5 From Mexico
- Richard Baxter
- Oct 29, 2019
- 3 min read
Here's my pick of the major talking points from the Mexican Grand Prix.
1 – From Alive to a Let Down.
The race in Mexico was bubbling up nicely to be a highly entertaining finish. It was alive with entertainment. With different teams and different drivers all on different strategies it was looking like any one from five could potentially win the race. In the end, sadly it was a let-down.
With the issues the teams had with looking after tyres, no one really dared to push and make a move. This resulted in the final laps being quite dull in the end. This was disappointing from how it looked like it could’ve finished.
2 – Tyre Troubles.
The weekend was full of tyre troubles. Due to overnight wet weather a lot of the rubber was washed off the circuit. Drivers were really struggling for grip. Of course the reduced downforce from being at altitude didn’t help them either.
The tyre troubles continued through to the race. High degradation made it difficult to complete a good strategy. It also seemed the high temperatures affected the wheel guns. There were several slow pit stops with mechanics struggling to get new tyres fastened safely. Norris was impacted greatly by this – his troubled pit stop really ruined his race, when he was looking set for a good top 10 finish.
3 – Verstappen, master of his own downfall.
It was a mixed weekend for Max Verstappen. He got a magnificent pole position during qualifying, only to have it taken away from him. Bottas had crashed at the final corner and he just ignored it. He admitted this in the press conference after qualifying, and said he didn’t mind if the lap was deleted. The stewards took a different position though and handed him a three place grid penalty. This was deserved in my opinion. Ok, the light boards were down, but there was a marshall waving a yellow flag, and Verstappen drove past Bottas’ car. He could’ve easily slowed as everyone else did.
His race didn’t get much better. He was highly strung after the qualifying incident and drove aggressively during the race. It was great to see someone give it a go, but Verstappen seemed to lack some patience when overtaking. He had contact with Hamilton at turn 1. He later had some contact with Bottas through the stadium section from which he picked up a puncture which totally ruined his race. Fighting through the pack he again had contact with other drivers who he could easily out pace. The pace was in the car for a potential win. If he had bided his time and picked the opportune moments to overtake he could’ve been in the fight at the front.
4 – Albon ahead in race for Red Bull seat.
In contrast to Verstappen, Alex Albon had a very good race. The weekend didn’t start off the best as he had a crash in practise. He recovered though and had a good qualifying. At the start of the race he managed to stay out of everyone else’s incidents and take advantage to run third, behind the two Ferrari’s. He was keeping in touch with Vettel and Leclerc at the start and was in the fight for victory. It really cost him though when he came out of the pits and got stuck behind Sainz for a lap. This held him up long enough so he couldn’t get the undercut on the Ferrari in front.
He has impressed so far in the Red Bull where Gasly struggled. As things stand I think he looks to be favourite to keep the drive for next season.
5 – Perez delights home crowd.
Sergio Perez delighted his home crowd to finish ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place. This was a good result for the Racing Point team, who are fighting for fifth against the Renault and Toro Rosso teams.
As things stand Toro Rosso and Racing Point are on 64 points whilst Renault are on 73. It looks like these three teams are going to be closely matched until the last race. There’s going to be some hard racing between these teams yet. Whoever can take advantage and finish ahead will earn potential millions for their team next season, which could be vital. This will be a battle to watch for the remaining races.
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