In Mexico, we witnessed a Grand Prix that unfolded more or less as expected. We already knew that with scorching temperatures, always above 45°C on the tarmac, the drivers would try to avoid using the Soft tire as much as possible. And that’s exactly what happened. Only Norris would reset a start on C5, devising a strategy that would lead him to finish in P5 after starting from 17th place.
Lando Norris’s magnificent race
Not to mention that the British driver couldn’t even fully benefit from the red flag, which was called for due to Magnussen’s incident to repair the barriers. On lap 34, Lando had climbed up to eighth place before the Safety Car, but then, unaware of the red flag coming out, he made a second pit stop to put on the Medium tire, slipping to P10. If McLaren had known about the suspension, Lando could have restarted in a better position.
Despite switching to the Medium tire, Lando Norris didn’t have a good start. He got stuck in turn 1 and slid down to P15. However, the driver didn’t lose heart, and considering where he finished, the fact that he found himself in 15th place on lap 36 gives even more value to his comeback. That’s why he was voted Driver of the Day. S-H-M was his tactic, with the Medium C4 tire covering 37 laps. His poor qualifying on Saturday probably cost him the chance to fight against Max Verstappen. Second place was certainly within reach.
Summary of strategies
The race was initially based on a one-stop strategy, but some drivers decided to switch to two stops, taking advantage of the red flag. Hamilton, Russell, Piastri, Hulkenberg, and Sargeant (the Williams driver retired during the last lap, most likely due to a suspected irregularity on his car) employed an M-H-M strategy. Tsunoda went for Medium-Hard-Hard, while all the others continued the race with the set of tires mounted just before the red flag.
Max Verstappen, who had decided to base his race on two stops, continued the race with the second set of Hard tires fitted the previous lap. He secured his 51st career victory (equaling Prost) with an M-H-H strategy. However, as reported in the Pirelli table, the most commonly used tactic during the GP remained Medium-Hard, used by 6 drivers.
Verstappen seeks remedies against boredom
Max took control of the race immediately after the start and, despite the option of comfortably sealing the win with just one pit stop, he chose to go for two stops. In the writer’s opinion, this decision aimed to make the GP a bit more eventful and less boring. Even before his second stop from Medium to Hard, Max had recovered almost all the time lost during the first pit stop, overtaking all the cars that came his way. Only Leclerc escaped his maneuver (still just for a few seconds). The Dutchman possesses such a strong race pace that he could probably win with 3 or 4 pit stops.
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Ferrari squeezed to the max, Hamilton outstanding
Ferrari couldn’t do more against this Red Bull, this Mercedes, and this McLaren. Fortunately, the mistakes Lando Norris made in qualifying allowed Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to have a considerable margin of safety over Woking’s driver throughout the race; otherwise, Charles’ podium would have been compromised.
At the start, the Red Bulls had a better launch and took advantage of the long straight to be side by side with Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen passed first in Turn 1 due to his advantageous line, while Sergio Perez, being on the outside, attempted an overly optimistic maneuver, collided with Charles Leclerc, and ended his race there. Fortunately for Charles, the damage was limited to the front wing, and he managed to continue (no penalty for racing under unsafe conditions in the laps following the contact). It’s curious that he was much more competitive in the first stint of the race with Medium tires and a damaged wing than in the second and final stint with the Hard compound and a new wing (replaced during the red flag).
They couldn’t have done more; both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz squeezed the SF-23 to the maximum. Lewis Hamilton managed to secure second place starting from P6 by implementing a great strategy and a superb tire management performance. In the early stages of the race, he passed Carlos Sainz by opting for an earlier pit stop than Ferrari. He later decided to go all out to overtake Charles Leclerc by switching to the Mediums at the restart after the red flag. George Russell did the same on the other Mercedes.
Lewis utilized all his experience, got ahead of Charles Leclerc a few laps after the Mexican Grand Prix restart, and managed to finish in P2 thanks to an outstanding tire management. This is also demonstrated by the fact that he achieved the fastest lap on the final lap: 1’21”334. The same cannot be said for George Russell. On the contrary, George, unable to pass Carlos Sainz (the Spaniard was perfect in the duel with the young Briton), asked too much of his Medium tires, resulting in a significant drop in performance in the closing stages. This prevented him from defending against Lando Norris’s arrival and cost him fifth place.
This emphasizes once again the excellent job done by Lando, who made 10 overtakes in the second part of the race, climbing from P15 to P5 on Medium tires. Truly impressive.
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