Red Bull has never scored a 1-2 in the driver’s standings before. With Hamilton’s disqualification at the previous race in the United States, it was looking more likely that they’d finally seal the deal.
Coming into the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, second-placed Sergio Perez had a 38 point lead over Lewis Hamilton, and with just four races to go, that seemed like a tall order for the seven-time World Champion to close.
But this is Formula One, so prepare to expect the unexpected. More on that later – here are the headlines from the recently-concluded Mexico Grand Prix!
5. Is Ricciardo Back?
Marred by two largely uncompetitive years at McLaren, fans and pundits alike seem to have written the Aussie off. Despite gaining the 2nd AlphaTauri seat partially on merit, with his competitive performance at the tyre test at Silverstone, there’s a general belief that the team should have gone with Liam Lawson instead.
But critics (and haters) were silenced in Mexico. Whilst you can attribute his Q1 and Q2 times with Tsunoda giving him a tow, he out-qualifed Perez (who was in a Red Bull) to start P4 in the race. There, he valiantly fought off faster cars for numerous laps, finally finishing P7 after an ill-timed red flag for Kevin Magnussen’s crash. The Australian even had enough pace to keep up with the works Mercedes of Russell in the closing stages of the race!
4. Perez Crashes Out
To compound to his qualifying woes on Saturday, Perez’s Sunday only lasted a single corner. Starting from the third row of the grid, behind the Ferrari duo, his teammate Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, the Mexican got possibly the best start of the top five.
The power of the slipstream and the 800+ metre long run down into T1 gave him enough momentum to consider a move round the outside of Leclerc and Verstappen, who were now squabbling for P1 themselves. However, he misjudged his turn-in point, clipping the Ferrari and was sent airbourne. His RB19 sustained some race-ending damage despite him being able to limp back to the pits.
3. Tyre Degradation Slower Than Expected
After the red flag, teams had a choice of bolting on either a set of mediums or a set of hards. This was at half race distance, so the lower fuel loads and 30 odd laps left made it a quasi-Sprint of sorts.
With high track temperatures, many teams believed that the mediums would start degrading fairly quickly. Which is why most of the front runners stuck to the harder compound. Ferrari even radio-ed their drivers about the potential medium drop-off, saying that they’d be able to catch the Mercedes in front once that happens. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and most of the medium runners completed 36 laps on their sets with little drop-off in pace.
2. Pack Closing in on Red Bull
If the USGP wasn’t enough proof that teams were catching up, then the Mexican Grand Prix should further cement the progression for the rest of the field. Sure, the RBs still have some pace left, as they were still able to comfortably pull away from the other teams, but the margin has narrowed.
Mid-season upgrades have also brought teams closer together too. McLaren’s not-insignificant updates earlier in the season brought them from the bottom of the standings to regularly challenging Ferrari and Mercedes. Impressively, even AlphaTauri, especially in the hands of Ricciardo, could keep up with the front runner at several phases of the race.
1. Norris’ Best Drive of the Season?
Caught out by ill-timed incidents in qualifying, Norris had to settle for the last row of the grid for Sunday’s race. And the Briton would show the world just how solid his race craft has gotten over the 2023 F1 season. Starting on the softs, McLaren prioritised clear air over track position early on.
This paid off; an early stop for a change of tyres gave him a decent gap to the mid pack. He could use the undisturbed air to pump in some seriously quick laps, reducing the advantage of his competitors by up to a second a lap. With others pitting, Norris was promoted to the front of the field. His second stop dropped him back into the midpack, and the subsequent red flag restart further halted his progress. Still, he drove a champion’s drive, slicing through the flag and gaining nine places to finish fifth.
Brazil Next Up!
The F1 circus heads to Brazil next. This circuit will play host to the final Sprint of the season. Perez’s lead to Hamilton has been reduced to just 20 points, and that gap appears to very much be closeable with the Brit’s current pace.
Ricciardo’s P7 finish brought AlphaTauri up the points table too, with the Italian-based team now in P8 overall, ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas. Sainz is now up to P4, currently tied on points with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. All 2023 entrants have scored points bar Nyck De Vries, showing us just how competitive F1 in 2023 has really been!
Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren
You May Be Interested In: Quick Fire Facts – 2023 United States Grand Prix Edition
