car it made his race quite difficult with no pace !

Perez crossed the finish line in seventeenth place, behind his rival Liam Lawson, which left him in a difficult position and raised questions about his future in F1. However, this topic will be discussed later.

During the race, Lawson also showed his middle finger to his fellow driver Sheco Perez. However, he quickly apologized after the race, acknowledging his mistake by saying, "I regret my behavior and I promise not to repeat it."

Let's find out what the future has in store for our two fighters during the upcoming Grand Prix - it's bound to be electrifying!

FERNANDO ALONSO 400th GRAND PRIX

Unfortunately, Alonso's 400th Grand Prix ended similarly to his last century's races, with him retiring in the garage due to brake failure, continuing his streak of bad luck every 100 Grand Prix for him.

Could it be the revival of Alpine ?

Pierre Gasly left / Esteban Ocon Right

Throughout this grand prix, we were delighted by Pierre Gasly's performance! Securing a fantastic 10th place finish was a result of a meticulously planned strategy, impressive speed, and a bold racing style that included some impressive overtaking maneuvers!

Being aware of the recent challenges faced by Alpine could signal the beginning of the end of difficult times for the team based in Enstone.

Regarding his teammate Ocon, he appears to be facing ongoing challenges with his car, as he had to start from the pit lane due to modifications made to his car while it was under parc fermé conditions.

Attempting a one-stop strategy on lap 48, Ocon's race was uneventful. Starting the grand prix on hard compound tires in an effort to maximize distance covered during the race did not yield positive results, as he finished in a lowly thirteenth place.

Ocon seems to be counting the days to leave Alpine to go to HAAS next year.

The good news is that Alpine appears to be making progress in finding solutions for their car.

HAAS, CONSISTENCY STILL PREVAILS!

Hulkenberg Magnussen

The real good surprise of this season !

In this grand prix, Hulkenberg and Magnussen secured seventh and ninth place for the team, earning 8 points for the constructor championship.

They demonstrated impressive performance in both qualifying and the race, showcasing a well-balanced car that both drivers were able to push to its limits.

Their intelligent and composed development approach, along with clever race strategies, played a key role in their success against Racing Bulls.

The team's atmosphere is excellent, as they are fully dedicated to their work and making the most of every weekend with what they have.

It goes without saying that it's performing impressively by scoring in eleven out of twenty grand prix races, demonstrating remarkable consistency!

For next year HAAS will have two new driver in the person of

Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

We hope that this new, younger line-up will live up to HAAS' trust and not compromise the team's spirit.

Mercedes the eternal question mark !

Lewis Hamilton George Russel

After a disastrous American grand prix where we've witnessed the first DNF ( He run off at the last corner of lap 1 loosing the rear of his car finishing in the wall) of Lewis Hamilton from a long time !

Mercedes introduced a new set of upgrades during the United States Grand Prix, but unfortunately, they appeared to be unsuccessful.

The upgrades not only failed but also caused the car to become more unstable for the driver. The rear of their car started to lose grip unexpectedly, despite the drivers not making any mistakes.

This issue, along with a significant amount of bouncing, prompted both Russell and Lewis to express their dissatisfaction with the car. Despite their complaints, Mercedes was unable to find quick solutions, resulting in them facing challenges throughout the weekend with the unpredictable car.

George Russell could only secure a P6 finish at the conclusion of this lengthy Grand Prix for the British driver, but he was significantly behind the race leaders, Piastri in P5, by a margin of 30 seconds, as he battled with his car throughout the entire race.

Let's conclude this post with a technical observation!

We have witnessed various strategies being employed due to Mexico's high altitude track featuring a combination of high and low-speed corners that require significant downforce, along with the long straight where the engine is pushed to its maximum capacity!

A quick Analysis of the Qualification !

Sainz beat Verstappen by 0.225s by gaining significantly from Turn 3 to 6 - and not losing his advantage afterwards 🔥