At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, the start is like a drag race as the first turn is 800 metres away. So being in pole position, as Max Verstappen was, did not necessarily mean having a great advantage but he was not too concerned since his car had an edge over the Mercedes-AMG of George Russell on the straights anyway.
So on lights out, the Red Bull driver got ahead, with Russell and Lewis Hamilton getting in behind him. Verstappen’s team mate, Sergio Perez, was watching for an opportunity but with Russell in his line, he was impeded a bit. Nevertheless, he pushed on the second corner and Russell had to go wide (with what seemed like a slight contact) and got ahead to emerge third after the corner.
The long straight also meant less chance of an early incident and some drivers managed to improve their positions in the ‘drag race’. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso were able to displace Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas down to eighth from his sixth starting position, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll did very well to move 5 places up by the second corner. He had started from the back due to a 3-place grid penalty for the crash with Alonso in the US GP.
At the end of the first 10 laps, Verstappen was able to build a gap of almost 2 seconds to Hamilton who was on slightly more advantageous tyres. Perez stayed with the Mercedes-AMG driver, with lots of cheering from the home crowd.
Tyre grip was the challenge on the smooth track and Stroll was unable to move further beyond his 15th place. Scuderia Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly tried to get past him on lap 13 and the attempt saw both cars going off the track, an incident which was noted by the Stewards. Although Gasly took over 15th place, he did not get any message to give back the position to Stroll. However, he did get a 5-second penalty for forcing the Canadian driver off the track.
Stroll came in on lap 18 to change the tyres that had been making it a struggle for him and other cars began to also show up in the pit lane. Almost everyone, including Verstappen, had been sliding more than usual and wanted another set of tyres.
The two Ferraris were not well set up for Mexico and it showed as their drivers were unable to improve their positions, Carlos Sainz in fifth and Leclerc in sixth, with Russell a comfortable 8 seconds ahead in fourth.
Lap 24 saw the first Red Bull coming in and it was Perez. An uncharacteristic 5-seconds stranding still kept him long enough that he returned in sixth behind the two Ferraris, Verstappen came in on lap 26, so Hamilton took over the lead and when the Red Bull driver rejoined the race, he was just in front of Sainz,
Hamilton was 5.4 seconds ahead of his team mate when he came in on lap 30, one lap after Leclerc. He took on hard tyres, which suggested that the team was going for a one-stop strategy. Hamilton rejoined in third, almost 7 seconds behind the World-Champion-designate. Sainz followed Hamilton in and when he rejoined, he was ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Lap 35 saw Russell coming in and taking on hard tyres before returning to the track in fourth. Meanwhile, Perez was able to move up steadily and by lap 37, he had Hamilton in his sights so the Mercedes-AMG driver would have to start defensive moves.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel had managed 38 laps on his soft tyres before finally having to come in. There were still 5 other cars that had not come in yet and the drivers might have been hoping the F1 Safety Car would come out for something. But after 3 laps, nothing happened so Bottas and Alonso came in for hard tyres.
On lap 43, the order at the front was still unchanged with Verstappen having a 10-second lead over Hamilton who was kept occupied by Perez. Russell was 6 seconds further back in fourth but safe Sainz who was over 20 seconds back. Just before lap 50, Bottas was in the top 10 duelling Alpine’s Esteban Ocon as race leader Verstappen started to close in on them.
The first major incident occurred on lap 51 as Ricciardo made a move on Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 5. He miscalculated and the two cars collided. The McLaren’s front tyre hit Tsunoda’s chassis and sent the Alphatauri flying but landing safely and the Japanese driver was able to head for the pits. Ricciardo would get a severe 10-second penalty, but it would be no consolation for the Tsunoda who had to retire as the car damage was too great.
With 13 laps remaining, the question was whether Verstappen’s tyres would hold till the end. Track temperatures were cool and the expected rain did not show up. The Red Bull driver was clocking consistent times with no pressure, while Hamilton was constantly having to look in the mirrors for Perez who had loads of spiritual boost from the crowd.
Verstappen was unlikely to come in but then came the interruption of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC( as Alonso’s car lost power near Turn 1 and he went off to the side to stop. However, as it was not an accident and no debris needed to be cleared, it was going to be a short VSC so no one thought of wasting time on a pit stop. Russell had asked to come in as he felt he might have some damage from earlier debris but was told to remain on the track.
With 3 laps remaining, Verstappen was in a comfortable lead on his way to another win in Mexico. Hamilton was over 14 seconds back, with Perez almost resigned to just keep the third spot on the podium. Verstappen took the chequered flag for the Mexican GP and for Mercedes-AMG, the second and fourth placing gave the team a good boost in the Constructors championship. It was a poor showing for the Ferrari team which crossed the line in fifth and sixth, Sainz just ahead of Leclerc.
