Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Mexican Grand Prix

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Halfway through watching the Mexican Grand Prix, I realized there were only two races left after this one.

That’s a bummer.

So was this race, for the most part.

But history was made.

Here are the winners & losers of the Mexican Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Yuki Tsunoda

Poor Yuki.

He was having a pretty decent race before a late lunge by Ricciardo damaged his car and ruined his race.

Not his fault, but still a big bummer.

4. Lance Stroll

And here we have the other Aston.

Stroll was involved in the race early before getting pushed off the track by Gasly.

Still, he didn’t sustain any damage and then he just disappeared down the race.

3. Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is one of the most talented drivers in the world.

He also does not know how to keep his mouth shut.

I won’t dive into the controversies he’s created or the bridges he’s burned throughout his career or anything like that. I’ll just focus on today’s race.

Fernando got on the radio and said in a very frustrating voice “What a season.”

First of all, I don’t know if you noticed where you’re going next year Fernando, but it could be a lot worse!

Second, he was in the points when he said it!

I will say, I can’t wait to see his outbursts on a Lawrence Stroll owned team. That’ll be wild.

2. Mercedes

Boy oh boy did Mercedes get the strategy wrong today.

They had the pace to compete with the Red Bulls today but they went with a medium-hard strategy instead of a soft-medium strategy.

Maybe their car couldn’t handle it. I’m not sure.

But it ruined their chance at a win.

1. Ferrari

Ferrari started the season competing with Red Bull for who would be the fastest car.

We’re at the end of the season, and not only is Ferrari long behind Red Bull, they’re now getting caught up by Mercedes who seemed miles away at the start of the season.

It was NOT the season Ferrari was hoping for, and while 5th and 6th isn’t bad, it’s definitely worse than where they started.

Winners

5. Valtteri Bottas

Step 1: Get into 10th with two faster cars behind you.

Step 2: Let those faster cars battle each other to lose time.

Step 3: Profit for the last point of the race.

Hell yeah, Valtteri.

4. Sergio Perez

Checo got another podium at his home track.

There’s simply no better feeling than that.

Especially for us, because we get to see more of Checo’s happy dad.

3. Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel friggin Ricciardo, man.

That is what we expect to see from a guy like him.

He made a mistake and got a 10 second penalty, but it didn’t matter.

He got his head down, put the pedal to the floor and finished 7th anyway.

He still has that talent in him. Everyone knows it.

We just need to see more consistency from him.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure there’s a place for him in the sport next year, even if I still think he deserves one.

2. Lewis Hamilton

It’s been a tumultuous season for Lewis Hamilton. Definitely not something he would have wanted while he goes for his 8th title.

But it’s slowly getting just a little bit better.

Another podium as Mercedes continue to improve, and he’ll want to keep this momentum up for the last two races and into the offseason for next year.

1. Max Verstappen

But come on. There was really only one option when a record is broken.

The 2013 season from Sebastian Vettel set a record for 9 race wins in a row and 13 total race wins.

And the 2022 season saw Max Verstappen break the record for most race wins in a season with 14.

And he still has two more to go.

He has simply been heads and shoulders above the rest of the field this season, and it’s a deserving broken record.

And knowing Vettel’s love for Formula 1, and famously once saying that “records are meant to be broken,” I’m sure he’s thrilled Verstappen has made history.