The stands were full on Sunday as Mexico hosted Formula 1 for the first time since 2019.
While the weather was 20 degrees similar to other days, the runway temperature exceeded 45 degrees. This meant that the highest temperature of the weekend had been reached.
All the names started with medium dough, except the first Yuki Tsunoda (soft) and Esteban Ocon (soft) in the race, where the fans showed great interest and created a great atmosphere.
All eyes were on the Red Bull drivers as it was quite a long way to turn one, because the Mercedes drivers had the view that they were going to enter the air corridor and try to get into the first corner sooner.
Lewis Hamilton joined Valtteri Bottas with a good start, while Max Verstappen joined him from the outside. So coming into Turn 1, Hamilton was inside, Bottas was in the middle and Verstappen was outside.
Arriving at the braking point, Verstappen braked quite late from the outside and passed two Mercedes to take first place. Daniel Ricciardo, on the other hand, braked quite late on the first corner and slammed into Bottas from behind. Ricciardo’s wing was broken as Bottas spun after that contact.
Also in the first round, there was contact between Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher. While Tsunoda was saying goodbye to the race after this contact, Schumacher’s suspension was broken and he said goodbye to the race.
After Tsunoda’s vehicle remained on the track, the safety car entered. Bottas fell back after the spin and pitted early. That’s why it fell to the last place.
Thus, after the first lap, the ranking was Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.
After laps behind the safety car, the race started again and there was no change in the front section.
Verstappen had a better pace in the first episode. The difference was up to six seconds as Hamilton began to experience tire wear.
Perez kept the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen to 8 seconds, and kept the gap at around 2 seconds. Although the Mexican pilot once reduced the gap to under 2 seconds, he never had the opportunity to overtake.
After the gap narrowed to 1.5 seconds, Mercedes pitted Hamilton as he entered the 31st lap of the race and the British driver returned to the race behind Leclerc. However, the Monaco driver also pitted after one lap. This paved the way for Hamilton.
Red Bull pitted Verstappen on lap 34 of the race, and the Dutch driver returned to the race about 8 seconds ahead of Hamilton after a smooth pit stop.
Perez, on the other hand, remained on the track as his tires were in good condition and tried to extend the first section as long as possible.
By the 41st lap of the race, Red Bull finally called Perez into the pits. The Mexican driver returned to the race in third place on a hard tire after the pit stop. The difference was 10 seconds at that point.
Verstappen, on the other hand, extended the lead to 10 seconds from Hamilton as he entered the last 28 laps.
After the pit stop, Perez slowly started to catch up with Hamilton, with the advantage of the new tyres.
The British pilot caught Hamilton with 10 laps left, and the gap narrowed to less than 1 second. The Mexican driver started pushing the British pilot by turning on the DRS on the straights.
The gap was around 0.5 seconds when they lap against Lando Norris. However, after lap laps on the British driver, Hamilton increased the lead to over two seconds.
At the front, Verstappen made no mistakes and saw the checkered flag in first place, marking his second consecutive win, his ninth this year.
Hamilton, who started the race from the second place and had a hard time going at Verstappen’s pace throughout the race, kept his place despite Perez’s pressure in the last laps and saw the checkered flag in second place.
Thus, the difference in points between championship leader Verstappen and second place Hamilton, with four races to go, increased to 19 points.
Pierre Gasly, who started the race from the fifth place, could not participate in the podium struggle after he kept his place at the start. However, he did not allow Ferrari pilots to approach him. Seeing the checkered flag in fourth place, Gasly achieved his best result since the Dutch GP.
At Ferrari, Carlos Sainz had a long first episode after falling behind on the first lap and then began catching up with fifth-placed Charles Leclerc.
Thereupon, Ferrari gave Leclerc a team order and asked him to let Sainz go, as there was a possibility of catching up with Gasly. After a few laps, Leclerc gave way to Sainz.
Although Sainz tried to catch up with Gasly, the French pilot failed to pass. Thereupon, two laps before the end, the duo switched places once again.
As a result, Leclerc saw the checkered flag in fifth place, while Sainz finished in sixth place.
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel couldn’t keep up with the Ferrari drivers and overall had a solitary race. Vettel, who saw the checkered flag in seventh place, scored for the second time in a row and achieved his best result after Monaco.
In Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen was one of the stars of the race. The Finnish driver, who drove at a similar pace to Vettel throughout the race, completed his last race in Mexico in eighth place, bringing a very valuable 4 points to Alfa Romeo.
In Alpine, Fernando Alonso scored again by finishing in ninth place. Unable to score in the last two races, Alonso had a good race despite his bad luck in the first lap and finished in ninth place, bringing Alpine two points.
The final score of the weekend went to McLaren driver Lando Norris. After a long first episode, the British pilot tried to catch Alonso in the last episode. Although he failed to do so, he finished 10th in the race, which he started from behind due to a grid penalty.
After these results, only one point remained between Mercedes and Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari overtook McLaren in the battle for third place and moved up to third place by 13.5 points. AlphaTauri also equalized Alpine and shared the fifth place.
At Alfa Romeo, Antonio Giovinazzi had a great start, reaching sixth place. However, he fell behind with an early pit stop and saw the checkered flag in 11th place, greatly disappointed.
Ricciardo broke his front wing after contact with Bottas in the first lap and then finished 12th, although he tried to recover.
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon fell behind after the first lap incident and saw the checkered flag in 13th place.
Lance Stroll was 14th, while Bottas was 15th after the first-round spin. Mercedes pitted Bottas to get the fastest lap from Verstappen in the final episode. However, after the pits, he faced Verstappen, who put him on lap. Bottas even said that Verstappen slowed him down.
Mercedes then pitted Bottas once again, and the Finnish driver made the fastest lap on the last lap, taking an extra point from Verstappen.
George Russell made it to the top ten at the start of the race, but finished 16th with a lack of pace. Nicholas Latifi finished 17th, while Nikita Mazepin finished last, three laps down.
Schumacher and Tsunoda, on the other hand, said goodbye to the race after the incident in the first lap.
The next race of the season in Formula 1 will be held on 14 November.
Race results are coming…
Details are coming…
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