2023 F1 Mexico GP, Ferrari race report: Charles Leclerc P3, Carlos Sainz P4 in Mexico City!

Here is our full text transcript from the 2023 Formula One Mexican Grand Prix:

Welcome to race day for the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix! It’s been a fascinating weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and we have an Ferrari front row. Charles Leclerc starts ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, with Daniel Ricciardo and home hero Sergio Perez completing the top five. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will look to get into the podium fight from sixth and eighth, while Lando Norris faces a charge through the field from 17th.

The run to Turn One must not be missed because it’s a long one and being in the slipstream will be crucial…unless you are in the lead of course.

Pole position in successive weekends, a fourth in total this season, and a 22nd of his relatively short career in just 122 attempts – tying Fernando Alonso’s career total for 14th in the all-time F1 list already.

That’s the impressive pole position statistics as far as Charles Leclerc is concerned. The problem? On the previous 21 times he has started a Grand Prix from the head of the grid before today, he has only gone on to win the race four times – and none of those have come on the last 10 occasions he’s started P1.

It’s been a trend for quite a while that Ferrari have been relatively faster over a single lap than the longer race distance, where Red Bull and Max Verstappen in particular remains so formidable.

Aiding Charles Leclerc’s quest to today is that he has team-mate Carlos Sainz alongside him on the front row, and it’s going to be imperative for the Scuderia’s victory hopes with either driver tonight that they hold on to positions one and two beyond the first corner when lights go out this evening for the Grand Prix at just after 8pm.

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“We have seen the last four starts here and every time it’s completely different situation,” Charles Leclerc tells Sky Sports F1 – “So to predict everything is extremely difficult. So I’ll focus on my start. We have been good on starts through the season, I hope today to be the case to keep that first place. If we keep first and second with Carlos, then I think we can have a really good race. The start is going to be crucial.”

Not exactly the 25th birthday gift Lance Stroll wanted. He will start from the pit lane after Aston Martin made several changes to the car outside of parc ferme. Stroll was set to start 17th but a new floor assembly, sidepod bodywork panels, rear beam wing, rear anti-roll bar, front brake friction material and suspension setup tweaks have been put on the car.

Yuki Tsunoda exceeded the power unit allowance and took a fifth gearbox ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, so will start from the back. Logan Sargeant will join him there after the Williams driver was given a 10-grid place penalty for passing Tsunoda under yellow flags in qualifying during Q1.

The pit lane is open so the cars are on their way to the grid and getting a final feel of what they have underneath them before we go racing.

Although the grip is low around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a pit lane time loss of 23 seconds and the difficulty of overtaking means a one-stop should work. Keeping the tyres in the optimal working window will be more important than tyre wear today, something the teams have found very tricky throughout the weekend. If Ferrari can stay one-two after the first lap, they have a real chance to control the race and make life tough for Verstappen, who will simply be looking to avoid an incident in the first few corners.

Max Verstappen has an extra set of new hards compared to everyone else and Sergio Perez has an extra set of new mediums. But, it shouldn’t really matter unless there is a timely Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car in the second half of the race which pushes drivers onto a two-stop.

Everyone from Charles Leclerc on pole to Fernando Alonso in 13th are on the mediums. No surprise there. Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon are on hards and Lando Norris is on the softs. McLaren may box Norris early to get him into some clean air.

Go go go for the Mexico City Grand Prix! Wow. Max Verstappen takes the lead as he goes in between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. But Sergio Perez is out! He collides with Leclerc at Turn One. Disaster for the home hero as he is lifted into the air after making contact with the Ferrari. It’s Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz in the top three. Sergio Perez limps back to the pit lane but his car has too much damage and he’s out. A huge shame for the home crowd. But what a start for Max Versstappen, who burst between the two Ferraris and now leads Charles Leclerc by 1.6s on lap two. Ricciardo holds fourth behind Sainz with Hamilton fifth. Piastri is sixth with Russell seventh.

