- Max Verstappen wins this season’s 14th F1 Grand Prix in Mexico City – record!
- “Driver of the Day” is Daniel Ricciardo, who finishes seventh
- Ferrari and Mercedes fight for the manufacturer’s silver
Max Verstappen is and will remain in a class of his own this season. To the Mexico City Grand Prix he drove easily to his 14th win over the weekend. How he managed to do it and what else was happening in Mexico, we explain here:
The two-time world champion dueled Lewis Hamilton early in the race before, as often this season, he built a comfortable lead – and the former champion Hamilton, goodbye, had to settle for second place. With his 14th win, Verstappen overtakes Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, who have scored 13 wins each this season in 2004 and 2013 respectively. With only two races left in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, Verstappen’s streak could go as high as 16.
“It has been an incredible year so far,” said the Dutchman after the race. “We are definitely having fun and will try to achieve even more.”
Max Verstappen rewrites the F1 record books #MexicoGP # F1https://t.co/JYij6VJb9F
– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 31, 2022
The sign of the highest number of victories of the season is just one of many records the 25-year-old has already set in his eight-year Formula 1 career. At the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, he became the youngest F1 driver ever to competed in a premier-class race a year later in Spain, aged just 18, the youngest driver ever to win an F1 Grand Prix could.
Red Bull in the running for a double win in the drivers’ championship
With 416 points, Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings, setting the next record for the most points in a single season. With Sergio Pérez’s third place in the home race, Red Bull now also occupies second place. With 280 points, the Mexican has only five points clear of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, whose Scuderia had had a bad day in Mexico: the Monegasque sixth, Carlos Sainz fifth.
But as Mercedes and Ferrari stumbled and Red Bull – especially Papa Pérez – celebrated, a driver out of the top six stole the show: McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Red Bull Celebrations! 🥳
The Papa Perez edition 😂#MexicoGP @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/Vl7ysWAQZQ
– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 31, 2022
Here are three impressions from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, where two exciting battles for second place took place – in the daily and overall standings – and a driver who will almost certainly not be in a Formula 1 cockpit in 2023 will sit, driven in points.
Impression number 1: The Formula 1 Honey Badger is back
For a moment it seemed that Daniel Ricciardo would not be able to finish in the points once again, as he has done so many times this season.
The Honey Badger was in a hurry! 🍿#MexicoGP # F1 pic.twitter.com/UmWcqgumGE
– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 31, 2022
The Australian took a risk with his tire strategy and switched to the soft at the end of the race. He paid off as he ran across the field. However, there was an awkward contact with Yuki Tsunoda when, in the cockpit of his AlphaTauri he, he veered to take the apex while Ricciardo swerved. The two touch and Tsunoda is eliminated early. The Japanese driver said in the race report: “Daniel had a different strategy and would have easily passed later, so he is very annoying when such an experienced driver tries to overtake in an area where it is not possible.”
Tsunoda is squeezed by Ricciardo and bounced out of the race 💥😮#MexicoGP # F1 pic.twitter.com/uw8xRTrLFk
– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 30, 2022
Ricciardo received a 10 second penalty and now had to create enough buffers for the opponents around him to mitigate the penalty. He told Sky Sports F1: “It was a bit of a difficult time in the race, but after Tom [Stallard, Renningenieur, Anm. d. Red.] he told me I was attacked for 10 seconds, I didn’t answer. I was pretty down. But then I felt like I still had a good pace, so I kept going. And in a way I did it, it worked. “
Ricciardo’s basket tactic looked like the golden road in Mexico
Ricciardo’s bold tire strategy seemed to be the key. The Australian, who finished seventh and had enough lead over Esteban Ocon to maintain his position, had a good run on the medium tires before moving on to the soft ones. Others, like the Mercedes duo, have opted for hard tires.
The 2023 F1 season will likely take place without Ricciardo
What happened in Mexico City was a complete reversal of the dejected Ricciardo that fans had seen at the United States Grand Prix. He was back to his old self, but confirmed to Sky Sports F1 that he “won’t be behind the wheel on the grid” in 2023, even if a seat is still vacant or unconfirmed. He added: “I feel like taking a little break from a racing seat will do me good and then I’ll try to rebuild something for 2024. I’m not done yet but it will look a little different.”
