Sainz Delights to Take Mexico City Victory
After a terrific overtake early on in the Race, it was Carlos Sainz who drove off into the sunset to take his 4th career victory in what could be his last one for a while! Lando Norris managed to recover well to take second for McLaren after some more controversy with his Championship Rival whilst Charles Leclerc rounded out the Podium in what was another strong day for the Ferrari!
The Biggest Talking Points
Max Verstappen got a great launch off the start which allowed him to lead out of the first sector after Carlos Sainz gave the position back for originally overtaking off the track. However, the Race was quickly under a Safety Car as a massive incident between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda saw both drivers out of the Grand Prix almost immediately! This is just one of those incidents, neither guy did anything wrong, and it was a shame for both of them because they were in a good starting position! When the Race got back underway, it was Verstappen who led from Sainz who led from Norris before the first run with DRS saw Carlos send one on Max to brilliantly take the lead coming out of Turn 2! However, this fighting allowed Lando Norris to try his way around the outside of Verstappen into Turn 4 which is when the two drivers touched wheels, forcing Norris to skip over the grass. Just a couple corners later and there were more shenanigans between the two Championship Rivals as Max sent one on Lando into Turn 7 which saw both guys go off and let Charles Leclerc through into second. Ultimately, the FIA decided to give Max two lots of 10-second time penalties, and I think that’s a bit crazy honestly! However, they were definetly both worthy of penalties, especially the second one, but how the first penalty was given as 10-seconds when others did the same last week and only got a 5 is just wild to me!
Anyway, the middle part of the Race wasn’t the most exciting, but we did have some good battles as Liam Lawson got his elbows out against Sergio Perez in what’s a very fascinating battle given they were fighting for more than just track position! Ultimately, both men got a little too aggressive and it resulted with Checo picking up damage. Perez wasn’t done yet though as just a couple laps later, he forced Lance Stroll off of the track at Turn 4 (the same corner where Max and Lando had their incident), but for some reason, the FIA didn’t give out any penalties! I’m sorry, but that makes literally no sense! Anyway, things weren’t going particually great for Aston Martin anyway as Fernando Alonso was forced to retire in what was supposed to be a celebratory 400th Grand Prix, and towards the end of the Race, the main battling became between the two Mercedes as George Russell tried to keep his ailing car ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton! To be fair to George, he did a pretty good job, but it ultimately wasn’t enough as Hamilton was able to sail through for P4! Behind this came the recovering Max Verstappen who had to settle for 6th whilst his Championship Rival Lando Norris gained some more important points after a mistake from Charles Leclerc saw the Ferrari guy nearly smash his car in half! The Rookies were also being super aggressive as Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto made contact which rather ruined Lawson’s Race whilst Carlos Sainz, who we’ve barely spoken about, took the Chequered Flag first in what was a comfortable victory for the Spaniard!
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix and the first one is obviously for Carlos Sainz! Carlos Sainz is a wonderful racing driver, he’s consistently up there, and it’s honestly a travesty that he’s not going to be in a top seat next season. However, this was a really nice moment for Carlos, but it’s a bit premature to say that this is his final win for Ferrari! And the other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Kevin Magnussen cause finishing P7 is absolutely amazing! We haven’t talked about Haas because their Race was pretty quiet, but double points is such a great achievement, and it’s nice to see K-Mag ending his career on a bit of a high! I also thought Lando Norris did a great job to recover to second after his early incidents, Charles Leclerc can be pleased with another Podium, and Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly can both be happy to add some points to their overall total!
Drives Who Had a Shocker
In total, I’ve only given out one 1 for this Race, and that is unfortunately for Sergio Perez! It felt like part of the reason Red Bull kept Sergio Perez on till the end of the season was because of the Mexico City Grand Prix! However, Checo’s Home Race was a shocker, he picked up a penalty at the start for being too far out of his Grid box, he had an incident with Liam Lawson, he should’ve gotten a penalty for forcing Lance Stroll off the track, and he ultimately finished 17th and last! That’s just unacceptable, and that’s coming from someone that has a soft spot for Checo Perez! To be fair to the rest of the Grid, no one really had a proper shocker, even though Max Verstappen had a disappointing afternoon!
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Carlos Sainz: 10
Lando Norris: 9
Charles Leclerc: 8 (FL)
Lewis Hamilton: 7
George Russell: 7
Max Verstappen: 5
Kevin Magnussen: 10
Oscar Piastri: 6
Nico Hulkenberg: 8
Pierre Gasly: 8
Lance Stroll: 6
Franco Colapinto: 5
Esteban Ocon: 5
Valtteri Bottas: 6
Zhou Guanyu: 4
Liam Lawson: 6
Sergio Perez: 1
Fernando Alonso: - (DNF)
Alex Albon: - (DNF)
Yuki Tsunoda: - (DNF)
Credit: AutoRacing1.com
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