Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Mexican Grand Prix
Photo from Formula 1
A week after a bit of a snoozefest, Mexico gave us a great race, and now, an epic championship battle.
Here are the winners and losers from the Mexican Grand Prix.
Losers
5. Max Verstappen
It’s still a podium for Verstappen, but it was a difficult race at a track that he is historically excellent at, and he lost ground on his championship rivals.
Since he’s playing catch up, every point matters. And this was a good opportunity squandered.
4. Carlos Sainz
An already tough race weekend was made worse with a speeding penalty, and a late DNF that ended up having a huge effect on the outcome of the race (through no fault of his own).
But it was a weekend to forget for the Spaniard.
3. Lewis Hamilton
I’m not entirely sure how Lewis Hamilton was the only one who ended up with a penalty from the first lap incidents, but he unfortunately was, and it had a huge factor on him going from 3rd on the starting grid to 8th in the race.
Lewis has had a tough season, so some luck could go a long way.
2. FIA Stewards
First things first, and most importantly, there were marshalls on the track cleaning up debris in the same section cars were going through. Liam Lawson had to avoid two marshalls that were cleaning up debris.
That is flat out unacceptable, and the FIA should be held accountable for it.
But then, they called for a Virtual Safety Car for Carlos Sainz’s DNF, but Sainz did a great job getting his car out of the way.
A VSC not only wasn’t needed, but it meant Verstappen could not catch Leclerc for P2, and Piastri couldn’t catch Bearman for P4.
The stewards ruined a great chance at a great ending, and for no good reason.
1. Oscar Piastri
All things considered, a 5th place finish where he started down the grid, and fell back to 11th on the first lap, is a pretty good result.
But Piastri has completely fallen apart the back half of this season and his championship lead, one in which he had one hand on the trophy, has now completely gone away where he is one point behind his teammate.
He needs to take these two weeks and get his head straight, because if not, his title dreams will completely disappear.
Winners
5. Gabriel Bortoleto
Another week, another point for the rookie.
He’s had an excellent rookie season, and I can’t wait to see how he performs if Audi gives him a quality car next year.
4. Kimi Antonelli
It’s hard to be quicker in a race than George Russell, who has been Mr. Consistent all year long.
But Antonelli was this weekend, and deserved the good result he got with a solid 6th place finish.
3. Charles Leclerc
It has been a very, very tough year for Ferrari.
But they had a great qualifying effort to get 2nd and 3rd, and even though they had some issues during the race, Leclerc brought home and hung on for a quality 2nd place finish.
It’s a building block.
2. Oliver Bearman
Finishing 4th in a Haas is one thing.
Finishing 4th in a Haas by defending hard against George Russell and Oscar Piastri is a whole other thing.
What an incredible race from Oliver Bearman, who needed some good results after some bad luck earlier in the season despite solid pace.
The video of his girlfriend and family getting emotional with him getting emotional in return is what it’s all about.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win or don’t get a podium.
1. Lando Norris
This was an absolutely dominating performance for Lando Norris.
A huge pole lap and a win by 30 seconds, all while taking over the championship lead by one point.
Ever since his DNF in Holland, he has clearly been the fastest McLaren driver.
If he does enough to keep Verstappen at bay, this title is his.
