Hamilton, the only car that did not pit to switch to slick tires, duly waited for the lights to go out on a starting field with a car and drove off. Everyone else ran out of the pit lane behind him before Hamilton pitted for his own slicks and the real action began. First we had Hamilton versus Schumacher and then Alonso versus Hamilton, the 2005 and 2006 champions, who defended to secure his (and Alpines) first win for teammate Esteban Ocon.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Williams landed in double-point positions after not scoring a single point in more than two calendar years. George Russell cried emotionally in front of the media afterwards, but it was probably his radio message in the middle of the race: “If you have to compromise my race to help Nicky? [Latifi] then do it, I’ll box early to avoid the undercut for everyone else “- that showed how much it meant.
For a man whose future at Mercedes was all but confirmed, Russell didn’t have to worry too much about getting his Backmarker team back into the points. But as a lifelong Williams fan, it has shown how much each team member has to pull through to make it work.
The less that is said about Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification, the better.
A Mexican F1 driver leads for the first time in Mexico
The Mexican Grand Prix was very exciting for a number of reasons: First, Red Bull looked so terrifyingly dominant that it seemed like the title was wavering in one direction. It was also Sergio Perez’s first home race in a top team.
The Red Bull driver had already survived the curse of second place, but also became the first Mexican driver to lead the Mexican Grand Prix. Perez finished third but there is no question that he might as well have won the title in front of a home crowd in Mexico City.
Leclerc and Sainz make Ferrari likeable, successful again
“What’s the matter with Ferrari?” is a kind of permanent philosophical fixed point in the F1 landscape. If you win you have to ask, if you lose you have to ask more often, and at the beginning of the 2021 season it towered over the red garage. After all, she even hated her former driver so much that he didn’t want to see the logo.
In 2020, Ferrari was terrible. In 2021, Ferrari was horrible on occasions, but in fun and exhilarating ways, like you forcing yourself into pole position in Monaco and falling chaotically behind the French Grand Prix for no reason. Indeed, you didn’t know what it was going to do next, and in some places it didn’t seem to either.
The battle between Red Bull and Mercedes meant Ferrari could get on with whatever it did. We don’t need to know what’s inside, but it worked. What had looked like an unpredictable feat at the start of 2021 became a consistent blow at McLaren’s expense, whose advantage was apparently undone in the early season following the Monza win.
In 2020 Ferrari scored a miserable 131 points and finished a disastrous sixth. In 2021, it scored 323.5 points, beating McLaren in third place by nearly 50 points. That’s a bloody turnaround – and it was Sainz, the most adapted of all drivers to swap teams this season, who brought most of it home, and Leclerc and his former teammate Norris in fifth with a podium in Abu Dhabi Place struck.
It is good for Formula 1 when Ferrari is competitive; It’s the most historic team and a tremendous marketing advantage. And after 22 long, hard-fought races this year, we could all use some scarlet lightness for the next race. Dance up, ponies.
Do you have a tip? Send us an email at [email protected]