Ricciardo said a short break “will be a blessing for me in a way. By doing less, I can achieve more.” However, he added that he is open to a reserve role with one of the best dogs: Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes. Since current reserve driver Nyck de Vries will switch to AlphaTauri next season, there would be at least one vacancy in Mercedes.
Impression 2: Tire Strategies and “Need for Speed”
Could Mercedes have taken their first win of the season in Mexico?
Earlier on Sunday, team boss Toto Wolff felt the Silver Arrows could pull it off after George Russell and Hamilton finished second and third respectively in qualifying. Wolff even thought it would be the best chance of the season, saying on Saturday: “The good thing is we had it somehow on the radar in our simulations – which is the best race – so it’s good, it matches the real world.
“But the most important thing is that we really have the pace. And slowly but surely we are moving forward and learning for next year.”
With different tire strategies, Sunday’s race was very tight at first. Red Bull started the race on soft while Mercedes opted for medium tires and, despite Verstappen leading the first corner, Hamilton didn’t let his rival get away easily. He kept the pressure high and the Red Bulls pitted on lap 25 to move up to average, while Hamilton returned four laps later on hard tires.
For a short time it looked like Hamilton would lag behind on hard tires, but it soon became clear that hard tires were not a good option. The Brit started losing ground on Verstappen because he lacked the pace to keep up with the rising star.
Interesting: Although Hamilton and Russell repeatedly complained about the tires, the engineers assured Hamilton that Verstappen’s medium tires would be closed by the end of the race. However, this was not the case.
Impression number 3: The battle for second place remains heated
While the drivers and constructors’ championships are perfect after the victories of Verstappen and Red Bull, the battle for second place remains close. After Mercedes had 31 points and Ferrari only 18 in Mexico, the Silver Arrows are slowly closing the gap with Ferrari, just 40 points behind.
Both teams have had problems this year. For Mercedes, the eight-year reign as a leading designer is over. One of their biggest weaknesses this season has been the stamina of the cars. Due to the high altitude in which Mexico City is located, Mercedes was able to experience a drastic increase in performance. Lower air density means cars have less drag. In return, however, the engine’s turbocharger has to run faster to generate the same power as the lower regions. For the race in Mexico, the Mercedes construction proved to be an important success factor.
Mercedes accumulates, Ferrari tends to break down
In comparison, Ferrari started the season very well with a double for Leclerc and Sainz in Bahrain. But then things went downhill: questionable strategic decisions, reliability problems and lack of race speed persist. After the Miami Grand Prix in May, the team did not step onto the podium again until Singapore in early October.
Since the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break, where they were still competitive in qualifying but weakened on Sunday, the Ferraris have not been able to keep up with the race. Leclerc stressed over the US Grand Prix weekend that Ferrari must focus on race day performance next season, pointing out that tire management is still an issue.
The Scuderia lacks rhythm
Both Sainz and Leclerc on Sunday pointed out the lack of pace in Mexico as they were unable to keep up with the race leaders. In the race summary, Leclerc said: “It was a lonely race. Carlos and I did our laps together, too fast for the midfield, but too slow for the leaders.”
“We stayed true to our strategy, focusing on ourselves and getting the most out of our package, but we were too far away and we need to understand why so we can work to be more consistent.”
Team boss Mattia Binotto said after the race that Ferrari “did not have the ability to drive full power here” and that the drivers “ended up driving with maximum downforce”.
In view of the race in Brazil, the battle between the two sides (plus Red Bull) continues. Aside from the duel of Leclerc and Pérez for second place, there is a three-way battle between Russell (231), Hamilton (216) and Sainz (212).
Things to note: With his recent penalty for pushing Lance Stroll off the track, Pierre Gasly is dangerously close to F1 racing ban. Given the 12-month deadline, he won’t lose any of his existing penalty points until May.
Where will the next F1 be: Enjoy the F1 fan-free week as next is the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday 13 November at 7pm.
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