Mexico GP: Max wins, Lewis P2, Checo P3
In a stunning reversal of fortunes from Qualifying, Max went from P3 to P1 and wins the Mexico GP. Lewis finished P2 whereas Sergio Perez finished on the podium for the first time in his home race.
Maximum Max at Mexico
Red Bull was always strong at the high altitude Mexico City GP but things changed in the final round of Quali when Mercedes managed to put up their cars on the front row, ahead of the two Red Bulls. However, in another twist Max took full advantage of the long straight before turn 1, put his car in a slip stream behind Valtteri Bottas, braked late and took the lead at turn 1. From that point onwards Max did not look back and went on win the race.
Nightmare for Bottas at the Mexico Race
The Finnish driver just couldn’t catch a break. After a spectacular Quali session and starting on Pole, Bottas lost his position to Max at turn1. Things were just starting to go downhill from this point onwards. Daniel Ricciardo came from behind, had a lock up and clipped Bottas in the back, causing him to spin and move to the back of the grid. Bottas tried to climb up the places but was behind Daniel for a majority of the race. To make things worse he had a bad pit stop which further messed up his chances. The only saving grace in the entire race for him was snatching away the fastest lap point from Max.
Lewis couldn’t do much to challenge Max
Mercedes was able to put in their cars on the front row in the Quali session but their pace was no match for the Red Bull. Max clearly had more pace than Lewis and kept pulling away throughout the race. Lewis couldn’t pull away from Checo too and in fact was very close to losing his P2 position had there been a few more laps left in the race. Lewis is now 19 points behind Max and he has to be very consistent in the next four races to retain the Championship title.
A Mexican on home podium for the first time
It was the first time that a Mexican has been on podium in his home race. It was the first time that a Mexican lead the race in his home venue. Yes ideally Checo would have want to win the race. He was very close to overtaking Lewis in the end and getting a 1-2 finish for Red Bull. But still would be very happy with a podium finish in his home race. The crowd cheered for him right from FP1 and they were not disappointed.
A quiet but a good race for Gasly
Gasly had a lonely race in his Alpha Tauri. However he would be very happy with his P4 finish. His drive was clinical and got a good chunk of points for himself and the team.
Ferrari boys also were very consistent. Both Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz had good pace and finished P5 and P6 respectively. Sebastian Vettel was consistent in the entire race and finished P7, after starting P9. Kimi Raikkonen had a great start to the race and was able to hold his position throughout to finish P8. Alonso and Lando finished P9 and P10 respectively, getting some good points.
Yuki Tsunoda and Mich Schumacher had a crash in turn 1 and were out of the race. George Russell got a good start and was in the points after first lap. However he couldn’t keep up and kept slipping down, finishing P16.
Mexico GP race classification: Max wins and furthers his lead
