Mexican Grand Prix – The highs and lows of the editorial team
A great performance from Verstappen, struggling Mercedes, and a controlled Pierre Gasly. As after each Grand Prix, the MotorsInside editorial team presents its Tops/Flops.
Les TOPS
Max Verstappen, a little closer to the stars
A blistering start, flawless race management, increasing maturity: Max Verstappen delivered a faultless performance in Mexico and once again showed that he has all the qualities to become world champion. Even before the first corner, he had already erased his team’s poor Saturday. The rest was a masterpiece. Never threatened by Lewis Hamilton, the Dutch driver was able to control his race and his tires as he wished. In Mexico, he seized his ninth victory of the season after 18 races, which represents 50% of the Grand Prix races held so far. Heading to Latin America with a 12-point lead over Hamilton, Verstappen will fly to Brazil for the next Grand Prix with a 19-point advantage over his rival. Considering that the winner of a race earns 25 points, everything is still possible, but a trend is starting to emerge.
Pierre Gasly’s strength
Despite a solo race and a lack of visibility from the director on television, Pierre Gasly delivered a magnificent race. After successful qualifications with a fifth place on the grid, the Norman driver managed to secure his third Top 4 of the season. He held his own against the Ferraris after navigating perfectly through the chaos of the first corners. Gasly is undoubtedly the most deserving driver of this race after Verstappen. His perfect control and great reliability allow his team AlphaTauri to be 5th in the constructors’ standings, tied on points with Alpine. Moreover, with a 19-point gap to Daniel Ricciardo in the drivers’ standings, the Frenchman can be ambitious for the end of this season.
The fighting spirit of Kimi Räikkönen
In addition to Max Verstappen’s magnificent start, Kimi Räikkönen also treated us to a great performance in the first lap. If you want to know how to avoid the pitfalls of a Grand Prix start, just watch the first kilometers of the Finnish driver’s race from the onboard camera. Between overtaking, steering maneuvers, and even slides, reminiscent of the rally driver he once was, the 2007 world champion spoiled us. Starting in 10th place, Iceman managed to secure four points for Alfa Romeo with an intense race pace, finishing in 8th place. We still have four more Grand Prix races to enjoy this driver who has inspired a whole generation of Formula 1 fans and beyond. There is no doubt that the Espoo native still has a few magic tricks up his sleeve.
Les FLOPS
Resignation at Mercedes.
What a contrast with the qualifications! Never in the rhythm of the Red Bulls, the Mercedes drivers experienced various fortunes during this race. Literally swallowed up at the start by Verstappen’s exceptional start, the black arrows suffered Austrian domination throughout the race. Lewis Hamilton even admitted on the radio a feeling of helplessness and even inferiority compared to his rivals; an extremely rare occurrence to be noted, given how the Briton is known for never giving up. His teammate Valtteri Bottas saw his race ruined right from the start due to a too distracted Daniel Ricciardo. The Finn subsequently found himself stuck behind the Australian’s car for much of the race without being able to overtake him. Adding to this a botched pit stop (11.7 seconds of immobilization), Bottas’ race quickly became forgettable. The only satisfaction came from setting the fastest lap in the final lap, preventing Verstappen from having a 20-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ championship. In the constructors’ championship, Mercedes now only has a one-point lead over Red Bull. Did we witness an almost passing of the torch in Mexico?
Daniel Ricciardo, the bad student
Her failed start deprived us of a battle between the four fastest cars on the grid. Starting seventh between the two Ferraris, the Australian driver had the means to defend himself against the Italian team. Instead, he contributed to his team losing the third place in the constructors’ standings. McLaren had a 3.5-point lead over Ferrari arriving in Mexico; they leave with a deficit of 13 units. It’s a clear trend. Since Turkey and the introduction of a major engine upgrade, Ferrari has been dominating McLaren in qualifying and race pace. Knowing that as the season comes to an end, teams are increasingly focusing on 2022, it will be very difficult for the Woking team to catch up with Maranello’s. But given that this 2021 season is full of surprises, nothing is impossible…
Alpine in big trouble
The end of the season is difficult for the French team. In the last three races, Alpine has only scored 3 points compared to 22 for AlphaTauri, its rival for fifth place in the championship, which is now tied with both teams having 106 points. In Mexico, the team has to settle for the two points brought by Fernando Alonso’s 9th place finish, while Esteban Ocon could not do better than 13th. The French driver can consider himself lucky to have finished the race as he saw Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher literally ride over his car at the start. It is worth noting here the resilience of the Formula 1 cars in 2021. However, a crisis is brewing at Alpine. A sixth place in the championship would be a heavy statement of failure considering that last year, Renault (the team’s former name) had finished fifth.
