Mexico GP Race Report

Again, this was a very quiet night between Qualifying and Race.  There were no grid penalties and no surprises.  The biggest news was that this would be Alonso's 400th race start, and he still has two seasons ahead of him (potentially).   I'm sure the celebrations would have been greater were it not for Perez and Mexico's complete admiration for him.  He had done very little to deserve this in Qualifying and his position was coming back into question since he had been awarded a new contract in May.

The tyres were a slight unknown with cooler temperatures on race day than the day before.  Ocon was starting in the pit lane but it was likely that that would make little difference to the race.

Verstappen made an excellent start and overtook Sainz for the lead.  With an incident further back, drivers were caught out as the RB of Tsunoda was spun up the pack, Sainz took a wide cut across the corner and had to give the place back.  Tsunoda also took Albon out, who is having a shocking time in the Americas.  The Safety Car came out to clear the cars and the debris.  Tsunoda should not have been pushing to be four across the track.

Perez made up five places off the start but only because he jumped it, starting way ahead of his grid place and was awarded a five second penalty.  The Red Bull stop watch would be roundly tested in this race.

Verstappen slowed the pack up to an almost standstill before restarting the race.  As soon as DRS was enabled though, Sainz was passed him.  At this point, Norris was also behind and Verstappen had a problem with his ERC and an empty battery.  During his overtake, Norris had to go off track again, as Verstappen forced him off the track.  Then they both went off track and LeClerc went through for second place and Hamilton was hanging about right on the back of this row.  Finally, Verstappen received a ten second penalty for this behaviour.  His engineer reported that there was "a lot of whinging" about his move.

Russell, without any upgrades having trashed them, was able to overtake his team mate, who had the upgrades, pretty easily.  Further up, the Ferrari team mates were starting to battle.

Alonso was retired from this special race.

As if listening to the voice of F1 fans across the globe, but not the Dutch, Verstappen was awarded a further ten second penalty for his altercations with Norris.  Behind him Perez and fellow Red Bull driver Lawson were battling for the final points position with both going off the track.  They, however, did not receive a penalty.

There was plenty of overtaking and interest during the race; later on the Mercedes started to spar for fourth place.  Kimi Antonelli watched on at Toto's side; I remember when Mick Schumacher used to stand by him.  An incident between Lawson and Colapinto, battle of the late-coming rookies, was investigated after the race.

With ten laps to go, LeClerc lost the grip in his rear tyres altogether and was nearly into the wall but managed to get back on track.  This gave Norris a pass through into second place.

Then, with one lap to go, Ferrari pitted LeClerc to try and get the Fastest Lap point from Lawson and then Red Bull pitted Perez for the same reason.  LeClerc won it and Perez finished last.

Everyone praised Sainz for his excellent race and time will tell whether Ferrari made the correct decision with their line-up for next year.  Carlos himself was allowed to speak in Spanish, which was unusual but he chose not to, having just been handed a Spanish flag by his brother.

Mexico GP Qualifying Report

There were some incidents during the Free Practice sessions: Russell, Albon and Bearman all got into trouble.  Most talk though was still on the Norris/Verstappen overtake controversy.

It was hot and steamy in Mexico and the track was improving with every lap of Pirelli rubber laid down and tyres coming into the sweet spot with the heat.  Zhou was out in last place, Ocon ahead of him and then there were a couple of surprises with Perez (the home track hero) not being able to go quick enough, then Piastri having lap times deleted.   Out in 16th was, more predictably, Colapinto.  Bottas was through to the second session, for a very rare outing there.

The second session was very pedestrian until Tsunoda crashed with less than two minutes to go and brought out a Red Flag.  This gave several drivers a buy through to the next session as fast laps were nullified.  Surprisingly this didn't lead to any big scalps.  Out went Tsunoda, Lawson, Alonso, Stroll and Bottas; team mates travelling two by two.  An Aston Martin occasionally makes it through to the final session but with two drivers for top teams already out, Albon, Gasly and both Haas were through.  What could they make of the opportunity?

The start of the final session was a little delayed to get the barrier fixed.  The drivers went out for their first flying lap, with Verstappen putting in a very quick lap.  The stewards then established that it was quick because he went outside of track limits so the time was deleted.  Many drivers were trying to get a slip stream from their team mates or other drivers.  Sainz had put in the fastest lap in the first tranche.  Hamilton was out of step putting the laps in.

