Sainz dominates to take glorious Mexico GP victory
Overall it was a very eventful race at Mexico but Carlos Sainz really didn't put a single foot wrong all weekend and continued this today to stay out of trouble and drive to a well deserved victory. Lando Norris finished second while the second Ferrari of Leclerc completed the podium.
The long run from the starting line to the first corner is typically a recipe advantageous for the cars not on pole, and again this proved to be true. Sainz though lost his leading position long before the first corner as Verstappen enjoyed a better getaway. The duo went side by side, blocking any attempts from Norris to overtake.
Sainz did emerge inthe lead after Turn 2 but wisely let Verstappen past as the Spaniard had left the track through Turn 1 and 2. Norris and Leclerc maintained position while the Mercedes switched as Hamilton got the better getaway. The action happened behind however as Tsunoda got contact on the right rear wheel, sending him into a spin and into the barriers. His race was over before braking for Turn 1. Albon's left front was the originator, but he had nowhere to go and also had to retire from the race immediately as the impact broke his steering.
While the safety car was brought out on track to allow the clearing of the two stranded cars, Perez was informed that he was under investigation for a false start. The Mexican argued there was nothing wrong and it was "a great start" in which he indeed gained 5 places. Unfortunately for the home hero has was found guilty and given a 5-second penalty.
The safety car left att he end of lap 6, allowing Verstappen to dictate the pace and get racing again. Sainz did not get close enough to pose a challenge while Leclerc was immediately menacing Norris for third.
With DRS enabled, Sainz enjoyed a nice slipstream and passed Verstappen in the first corner of Lap 1. As Verstappen complained about battery issues, Norris was all over him and immediately overtook the Dutchman at Turn 4. However, as Verstappen again went wide, Norris moved off track and then had to back off to let Sainz past again. This then enabled Verstappen to punch back but the Red Bull went wide again, this time completely off track, forcing Norris off as well.
Norris fumed on the radio but Leclerc was happy to take second place away from the fighting duo. This time though the stewards had their say on it once again, handing Verstappen a hefty 10 second penalty. Verstappen was surely surprised and said "10? I'm impressed", with his race engineer replying "Yes Max, that's a lot".
Behind the leading four, who were still close to one another, Russell got ahead of Hamilton despite a fairly strong muscular defence that saw Hamilton move as a reaction of Russell's move.
400 race starter Fernando Alonso had none of the battling fun and was told to retire his Aston Martin on lap 16.
By lap 24 the Ferraris were steadily building up a lead while Norris was seemingly unable to make it past Verstappen, despite being very close. To help him a bit, Verstappen was handed another 10-second penalty for leaving the track at Turn 8 and gaining an advantage. When Russell was told about it, all he said was "wow". Verstappen on the other hand reacted "Ah well we just continue, but this is just silly man".
Having complained about his medium compound tyres, Verstappen was told to box. A lenghty stop of cause given the 20 second penalty had to be served before the mechanics could touch the car to change the tyres. That made for a 24 second stop, putting him down in 15th position, behind Ocon and ahead of his own teammate, Sergio Perez. Stroll in 17th was the only driver still behind them.
Verstappen's stop was the beginning of a series of stops for the front runners too with first Norris pitting, then Leclerc and another lap later Sainz. The Spaniard race leader wasn't really agreeing with this stop and wanted to go a bit longer but clearly, with the advantage in hand, Ferrari was only pitting to cover Norris and prevent losing track positon.
Russell was also called in on Leclerc's lap, and he too questioned afterwards why they didn't go for a couple of laps more as he now had to overtake Lawson who was battling with Piastri. This cost Hamilton lots of time as he came up from behind that duo.
Piastri was of course still running on his medium tyres from the start, just like Colapinto in 8th who got Verstappen's company and got passed by the Red Bull on lap 36 of 71.
14 laps later Hamilton got back in touch with Russell, challenging him for fourth place. The duo were far behind Norris in third and also more than 10 seconds ahead of Verstappen who had meanwhile moved up the ranking thanks to the late stoppers. The Dutchman however wasn't closing in on the Mercedes duo despite them battling one another and Verstappen enjoying a clear track.
Behind Verstappen were the Haas duo and then Piastri who had the freshest tyres and was hunting down the cars ahead at an impressive rate. On lap 57 Piastri made it past Hulkenberg with the other Haas of Magnussen 7 seconds further up the road.
In front Sainz was increasing his advantage on Leclerc while Norris closed in on the second Ferrari. Some backmarkers didn't help Leclerc who seemed to have more problems to get past them compared to the other podium contenders. Norris followed that up with a fastest lap on lap 62 to get in DRS range of the Ferrari.
The battle for second then suddenly took an unexpected turn with Leclerc slipping and nearly ending up in the wall on the exit of the final corner. Accelleration is key in that corner and Charles had probably been a little too aggressive on the throttle to defend his postion. Norris then recorded another fastest lap to quickly distance Leclerc.
The Mercedes duo were also closer than ever with Hamilton momentarily ahead in Turn 5. On lap 65 Russell was forced to do another late defensive move on the main straight to maintain the advantage, but one lap later Hamilton was even closer and got completely ahead of his team mate ahead of the braking zone.
Just before Leclerc pitted for a late attempt at fatest lap, Lawson took that away from Norris by using this fresh set of soft tyres that he got along with a new front wing after contact with Colapinto. Leclerc and Ferrari weren't the only ones thinking about this as Perez was then also called in for a late stop. Leclerc got the job done and Perez stranded at a few tenths.
Not worried by any of this, Sainz continued without error and deservedly won the Mexican Grand Prix, less than 5 seconds ahead of Norris and in front of his parents and girlfriend, all present at the circuit. Carlos Sainz Sr was soon seen at the Ferrari pitwall to congratulate the team.
Charles Leclerc completes the podium, most likely with mixed feelings, but definitely as part of another great result for Ferrari.
