Round 2 of the triple header, the Mexican GP delivered a fantastic race, though not as eventful as last one in United States. Ferrari of Carlos Sainz took the pole and dominated on its way to victory, Lando Norris followed in 2nd and Charles Leclerc in 3rd. Mercedes were nowhere near McLaren and Ferrari, Max Verstappen antiques got him humongous 20 seconds penalty, Fernando Alonso DNF in his 400th Grand Prix, Tsunoda-Albon crash, Sergio Perez last place, and there’s more. The Mexican GP in tricky conditions of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez delivered a blockbuster race weekend.
This weekend was eventful right from the start. Whether it is Max Verstappen suffering from engine related issues in practice sessions or Alex Albon’s crash with rookie Oliver Bearman and then holding Bearman responsible for it. Future F1 stars got to drive F1 cars in first practice session as part of their development program. While in second practice session, much of the time was taken by Pirelli’s new tyre testing. The grid was closely matched, two Ferraris, two McLarens and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull were in contention for the win. There was uncertainty on who will be better than the other.
With the same uncertainty, qualifying began on Saturday afternoon. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren) had a disastrous qualifying getting knocked out in Q1. For Sergio it was just terrible, since it was his home race and he needed a solid race to prove himself worthy of that Red Bull seat. Yuki Tsunoda’s late red flag in dying moments in Q2 trapped drivers like Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso from improving their time. The top 10 shootout in Q3 was amazing. The Ferraris set early pace, while Carlos Sainz had 2 perfect laps, Charles Leclerc on the other hand messed his final run. It was Carlos on the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. Two Mercedes, Two Haas, Williams of Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly in Alpine completed top 10.
Comes the race day, Max Verstappen gets a better launch and overtakes Sainz for the race lead down the long straight to turn 1. Meanwhile in the midfield, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon had a contact sending the Japanese driver into the wall at turn 1. It brings out the safety car on first lap itself and Albon also retired from the damages sustained with the contact with Yuki. Sergio Perez on the other hand received 5 seconds for a false start.
At the safety car restart, Max does well to break DRS from Sainz. But the Spaniard comes back at him on Lap 9 at turn 1 to re-take the lead. After getting past Verstappen, Sainz disappeared in the distance like Leclerc did in Austin. Soon title rivals Verstappen and Lando tangled in wheel-to-wheel racing allowing Leclerc to get past them to p2. Verstappen received 2 penalties of 10 seconds each, for two incidents- for forcing Norris off the track and for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The penalties forced Verstappen to do damage recovery as from here it was impossible to finish ahead of Lando, who was in a superior McLaren.
Ferrari led 1-2 for majority of the race until Lando Norris pulled off a blinder in 2nd stint taking out Charles Leclerc for 2nd. Leclerc suffered from low grip at the rear, and after losing 2nd to Lando, he boxed for fastest lap. Mercedes raced no one except themselves, battle between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton was sublime. Russell held off Hamilton with a damaged front wing but ultimately lost the battle. The top 5 consisted of Carlos, Lando, Leclerc, Lewis and Russell. Max Verstappen salvaged a 6th place finish despite struggling on hard compound yet again.
Carlos Sainz desperately wanted a win before leaving Ferrari at the end of this year. He achieved it, gave it everything he had and did it finally. Mexico is the largest Spanish speaking city in the world, and Carlos Sainz is the first Spanish driver to win here in F1. This was his 4th F1 win and first time in his career when he won multiple races in a season.
Back in the midfield, Haas finishing 7th and 9th, took a comfortable lead on its rival VCARB. Midfield was tightly packed, some interesting battles, collisions and Sergio Perez being at the receiving of all the mishap. He sustained a damage while battling Red Bull junior Liam Lawson. Oscar Piastri recovered from p17 to P8, Gasly took one point for Alpine.
Fernando Alonso, the man who was entering his record 400th grand prix had a weekend to forget. He was trapped in red flag in his final run in q2 and then a DNF from the race due to mechanical issues.
Shame a legendary achievement of one of the sport’s greatest ended this way. This sums up the career of Fernando Alonso. After 2007, his car/team have let him down on a million occasions.
This was Ferrari’s second consecutive win and they now sit at 2nd in constructors. Just 29 points separates McLaren and Ferrari in the constructors championship. Red Bull led this championship for majority of the season and have now lost to McLaren and Ferrari in the standings. Thanks to the implosion that hampered their car development and McLaren, Ferrari catching up, Red Bull is unlikely to climb up the order given how badly Perez is performing. It is the superiority of Max Verstappen who is still holding on his lead in drivers championship.
Sergio Perez was a fan favorite once upon a time. His ability to outperform midfield cars landed him a seat at Red Bull in 2021. But he has only been a shadow of his younger self. Barring few races here and there, Verstappen destroyed Perez. Its no secret that if your teammate is Max, you will always get minimum. In 2023 and again in 2024, he nosedived after a brilliant start to the start. While Max was breaking records for fun in 2023, Perez was down in midfield or crashed at every opportunity. Things got even worse in 2024 as Red Bull lost its advantage over others. At a time when driver makes the difference, Perez battles car likes Williams, Alpine. His on-track struggles has led to problems in his family as well. While Perez finally had a decent weekend in Baku, he crashed with Sainz in last minutes of the race leading his father to a pre-heart attack.
Battling all those, he had the best chance to shine again. In front of his home crowd, on the soil where he was born, where he grew up and dreamt of being an F1 racer. But he failed. Finishing last behind Sauber, Alpine, Williams in a Red Bull cannot be justified. At this point, it just feels bad. Maybe his time in F1 is over. It could have ended better. He is by far the most successful Mexican driver in F1. Though his time seems to be over. Red Bull being the kind of organization they are, won’t take it very well that Perez is costing them constructors.
Back to the racing, F1 heads to Brazil this weekend to complete the triple header. Brazil is undoubtedly the best race on the calendar. The atmosphere, energy, crowd, the racing it provides is second to none. When grid is this close, a blockbuster is a certainty. Ferrari has been cooking after the summer break. Podium in Zandvoort, Baku, victories in Monza, Austin and Mexico. McLaren went toe-to-toe and their advantage between Canada-Belgium is what puts them ahead of everyone. Title battle, unpredictability in races, controversies F1 is truly back.
