Five winners and five losers of the F1 Mexico City GP

Mexico City returned to host its first F1 race in two years and provided another key moment in the 2021 title race.

Other than a dramatic start, the race was without much excitement, but that didn’t stop the noisy crowd from creating and maintaining a party atmosphere throughout the event.

Here are our winners and losers from round 18 of the 2021 F1 season …

winner

Max Verstappen

A sovereign and flawless victory by Max Verstappen gives him a sovereign position in the title race and strengthens his chances of a first world title.

Verstappen immediately turned the race around in Red Bull’s favor with a stormy start when he brilliantly overtook both Mercedes drivers and took the lead at Turn 1.

From then on, Verstappen was inviolable. He pulled away from Hamilton with ease and drove to his ninth win of the season to get one step closer to his goal of winning a first world title.

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The win gives him a 19 point lead over Hamilton, with 107 points still to be awarded, which puts him firmly in the driver’s seat towards Brazil.

A three-fold place for Red Bull increased his own prospects in the constructors’ championship as it closed just one point behind Mercedes.

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Pierre Gasly

Another great performance by Pierre Gasly, who turned his excellent starting position P5 into a convincing fourth place in Mexico City.

Gasly stayed out of trouble at the start and finished fourth behind the two Red Bulls and Hamilton’s Mercedes.

The Frenchman drove his race to perfection and was rewarded with a “Best of the Rest” finish and the best result he could have hoped for as a podium was never an option.

Gasly’s 12-point win has boosted AlphaTauri’s championship hopes significantly and brought Faenza’s squad to the level of Alpine in the battle for P5.

It was a lonely Grand Prix for Gasly, who crossed the finish line over a minute behind Verstappen, despite finishing impressively in front of the Ferraris.

Ferrari

It was a mission accomplished for Ferrari in Mexico when Scuderia finished the race in third place in the constructors’ championship after enjoying a big jump in points to overtake McLaren.

Ferrari maximized its result when Charles Leclerc led home teammate Carlos Sainz in a strong fourth and fifth place while McLaren suffered a nightmare race.

Not only did the race give a resurgent Ferrari the upper hand in the battle for third place, but the team can also enjoy the teamwork of its drivers who followed the instructions to swap positions.

Though initially hesitant, Leclerc let Sainz pass to try his hand at Gasly before the Spaniard retaliated the favor in the closing stages to restore lawful order, with the AlphaTauri driver eventually out of reach.

Sebastian Vettel

A great end to a strong performance of the whole weekend by Sebastian Vettel, who left Mexico in seventh place with a handy collection of points for Aston Martin.

Vettel was a benefactor of the first corner slaughter when Daniel Ricciardo’s faster McLaren fell backwards, but that doesn’t change the four-time world champion’s well-managed drive.

The German has now secured consecutive points – which increases his teammate Lance Stroll’s score in Turkey – as Aston Martin looks to end the season on a positive note.

Kimi Raikkonen

F1 veteran Kimi Raikkonen scored his fourth point of the season with a strong drive in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and scored some rare points for Alfa Romeo.

Raikkonen lost to teammate Antonio Giovinazzi at the start, but a longer opening stint allowed him to hold his own against the Italian and get a top 10 finish.

The Finn never looked threatened by his world champion Fernando Alonso as he got his joint best result of 2021, which matches his efforts from Russia.

loser

Lewis Hamilton and his title prospects

For the third race at the trot, Hamilton lost important ground to Verstappen in the title race.

With 19 points behind after his second consecutive defeat to the Dutchman, it is increasingly looking like it will be Verstappen’s year.

Hamilton admitted he had no answer to Red Bull’s “vastly superior” pace in the race as he was over 16 seconds behind Verstappen and narrowly outpacing Perez to save second place.

It may have been damage control, but Hamilton desperately needs something in his favor – and quickly – if he is to successfully keep his crown and seal a record-breaking eighth world title.

Valtteri Bottas

You must be sorry for Valtteri Bottas. After a breathtaking pole on Saturday with one of the best laps of his F1 career, everything went wrong on Sunday.

Through no fault of his own, his race was ruined within seconds when he was spun by Ricciardo’s McLaren.

After falling back to the bottom of the field, it turned out to be a frustrating and long afternoon for the Finn. With the points out of the window, a couple of late pit stops turned the end of his race into a mission to set the fastest lap for Verstappen, which he eventually managed to do.

Bottas came under flak from Mercedes team-mate Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff, because he was too cautious at the start and did not do anything to prevent Verstappen from taking the lead.

McLaren

For McLaren it was a race to forget, because the team from Woking finally lost its long-standing footing with third place in the constructors’ championship.

Ricciardo’s mess in the first corner with Bottas left him in the sequence down and out of the battle for points, while Lando Norris already had an uphill task from behind due to an engine penalty.

Norris fought well for the last point offered in 10th place, but all in all it was a bad result for McLaren, especially as Ferrari used the capital to jump to P3.

Ferrari are now 13.5 points ahead of McLaren with four races to go, and given their recent form, it’s hard to imagine the latter being able to regain third place.

alpine

Alonso’s two-point success was enough to secure Alpine fifth place in the constructors’ championship for the time being, but the Anglo-French team is about to be overhauled by AlphaTauri.

Gasly’s excellent fourth place has resulted in AlphaTauri tying on points with Alpine and since they often had the faster car, it seems only a matter of time before P5 will join Red Bull’s sister team.

Points for Ocon have always been difficult as he started from behind, but Alonso will be disappointed that he was unable to catch Raikkonen in his slower Alfa Romeo.

Antonio Giovinazzi

It was a frustrating Grand Prix for Antonio Giovinazzi who, despite his early starting position, missed the chance to score points for the second time this season.

The Italian initially prevailed against his team-mate Raikkonen and jumped to an impressive sixth place, but his race failed because Alfa Romeo decided to pit him early.

It backfired, leaving Giovinazzi, who appears on the way out of F1, to lose valuable time in traffic.

After the race, Giovinazzi vented his frustration with his team over the radio and said in a sarcastic tone: “Hey guys, thanks for the great strategy.”