Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Mexican Grand Prix
Photo courtesy of Formula 1 & Liberty Media
Today began the final five race stretch of the 2021 season, as Formula 1 visited Mexico City for the first time in two years.
Here are the Mexican Grand Prix winners & losers.
Losers
5. Antonio Giovinazzi
As I’ve mentioned many times, Giovinazzi is fighting for a spot in Formula 1.
Maybe his fate is decided, maybe it’s not. We don’t know.
What we do know is that Giovinazzi was running in 6th position and poised for a fantastic result before the team called him in to pit, where he was then stuck behind Ricciardo and Bottas and ended up out of the points entirely.
4. Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki’s bad luck started Saturday when he attempted to get out of the way of the two Red Bull drivers and ended up compromising their qualifying laps.
Then, he was called out by his potential future boss about his mistake, even though he did nothing wrong.
And then to cap it all off, he got wrecked on the opening lap and barely made it through one turn.
Just rotten luck for a kid who did everything he was told to do all weekend.
3. Lewis Hamilton
As I mentioned last race, Mexico and Brazil are great tracks for Red Bull, so Lewis was at a massive disadvantage.
Despite that, Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified on the front row for Mercedes.
But despite Lewis starting second, he lost the spot to Verstappen on the opening lap and never came close to getting it back.
It feels that the title is slipping away…
2. Daniel Ricciardo
A great qualifying session from Ricciardo was ruined on lap one when he crashed into Bottas and breaking his front wing, compromising his entire race.
From starting in 7th to outside of the points.
Bad day.
1. Valtteri Bottas
There are likely only a few races left for Valtteri Bottas to win races, unless Alfa Romeo turns into a powerhouse with next year’s new cars.
It looked like a good opportunity today with Bottas qualifying on pole position.
But, as mentioned above, Bottas was crashed into by Ricciardo, then stuck behind Ricciardo the entire race, and was given the cherry on top with a 12 second pit stop to ruin any possible chances he had for points.
It’s terrible luck for Valtteri, but it also makes things a lot more nervy at Mercedes for the constructor’s championship.
Winners
5. Lando Norris
Because of an engine change, Lando started at the back of the pack.
Didn’t matter one bit.
Lando kept his head down, his nose clean and ended up finishing in the points with a solid 10th place finish.
4. Max Verstappen
Winning the race after starting 3rd only puts him 4th on the list?
Well, Red Bull had a pace advantage here, and starting 3rd is actually a plus considering how long the front straight is and the slip stream you can get.
Still, that doesn’t take anything away from a fantastic drive from Max Verstappen, as it feels he has one hand on the driver’s championship.
3. Kimi Raikkonen
How about that from the Iceman?!
Only five races left in Kimi’s Formula 1 career, and the 42 year old Finn finished 8th, securing 4 points and pulling Alfa Romeo well out of striking distance from Haas.
(Not that Haas would catch them, of course).
2. Pierre Gasly
Another fantastic and quiet drive from Pierre Gasly, who qualified 5th and ended up finishing 4th in an Alpha Tauri.
Gasly deserves another shot in a top seat.
We just don’t know when that chance will come again.
1. Sergio Perez
The first Mexican driver to lead a lap in his home race.
The first Mexican driver to finish on the podium in his home race.
And a great performance to help Red Bull even things up at the top of the constructor’s standings, the main reason Checo was brought into Red Bull in the first place.
It may not have been the most impressive drive in Checo’s career, but I’m sure it was one of his favorites.
