Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico: Max Verstappen managed to outpace Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, however there was an unfortunate end to the race for local hero, Checo Pérez, who collided with Leclerc at the first corner of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Dutchman’s great start was down to excellent reaction time as the lights went out. Combined with the power of the RB19, Max breezed past Daniel Ricciardo ‘s AlphaTauri as well as Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz heading into Turn 1.
Checo made a great start from P5, cheered on by the home crowd. He picked up a slipstream along the 800m straight up to the first corner and drew alongside Leclerc and looked set to steal second place. However, Leclerc braked late and hard into the turn, causing Checo to collide with the right front tire of the Ferrari, launching him into the air and off the track.
As Max started to build a strong lead ahead of Leclerc, Checo returned to the pits. Despite receiving a set of Hard tyres, the damage was assessed by the team and deemed too severe for him to continue in the race.
At the front, Max gradually increased his lead over Leclerc. By lap 10, the three-time champion was over 2.5 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Sainz a further two seconds behind in third. Meanwhile, Ricciardo was holding on to fourth place, but on lap 11, Hamilton managed to overtake him at Turn 1.
The Dutchman reported to the team that his Medium tyres were worn out. Max came into the pits at the end of the lap and made a quick stop for Hard tyres. He rejoined in seventh place behind the Mercedes of George Russell.
On fresh tyres, Max easily passed Russell at Turn 1 on lap 22. On the following lap, aided by DRS, he swiftly overtook Oscar Piastri on the long straight to the same corner, to occupy fifth place. As the world champion smoothly moved past Ricciardo, Hamilton came into the pits at the end of lap 25.
Max was elevated to to third, just 3.8 seconds behind Sainz, who had yet to pit. By the end of lap 28, Max had closed the gap to Sainz in the final turn, and with DRS engaged, he overtook him on the long pit straight to claim second place, trailing Leclerc by 7.4 seconds, who hadn’t changed his tyres yet.
Sainz finally pitted at the end of lap 30, rejoining in fourth place behind Hamilton. Leclerc then made his pit stop at the end of the following lap, and allowed Max to retake the lead, with a comfortable 16-second lead over the Ferrari driver.
His advantage didn’t last long. A suspension failure on Kevin Magnussen’s Haas on lap 33 led to a collision with the barriers, prompting a Safety Car deployment and subsequently a race red flag. The race was halted as marshals set to work rebuilding the barriers and drivers tried to maintain their focus for the race restart.
22 minutes later and the lights went out for a second time. Max, still on Hard tyres, secured the lead ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton, on Mediums, relentlessly attacked Leclerc. On lap 40, Hamilton managed to pass the Monegasque at Turn 1, moving into second place.
Max dominated the rest of the race to secure his fifth win in Mexico with a comfortable lead of 15 seconds over Hamilton. Leclerc took the final podium spot, nine seconds behind the Mercedes, both of which were ultimately no match for the RB19.
An unfortunate race that could’ve been very different for the local hero, Sergio Pérez said, “I had a tremendous start, probably my best of the year, the gap was there and if you don’t go for it what’s the point in being here.
“I went for it and to be honest I wasn’t expecting Charles to brake as late as he did and simply, there was not room for three cars. I wanted this victory badly and I knew it was risky but if it had worked, I would have ended up in the lead.
“At your home grand prix, after being on the podium twice you want to give it your all and I went totally for it, I really wanted the win today and I massively tried to get that. I go home really sad because of the result but proud of myself and my Team that we left it all out there, this is just racing, and this is how the sport goes sometimes.”
After another victory in Mexico City, Max Verstappen reflected on breaking yet another record this season, “To win 16 races in a season is something I never thought would be possible, this season has been unbelievable.”
“The pace of the car was very good today, we were planning to do a different strategy to everyone else but unfortunately we couldn’t show that with the red flag. Nevertheless, we were very strong on the hard tyres at the end.
“I understand from Checo’s side why he went for it at the beginning, it would have been incredible for him to be on the podium at his home race here in Mexico. Thankfully the crowd stayed, and they’ve been amazing all weekend, I’ve felt so welcome here as I always do. For now, my head is already on to the next race, let’s see what we can do in Brazil.”
Looking back at the race and securing another win, Christian Horner , “A race of contrasting fortunes. Another amazing race by Max today, total and utter dominance, but for Checo, an absolutely gutting home race. He had a rocket ship launch of a start and had so much momentum going into that first corner. You can’t blame him for going for it to try and take the lead at his home race. but ultimately, three does not go into one and it was a crushing blow to see him out.
“Dietrich Mateschitz always used to say, “no risk, no fun” and we gave it our all from the very beginning. Both cars started incredibly well. Our starts haven’t been our strongest this year, there has been a variance to them. The control guys did a great job today. Great starts with Checo and Max in the first run and then obviously the restart and Max getting that that blinder as well.