Ferrari secured its second consecutive victory after winning in the United States Grand Prix at the Austin circuit, finishing first at the Mexico City Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz, but the chance for a second double win evaporated just a few laps from the end due to an error made by Charles Leclerc as he exited the final corner.
The Monegasque lost control of the rear end, going off track and allowing a charging Lando Norris to pass him at the beginning of the straight. From that moment on, Charles Leclerc focused solely on bringing his SF-24 to the finish line, contributing to recovering points against McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.
The final result indicated that Lando Norris was faster than the Monegasque driver in the last stint on hard tires, but Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, explained what led Charles Leclerc to lose all the advantage he had over the McLaren rival before making the decisive mistake at the last corner.
According to the French manager, the lapped drivers in front of Charles (particularly Lance Stroll, though he was never explicitly named) took too long to respect the blue flags properly displayed by the track marshals and let the Ferrari driver pass. This led to a loss of tire temperature in the SF-24, which proved crucial in the lost battle against Lando Norris just a few kilometers later.
Frederic Vasseur pointed fingers at Franco Colapinto, Liam Lawson, and Lance Stroll for ignoring blue flags, which ultimately proved costly for the Maranello team: “[Leclerc] lost three or four seconds into the traffic with some idiots,” the French manager explained in an interview for Sky Sports F1 at the end of the Mexican Grand Prix – “That Norris was ultimately faster than Leclerc is an analysis made by others, and I do not agree. Norris came back, Charles pushed a bit too much. Perhaps he lost also a little bit of temperature in the tyres when he was with these guys. Honestly, they have to respect the blue flag and I don’t understand why the FIA didn’t give them a penalty. We had four seconds on Norris. And after the three guys, we were 1.2 or 1.3 ahead.”
During his post-race discussion with select media, the Ferrari team principal elaborated on his thoughts: “Charles was not happy [Saturday] with P3 or P4, but still today he did a good race. I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag, it cost us P2. But at the end of the day, it is like it is, but we have to be focused now on the next one and forget this one. When you do five corners when the guy has a solid blue, it’s not unfortunate. It’s a mistake of the guy.” – the French manager pointed out.
In summary, without the behavior deemed incorrect by the lapped drivers, Charles Leclerc would have had the opportunity to give Ferrari a second consecutive one-two finish, this time at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, although McLaren showed slightly better pace on the hard tires in the last stint.
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