With four and a half minutes to go, all the drivers apart from the Mercedes came out.  This was a risky strategy for them.  The battle seemed to be between the two Ferrari drivers.  Sainz took the pole from his team mate, Verstappen then split them.  Norris went fastest in the middle sector but the other two sections of the track weren't quite quick enough and he was third.  Poor LeClerc finished fourth.  The Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton were behind them, then Magnussen, Gasley, Albon and Hullkenberg.

It could be a tricky Mexican race with four drivers all in with a good chance of winning it and, everyone apart from Verstappen, probably willing to take a risk to get it.

US GP Race Report

After his big spin in Qualifying, Russell would start his Mercedes from the pit lane, changing all the parts overnight that he could.  Other than that there was no new news.

Norris made a great start but Verstappen came up the inside, taking a gap left open and they were both forced off the track.  Albon hit Ocon, who spun off and ran last.  LeClerc was able to come from 4th to lead with Verstappen behind him, in a dream start for the Ferrari hopeful.  Sainz was 3rd and then Norris and Piastri.  Hamilton and Lawson both made up 5 places.  This all seemed well but then Hamilton spun and beached his car in the gravel.  On only Lap 3 it was too early to take the cheap pit stop.  Lewis stood looking at his car.

Norris spent some time on the radio whilst the Safety Car came out and reported how Verstappen had pushed him off.  The tag between the back markers had already been dismissed as a racing incident.  

After LeClerc held his position after the restart. the stewards were busy investigating minor complaints and refusing to hand out any penalties, in what must be a drastic change of policy for them.  LeClerc pulled out a 5 second gap from Verstappen and teams began to discuss tyre strategy with their drivers.  Lawson had made significant progress through the pack and loitered outside the points.

But clearly they caught themselves as Russell was swiftly awarded a 5 second penalty to not really going anywhere near Bottas on an overtake.

By the halfway point, tyres were starting to wear beyond drivability but there was always the possibility of a Safety Car or trying to stay on the road to outstay your rivals.  Sainz went early as a guinea pig for his team mate and then Verstappen, the undercut worked and Sainz was ahead of him.  LeClerc was next in and came out ahead of his team mate, so it was a successful play by Ferrari however the McLarens were 1st and 2nd.

The stewards had now warmed up and seemed to be looking back through the race to find more drivers to penalise.  Gasly was the first.  Then Tsunoda.

We also had to see how the cars would react to the change of tyres.  Verstappen was hating his.  Tsunoda too, who had a big spin but managed to get going again.

For the final ten laps, Norris got close enough to Verstappen to be able to overtake him.  It took a few nail-biting laps before it happened and then there was confusion about whether Norris went off the track to take the position.  Or was he forced off?  McLaren told Norris he was ahead at the apex, which seemed to matter.  It was noted by the stewards.  Norris had asked his team to make this decision as they were able to review the footage, if only they had really done this rather than saying pleasant, rallying things to please their driver.

In front of them, LeClerc had held a 5 plus second gap to his team mate Sainz in second.  We didn't hear any team orders over the radio so it must have been a fair fight.

The note by the stewards moved to be under investigation and it seemed like a better move to give the place back.  Still McLaren didn't act.

Colapinto had held the Fastest Lap and he looked like he would get the point for it as he was in 10th position and thus in the points and eligible.  On the last lap, Ocon put on fresh soft tyres and took it off him.  I don't know who benefits from that, there is no team link.

With corners to go, the stewards did award a 5 second penalty to Norris, so the whole thing was pointless.  We only just saw the Ferraris cross the line victorious.  Piastri held 5th and Russell 6th, which was an excellent effort starting from the pit lane.  Perez was 7th, Hulkenberg 8th, Lawson 9th (again from the back of the grid) and Colapinto 10th for points for Williams.  Magnussen and Gasly seemed like they should have been awarded points too.

The talk following the race would all be of the dubious awarding of penalties by the stewards.  Also whether McLaren should have given the place back quicker.  One of the big tragedies was that we didn't really see anything of the Ferraris drive.  Sainz praised the progress made by the team, he must be looking at Williams and wondering what is ahead of him next year.  LeClerc also thanked the team copiously.

Whilst it's a step towards the Drivers Championship for Verstappen, the Constructors Championship stretches wider open.  The pace is picking up with two more races on consecutive weekends, with some Sprints coming up too.

