2021 Mexican Grand Prix: Starting grid after grid penalties from Norris, Tsunoda and other F1 drivers

The Mexican Grand Prix has been a weekend full of surprises so far, most recently from Mercedes when Valtteri Botta’s Red Bull grabbed pole position in the final minutes of F1 qualifying.

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Part of the reason for Red Bull’s bizarre relapse is, of course, the struggle with the unstable rear end and also the late confusion that Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda caused near the stadium section. That means Red Bull is definitely not in position because it has to start the race behind the Mercedes drivers.

Formula 1 F1 – Mexican Grand Prix – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico – November 6th, 2021 Red Bulls Max Verstappen after qualifying third pool over REUTERS / Edgard Garrido

But here is something more interesting. Red Bull and Mercedes aren’t the only ones out of position as in this case pretty much the entire starting grid looks pretty mixed up due to the significant number of drivers serving starting penalties.

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F1 drivers will serve grid fines

Let’s start with the driver with the fewest number of grid drops; George Russell. Before the race on Sunday, the Briton will be serving a starting penalty of five places for changing the gearbox. Therefore, Russell will start in front of a rather massive wagon train with complete engine changes.

Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda will start from the back of the field. And in fact there was a little fight among themselves in qualifying, because the four were fighting for position 17, the best possible position they could secure.

Formula 1 F1 – Mexican Grand Prix – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico – November 6, 2021 Aston Martins Lance Stroll after falling during the qualifying pool via REUTERS / Edgard Garrido

And it’s Tsunoda who has the edge in this fight, followed by Norris, Ocon, and finally Stroll, who might as well see more component changes after the high-speed 12G crash around the outside of Turn 16 during the first quarter.

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There was visible suspension damage, rear wing damage, and a possible blow to the gearbox. Hence the last starting grid before the F1 race on Sunday.

Starting grid for the Mexican GP

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1. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes AMG)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing)
5. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
6. Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Ferrari)
7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
8. Charles Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari)
9. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
10. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
11. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
12. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
13. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
14. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
15. Nikita Mazepin (Haas)
16. George Russell (Wilhelm)
17. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
18. Lando Norris (McLaren)
19. Esteban Ocon (Alps)
20. Lance Walk (Aston Martin)

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