Lap 5/71: We have a Virtual Safety Car due to debris from Leclerc’s car. The drivers have to keep their delta positive and no overtaking is allowed. And we are back racing with Verstappen two seconds of the Monegasque. Carlos Sainz is a further 1.5 seconds behind and then comes Ricciardo, Hamilton, Piastri and Russell.

Lap 8/71: Hamilton is all over the back of Ricciardo, sliding his car in the middle sector and is within DRS range…Max Verstappen has settled rather nicely into that familiar position at the head of the field. He leads Charles Leclerc, minus that piece of broken wing, by 2s with Carlos Sainz a further 2s adrift in the second Ferrari.

Lap 11/71: After briefly dropping back from the AlphaTauri to cool his car, and seemingly charge his hybrid energy store right up, Lewis mounts a challenge on Ricciardo down the main straight and gets past with the aid of DRS on the inside before the braking zone. Hamilton is up into fourth from sixth and now has a 2.5-second gap to try and close to Sainz’s Ferrari.

Lap 12/71: Oscar Piastri is defending from George Russell in the battle for sixth. Russell needs to get past soon as he’s in the dirty air of the McLaren.

Lap 18/71: Lando Norris is running in 18th but is the first of the drivers to pit. He’s on the hards and will either try to stretch them all the way to the end, or pit later on in the race. Norris is currently one of the quickest drivers on the track.

Lap 20/71: That’s a surprise. Max Verstappen is in the pits already. On go the hard tyres and Verstappen comes out in seventh place with a lot of clean air. Leclerc takes over the race lead from Sainz and Hamilton is close behind. “Driving in an unsafe condition,” is the charge Charles Leclerc and Ferrari are up for after this race has finished. Remember, he picked up front-wing damage from that first-corner collision with Sergio Perez, with a section hanging off for a few laps before it flew off.

Lap 22/71: Lewis Hamilton is all over the back of Carlos Sainz and Mercedes come out into the pit lane. But Hamilton doesn’t pit. Mercedes try to coax Ferrari into pitting but it didn’t work. Lap 24/71: Leclerc is now seven seconds ahead of Sainz, with Hamilton now out of the latter’s DRS. Verstappen is flying back through the field and could be in a two-stop race, which not many people predicted before the Grand Prix. Everyone else appears to be on a one-stop.

Lap 26/71: Interestingly Sainz stays out as Ferrari want to extend the first stint and optimise the one-stop strategy. It’s Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen in the top three now as Piastri makes a pit stop. Lap 27/71: Hard tyres also go on the other Mercedes. George Russell, who was fifth, returns in 10th place for now.

Max Verstappen is back in second place as he overtakes Carlos Sainz, who is yet to pit. Charles Leclerc is eight seconds up the road but could lose out a lot here if going long doesn’t work. At this rate, Leclerc will come out behind Hamilton.

Lap 31/71: Carlos Sainz comes into the pits from third and is back out in fourth place. Hamilton goes by on the main straight but has seven-lap older tyres than Sainz, who is six seconds behind the Mercedes driver.

Lap 32/71: Charles Leclerc pits, Max Verstappen takes the lead back, and the lead Ferrari stays ahead of Lewis Hamilton by a couple of seconds. Verstappen now leads Leclerc by nearly 17 seconds. Hamilton is 2.8s behind Leclerc.

Safety Car after big Magnussen crash! Kevin Magnussen’s rear brakes are on fire but the marshals have done a great job to put the fire out. Lap 34/71: And Verstappen takes the opportunity to pit. He retains the lead due to the cheaper pit stop. And the race has been red flagged due to the barrier damage at Turn Eight from Magnussen’s crash. This means we should get another standing start down to Turn One…

So we are at half race distance of the Mexico City Grand Prix. The race director has the option to do a standing start or rolling start on the restart. Given it’s dry, it’s likely we will get a standing start. You can change tyres. But, most drivers don’t have any new or hard tyres left. Verstappen just pitted for a new set of hards, so will probably stay on that set. But, everyone else has been running on their only set of hards in this stint. Leclerc, Sainz, Russell and Hamilton have the option to put on a used medium but it will be a big ask to get that tyre to do 36 laps. Yuki Tsunoda is in a great position because he can put on a new set of hards but is the only driver who can do that. Tsunoda is currently in eighth. As for the others, they will have to stick with the tyres they are currently on unless they want to risk running a used medium on lower fuel.

