2023 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 27 - 29

[organic]

Another sniff of the plank from Jo Bauer and disqualification incoming, then.

Mentioned this on the Discord, but Norris was the one bottoming out a lot in this race. You could literally hear it on the livestream.

I feel mclaren often do more than other teams?

[Bill_Kar]

Biggest questions for the rest of the season. Will Lewis catch Perez, will Ferrari catch Mercedes

Yes and yes

I agree. At first, after the DSQ last round, I thought Checo had enough of a gap to maintain. But I didn't expect an immediate 19 point swing, also I believe retiring at the first lap of his much expected home GP due to his IMO (mainly) own fault , Checo must be truly empty now.

Ferrari will catch Mercedes, I agree as well, GR seems to have lost his mojo somewhat. Yeah, he was never on LH's level this year, but he has regressed a lot since the summer break. Ferrari may not be the fastest, but both drivers are consistent enough.

[organic]

Biggest questions for the rest of the season. Will Lewis catch Perez, will Ferrari catch Mercedes

Yes and yes

I agree. At first, after the DSQ last round, I thought Checo had enough of a gap to maintain. But I didn't expect an immediate 19 point swing, also I believe retiring at the first lap of his much expected home GP due to his IMO (mainly) own fault , Checo must be truly empty now.

Ferrari will catch Mercedes, I agree as well, GR seems to have lost his mojo somewhat. Yeah, he was never on LH's level this year, but he has regressed a lot since the summer break. Ferrari may not be the fastest, but both drivers are consistent enough.

Also while Brazil will be better for Merc than Ferrari, I don't see Mercedes being anywhere at Las Vegas. McLaren, RB, Ferrari will all be ahead - probably with both drivers.

[Spacepace]

Biggest questions for the rest of the season. Will Lewis catch Perez, will Ferrari catch Mercedes

Yes and yes

I agree. At first, after the DSQ last round, I thought Checo had enough of a gap to maintain. But I didn't expect an immediate 19 point swing, also I believe retiring at the first lap of his much expected home GP due to his IMO (mainly) own fault , Checo must be truly empty now.

Ferrari will catch Mercedes, I agree as well, GR seems to have lost his mojo somewhat. Yeah, he was never on LH's level this year, but he has regressed a lot since the summer break. Ferrari may not be the fastest, but both drivers are consistent enough.

He is like Button struggles to adjust to changes in car design and gets lost in setup

[TFSA]

Another sniff of the plank from Jo Bauer and disqualification incoming, then.

Mentioned this on the Discord, but Norris was the one bottoming out a lot in this race. You could literally hear it on the livestream.

I feel mclaren often do more than other teams?

Yup, and it isn't necessarily an indication they're running too low. Cars were sounding like that all the time at the beginning of 2022.

Also a reason they probably don't do Plank checks more often. You're practically never gonna have cars with too much plank wear - Austin was just an outlier, and even there, they only had indications that two cars had excessive wear.

[AMG.Tzan]

Yes and yes

I agree. At first, after the DSQ last round, I thought Checo had enough of a gap to maintain. But I didn't expect an immediate 19 point swing, also I believe retiring at the first lap of his much expected home GP due to his IMO (mainly) own fault , Checo must be truly empty now.

Ferrari will catch Mercedes, I agree as well, GR seems to have lost his mojo somewhat. Yeah, he was never on LH's level this year, but he has regressed a lot since the summer break. Ferrari may not be the fastest, but both drivers are consistent enough.

Also while Brazil will be better for Merc than Ferrari, I don't see Mercedes being anywhere at Las Vegas. McLaren, RB, Ferrari will all be ahead - probably with both drivers.

God I had forgot about Vegas! These straights are endless there and Ferrari were gaining like 0,3-0,5 only down the straights! Same goes for Abu Dhabi pretty much!

So I don’t expect Lewis to make it into 2nd in the end! Had it not been for Qatar mistake and the USA embarrassment he would at least have a gap to Perez now…

Russell has to pick his pace up if Mercedes are going to keep ahead of Ferrari…

[InsaneX_Badger]

Think Mercedes got the cooling right today. Probably what made the difference in the race.

[TFSA]

Think Mercedes got the cooling right today. Probably what made the difference in the race.

Somewhat, they did have some cooling issues.

The team to praise here is actually AlphaTauri. Their pace today came from running the exact minimum amount of cooling they could get away with, giving them more race pace.

[AR3-GP]

Lucky for Max, unlucky for Charles who was on his way to victory.

Charles was not on his way to victory, and Verstappen has been screwed because Leclerc can put mediums on, and Verstappen has no mediums left.

Charles was a bit more than 16 seconds behind Max and started chewing off a few tenths immediately after putting on fresh Hards. What makes you sure he would have not won it considering Max most probably was going to stop again?

With hindsight, considering how the hard tire was not too good for Ferrari, I do think that the 1 stop was not going to work for Ferrari, especially since the car was so much weaker than RB on the hard tire.

[AMG.Tzan]

Charles was not on his way to victory, and Verstappen has been screwed because Leclerc can put mediums on, and Verstappen has no mediums left.

Charles was a bit more than 16 seconds behind Max and started chewing off a few tenths immediately after putting on fresh Hards. What makes you sure he would have not won it considering Max most probably was going to stop again?

With hindsight, considering how the hard tire was not too good for Ferrari, I do think that the 1 stop was not going to work for Ferrari, especially since the car was so much weaker than RB on the hard tire.

