2023-10-29 22:15:00
Contents
Verstappen celebrates his 16th win of the season and improves his own record. Teammate Perez experiences a debacle.
The podium
1. Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull) 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR, Mercedes)3. Charles Leclerc (MON, Ferrari)
Top and flop at Red Bull’s lightning start
They only had starting positions 3 (Max Verstappen) and 5 (Sergio Perez), but the Red Bull drivers still grabbed a double lead until the first corner. World champion Verstappen managed to rush between the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz that had started in front of him.
On the other hand, Perez was hit by Leclerc, who was driving next to him, and flew off in the first corner. The Mexican’s car was inspected at the Red Bull pits – but the home race was over for the 33-year-old, to the disappointment of the audience. Perez’s 2nd place in the World Championship is more in danger than ever.
Verstappen, on the other hand, drove almost effortlessly to his 16th win of the season (in the 19th race). The 26-year-old thus improved his own record from the previous year (15 wins) and triumphed in Mexico for the 5th time. Even bad luck when changing tires and a restart of the race didn’t faze him.
Interruption after Magnussen crash
After almost half of the race, Kevin Magnussen crashed into the barrier – possibly due to a defect. Flames erupted from his car and the race was stopped – bad luck for those who had recently driven into the pits to change tires.
Lucky for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who moved up to third place thanks to the “free change”, overtook Leclerc a few laps later and crossed the finish line in second place. The record world champion equaled his best result of the season from the Australian GP at the beginning of April. The Ferrari drivers, who had previously been so convincing, were only left with 3rd (Leclerc) and 4th (Sainz).
Bottas and Zhou have no chance
Alfa Romeo was unable to take advantage of the good guidelines from qualifying (starting positions 9 and 10) and remained without points. Valtteri Bottas came 14th, Guanyu Zhou came 15th. This means that the Hinwilers remain on their 16 points and are overtaken by Alpha Tauri in the fight for 8th place in the constructors’ championship: Daniel Ricciardo finished a good 7th for the Red- Bull sister team 6 points.
Shooting overshadows GP
Open box Close box
A suspected car thief was killed in a shooting near the Mexican GP track a few hours before the race. According to media reports, three police officers and a taxi driver were injured.
This is how it continues
Formula 1 remains in Latin America, but is moving south. The Brazilian GP is coming up next weekend in Interlagos near Sao Paulo. Last year won: not Verstappen, but George Russell (Mercedes). The Dutchman only came 4th.
Legend: Testing a sombrero is part of Max Verstappen’s Mexican GP. SRF
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