US GP Qualifying Report

There was no news between the Sprint Qualifying, Sprint race and the Qualifying session itself.  Lawson had a sixty place grid drop to take, with copious changes to the car.  RB could make this gamble as losing Ricciardo's Drivers Championship points makes no difference anymore.

In the first session his team mate, Tsunoda, could not stay on the track and had his lap time deleted twice but was ultimately able to get through in 9th, with his kind-of rookie team mate in 3rd.  Out went Albon, Colapinto, Bottas, Hamilton and Zhou.  Williams did not seem able to get some pace back at this track and are travelling backwards down the championship.  Still at least they were ahead of the multiple world champion.

With Lawson pretty much out of the running, RB played the team game and had him tow Tsunoda twice; to no success they were both out in the second session, book-ending the five drivers out.  In between was Hulkenberg, Ocon and Stroll.

In the final session, track limits came into play again.  Perez struggled.  Gasly also pretty much ran into Verstappen in the pit lane for a particularly unsafe release.  With just over a minute to go most drivers were out for a final flying lap, Norris holding pole from the first attempts.  It was all in vain as Russell spun off the track and into the safety barrier, the impact triggered the release of the medical car.  The double waved Yellow Flags meant that no one could put in a quicker lap legally.  One Brit gifted another pole.

Verstappen's best lap was only good for 2nd, then Sainz and LeClerc, Piastri, Russell, Gasly, Alonso, Magnussen and Perez last with no time set.  Russell had his hand to his helmet, which he kept on, as he got swiftly into the car without waving to the crowd.  

Vestappen seemed very happy with his front row position, positively beaming.  Sainz also believed he would be in the fight for the win.  Smiliest of them all was Norris.

US GP Sprint Report

There were some new bits of tarmac to worry about on the Austin track and Red Bull had some bit of kit on their car that other teams were worried about, not the FIA though.  We were back after an unusual wee holiday mid-season.

Sprint Qualifying is always hyped up but not really worth the interest.  Obviously both Saubers were out at the bottom, then Albon, who did a magnificent 360 degree spin at the end of his hot lap, Ocon and Piastri, whose fastest lap time was deleted after running wide and exceeding track limits, were out in the first session.

The second Qualifying session saw little grumbles from cars and drivers, all starting to trip over each other.  Perez could only manage 11th, Alonso 12th, Lawson (replacing Ricciardo) 13th and then Gasly and Stroll.  Both Haas were straight through to the final session at their home track.  Alonso suffered with a lap time deletion and was dropped to 15th.

In the third session, the other Williams of Colapinto also spun.  It was uncertain who would take pole, any driver from at least four teams could have taken it.  In the end Verstappen took it on the last possible lap, ahead of Russell.  Behind them was LeClerc, Norris (who needs the Sprint points), Sainz, Hulkenberg, Hamilton (who won't be happy sandwiched between two Haas), Magnussen, Tsunoda and Colapinto.

The next day, for the Sprint itself, Albon started from the pits and the Qualifying order was somewhat jumbled from all the deleted times.

There were plenty of battles off the line; Norris quickly made it up to second, with LeClerc and Russell battling behind.  Verstappen held his lead.  Things were quiet for a couple of laps and then the two Ferraris started to battle, dangerously so.  Russell caught back up with Norris and started to demand his place back.

Halfway through teams were beginning to get concerned about tyre wear; the Mercedes seemed to suffer the most with Russell losing places to both Ferraris.  Piastri was awarded a 5 second penalty for forcing Gasly off the track, with such a short, well, Sprint, it seemed to take an enormous length of time for the stewards to make this decision.

It looked like the main interest in the last couple of laps would be whether the Ferrari or Mercedes team mates would take each other out.  However, as the last lap started, Norris locked up and Sainz got past.  As it was looking like he could take the place back, he slid off again.  LeClerc held a massive drift as Verstappen rounded the corner ahead of them to win.

The podium was completed by Sainz then Norris, who will be kicking himself.  Tyre wear could potentially be a massive factor, alongside track limits in the main race.  LeClerc was ahead of the two Mercedes, then the two Haas, who ran a quiet race.  The top ten was completed by Perez and Piastri.

To round off the event, it was left to Sting to present some funny, large metal cards.  The FIA really can't decide how to celebrate and reward these races that aren't races without it seeming like the anti-climax it is.