Have I missed something??

When was Leclerc on his way to victory?? Verstapen passed him even before he had pitted...

[AR3-GP]

Charles was a bit more than 16 seconds behind Max and started chewing off a few tenths immediately after putting on fresh Hards. What makes you sure he would have not won it considering Max most probably was going to stop again?

With hindsight, considering how the hard tire was not too good for Ferrari, I do think that the 1 stop was not going to work for Ferrari, especially since the car was so much weaker than RB on the hard tire.

Have I missed something??

When was Leclerc on his way to victory?? Verstapen passed him even before he had pitted...

There was a point in the race where Leclerc was 16 seconds behind Verstappen after Leclerc's 1st stop, and taking some time out of Verstappen while Verstappen needed a 2nd stop. Had Ferrari's pace on the hard tire not been so slow, then it would have been close at the end.

Based on what we saw, the Hard tire was dreadful for them. He dropped 23 seconds in 35 or so laps. Granted there was some cooling management, but still. Then he'd never have won anyway if the cooling problems were yet to come.

[Spoutnik]

I agree. At first, after the DSQ last round, I thought Checo had enough of a gap to maintain. But I didn't expect an immediate 19 point swing, also I believe retiring at the first lap of his much expected home GP due to his IMO (mainly) own fault , Checo must be truly empty now.

Ferrari will catch Mercedes, I agree as well, GR seems to have lost his mojo somewhat. Yeah, he was never on LH's level this year, but he has regressed a lot since the summer break. Ferrari may not be the fastest, but both drivers are consistent enough.

Also while Brazil will be better for Merc than Ferrari, I don't see Mercedes being anywhere at Las Vegas. McLaren, RB, Ferrari will all be ahead - probably with both drivers.

God I had forgot about Vegas! These straights are endless there and Ferrari were gaining like 0,3-0,5 only down the straights! Same goes for Abu Dhabi pretty much!

So I don’t expect Lewis to make it into 2nd in the end! Had it not been for Qatar mistake and the USA embarrassment he would at least have a gap to Perez now…

Russell has to pick his pace up if Mercedes are going to keep ahead of Ferrari…

I think Lewis can make it to P2 because there's still a Sprint Race in Brazil.
McLaren are there now, and I think Perez is at his lowest mentally. At best he will finish like at Austin for the remaining race.

[Sieper]

Also while Brazil will be better for Merc than Ferrari, I don't see Mercedes being anywhere at Las Vegas. McLaren, RB, Ferrari will all be ahead - probably with both drivers.

God I had forgot about Vegas! These straights are endless there and Ferrari were gaining like 0,3-0,5 only down the straights! Same goes for Abu Dhabi pretty much!

So I don’t expect Lewis to make it into 2nd in the end! Had it not been for Qatar mistake and the USA embarrassment he would at least have a gap to Perez now…

Russell has to pick his pace up if Mercedes are going to keep ahead of Ferrari…

I think Lewis can make it to P2 because there's still a Sprint Race in Brazil.
McLaren are there now, and I think Perez is at his lowest mentally. At best he will finish like at Austin for the remaining race.

Perez won’t be low mentally. He thought he was going to win this race as well. He always thinks positively about his chances.

Max today pulled an incredible start. I feared the restart but need not worry. Lewis on his yellows wasn’t there.

An enjoyable race with a few very bad choices by some but also some very good driving by Ric, Nor, Ham, Ver, Lec and some further down that I have not in eye completely.

Glad the fans behaved, for the most part and no big controversies happened.

[TFSA]

There was a point in the race where Leclerc was 16 seconds behind Verstappen after Leclerc's 1st stop, and taking some time out of Verstappen while Verstappen needed a 2nd stop. Had Ferrari's pace on the hard tire not been so slow, then it would have been close at the end.

Based on what we saw, the Hard tire was dreadful for them. He dropped 23 seconds in 35 or so laps. Granted there was some cooling management, but still. Then he'd never have won anyway if the cooling problems were yet to come.

This entirely ignores that Verstappen would be the faster car after he has done his second stop. The pace Leclerc had this race compared to Max was nowhere. Max had deg issues on his first stint, but on his second and third stint, he was way faster. Formula Data Analysis has Max at a pace advantage of +.56 over Leclerc on what is pretty much the shortest track of the season (if i recall correctly).

Leclerc catching 1-2 tenths per lap after his pitstop with Max ons older tires wouldn't make up for the fact that Max had way more race pace today. Max would eat that gap and Leclerc after his 2nd pit stop. The win was never on.

[AR3-GP]

There was a point in the race where Leclerc was 16 seconds behind Verstappen after Leclerc's 1st stop, and taking some time out of Verstappen while Verstappen needed a 2nd stop. Had Ferrari's pace on the hard tire not been so slow, then it would have been close at the end.

Based on what we saw, the Hard tire was dreadful for them. He dropped 23 seconds in 35 or so laps. Granted there was some cooling management, but still. Then he'd never have won anyway if the cooling problems were yet to come.

This entirely ignores that Verstappen would be the faster car after he has done his second stop. The pace Leclerc had this race compared to Max was nowhere.

I'm not saying Ferrari would have won. Just saying we would have been held in a bit more suspense, as Verstappen would have had to catch and overtake. What was left to the imagination went out the window with the broken Haas.

Yet still if Leclerc went to mediums, maybe we would have seen him have to hold of Verstappen for 20 laps or more. We don't know.