Formula 1: Ferrari reigns at the Mexican Grand Prix

Mexico City. Ferrari had not won the Mexican Grand Prix since 1990. The last time was with the legendary Frenchman Alain Prost, in an epic race. The driver started from thirteenth place on the grid to overcome each position until winning the title. Something that is still enormous today.

More than three decades later, the highest step of the podium at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack was once again conquered by the team of the Prancing Horsethis time with the Spanish Carlos Sainz, who dominated with authority from the start.

Yesterday, 154 thousand people attended the Mexican Grand Prix, while during the three days there was a capacity of 405 thousand attendees.

Sainz did not have to overcome and everything went perfectly as he seemed to fly in a single-seater; Behind came Lando Norris (McLaren), followed by the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who ran for a large part in second position, but was overtaken a few laps from the end with a fantastic maneuver by the Briton.

Another story was recorded for the once dominant Red Bull, but this time they wanted to erase the memories of what happened in Magdalena Mixhuca. Reigning champion Max Verstappen was penalized twice for incidents with Norris, which cost him 20 seconds.

Carlos Sainz’s car during the race at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack. Photo Victor Camacho

The other Red Bull driver, Sergio Pérez, could not recover from the bad season and returned to add a disastrous Grand Prix at home. The Mexican is still trapped in a bad dream from which he cannot wake up. If last year he suffered an accident that left him out at the start, this time he finished in last place – of the 17 cars that finished the race – after receiving a 5-second penalty for a false start. Then his demons reappeared: technical problems with the car that have plagued him almost the entire campaign.

Those from Ferrari, on the other hand, defied reality by transmuting themselves into wind. Sainz and Leclerc on board their cars dissolved so that their matter flowed without opposition, incorporeal and unreachable for the rest of the mortals who mutinied behind in order to at least touch the wake left by the two cars of the Prancing Horse. Until the tireless Lando Norris appeared with a strong McLaren that did not separate itself from the leaders until he managed to unseat the Monegasque and finish second.

Meanwhile, Checo had no choice but to fight against a destiny that seems to be cruel. After a start that seemed amazing, he managed to overcome five places to thirteenth, and when his fans stood up madly, he received a message from the radio.

We have newsthey told him on the radio; It seems that there is an investigation into that start.

If they say that the consolation of defeat is that nothing more can be lost, with Checo Pérez fortune plays perversely. Starting from 18th place on the grid, due to his elimination in the first cut of qualifying, put the Mexican in a predicament. When it seemed that he was capable of a feat, he was punished for the false start to make that landscape already strewn with thorns even more adverse.

Checo had no other option to fight against the stragglers. There he fought Liam Lawson (RB), with whom he had some friction that even lasted until the end of the competition when the Mexican wanted to talk to the New Zealander and he rudely rejected him.

Pérez then tried to pass Lance Stroll, but he was already complaining about the performance of his car and there was no room for exploits when one is destined for a weekend of bitterness. And Checo’s nightmare, that of crashing in the first curve of the road course, was now relived by the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (RB) and Alex Albon (Williams). Both were out after the start. Meanwhile, the Spanish Fernando Alonso, who celebrated being the first driver to participate in 400 Grand Prix, had to abandon the competition on lap 15.

The leaders of the race were experiencing a very different journey, with a fascinating dispute for the finish.

The two Ferraris moved as if they were not touching the track, ethereal and choreographic. Always with Sainz ahead and followed like the tail of a comet by his teammate Leclerc.

And there, less than 10 laps from the end, Norris received an indication over the radio: We need your best driving, now let’s go!they demanded. And Lando seemed to gain a power that had not been sensed until that moment. He attacked in an instant and fled through the center of the track, while Leclerc went out of bounds and miraculously avoided crashing into the wall. Now Sainz, Norris had the lead and the Monegasque driver was in third position with the anxiety caused by the unexpected.

Seconds ago there was still an additional plot narrated by the Mercedes drivers involved in a fratricidal fight for fourth place, which in the end Lewis Hamilton achieved. The last laps were an effort to overtake George Russell, who refused by all means until he couldn’t take it anymore and ended up overtaken by his teammate. In that order they crossed the finish line.

I really wanted to win this title, I needed it for myself. I said I wanted one more victory for Ferrari and to get it here, with this crowd, is incredibledeclared the Spanish driver in his fourth victory of the season.

Sainz said that Mexico seemed to give him great strength. I wanted to win here, I wanted a victory before leaving Ferrari. There are many things that bind me, language and people; I have always felt very at home hereconcluded the man who after more than three decades gave Ferrari a victory again in the Mexican Grand Prix.