Confirmation that, as expected, we will have a standing start from the grid for the second time today when this race resumes in six minutes’ time. Can the Ferraris now turn the table on Verstappen from the original start? Or can Hamilton surge into the lead from third like Max did? “Standing start on the hard is going to be a huge mess,” suggests Leclerc pointing to an apparent expectation of a lack of grip in those used hard compounds.

The cars are back out on the circuit after that red-flag delay and heading back to the grid for the second ‘lights out’ of the afternoon. Hamilton from third will be on the medium tyre. Verstappen and Leclerc are on hards. Will Lewis have a start advantage?

Lights out and away we go for the second time in Mexico City! Verstappen gets a great launch and retains the lead. Hamilton looks to the inside of Leclerc but has to tuck back into third place. It’s a clean opening few corners. There seemed to be some contact with Ricciardo and Russell further back in the pack, but both continue with the Mercedes up into fifth

Lap 39/71: Hamilton has DRS but Leclerc covers him off into Turn One and Turn Four. It’s very good defending from Hamilton and Sainz is trying to cover off the other Mercedes of Russell for fourth. Russell thinks Sainz is weaving. Lap 40/71: WOW. Hamilton briefly goes onto the grass at Turn One and bravely goes up the inside of Leclerc. That was a brilliant move to take second place. Lap 44/71: As one Mercedes gets past a Ferrari, Russell can’t do the same and is stuck behind Sainz in the battle for fourth.

Lap 48/71: Some quick-fire moves from Lando Norris brings him back into 10th, with the latest on Nico Hulkenberg down into the first corner. Fernando Alonso retires from the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Aston Martin mechanics wheel him back into the garage after Alonso was last but one of the drivers still in the race.

Lap 50/71: Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri touch at Turn One which sends the AlphaTauri driver into a spin. Piastri feels Tsunoda came across him. On the lap before, the pair made contact in Turns Two and Three, as neither driver did not want to give up in the fight for seventh.

Lap 53/71: Up front, Max Verstappen has steadily raced away since the restart and his lead over Lewis Hamilton has just reached 10 seconds. But Hamilton has still also eased clear of Leclerc since overtaking the Ferrari. He’s 5s up the road now.

Lap 56/71: Piastri locks up at Turn One and then lets Norris through after Turn Three. Norris thanks his team-mate and will now set about chasing down Ricciardo.

Lap 60/71: Great stuff from Lando Norris. He goes around the outside of Daniel Ricciardo at Turn Four. Other drivers would have backed out from that but Norris got his car stopped and dances around the outside to have the inside for Turn Five which follows immediately. George Russell is next and only 3.5s ahead in fifth.

Lap 65/71: Now this is the big battle for the remainder of this season. George Russell holds fifth but now has the charging Lando Norris, his good friend, for company for these final six laps. The McLaren will have DRS on the Mercedes next time around at the very latest at this rate.

Lap 67/71: Another stunning move from Norris. He sets it up perfectly from Turn One to get a good run down to Turn Four, which forces Russell to the inside. Then Norris cuts back to the outside for the right of Turn Five and tucks back again to get the inside for Turn Six. Great stuff.

It’s victory number 16 for Max Verstappen in 2023 – a new record for a driver in a single season. Lewis Hamilton takes second place and sets the fastest lap on the last lap. Charles Leclerc takes third for Ferrari, with team-mate Carlos Sainz in fourth. Lando Norris charges to fifth and George Russell holds off Daniel Ricciardo for sixth.