The Maxfactor won again in Mexico beating fellow rival Lewis Hamilton and teammate Sergio Perez. The Mercedes-AMG of Lewis Hamilton was not fast enough to catch the Red Bull car this weekend. The fans were incredible, always decked out in colours, teams and loud as the cars go around the circuit. It is a very special event and one Perez loves as he races with his heart on his sleeve on home soil. Hamilton in the opinion of Toto Wolff did the best job he could with the equipment under his control. The Mercedes-AMG team were just outpaced.
It was a hard one to stomach for the Mercedes-AMG team watching Valtteri Bottas spin out and putting pressure on the constructor’s World Championship. One minute, Bottas is performing and the next he is making a slight error so costly and putting stress upon the team personnel with such a flick of the wheel. 2021 has not been the most ideal season for the Finnish driver and the second half thus far has been hit and miss.
This is the first time Honda has had a driver win nine races in a year. This is a major achievement as Verstappen was tied with Senna on eight. This year, Honda, Verstappen, Perez and Red Bull have gone from strength to strength.
The view from Verstappen’s visor right now is P1 and Title Battle P1. He is certainly leading in the right direction to win his first-ever title, though we know this fight is far from being over!
Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel all had strong races finishing in the top ten. It is clear that the Ferrari powered drivers want more and are hungry for success. You can see them wanting to battle as best they can regardless of whether the car lacks the ability to chase the front runners. The battle is still close between Ferrari and McLaren as well so every top-performing finish is important so that they stay ahead of one another.
Max Verstappen:
“It was an incredible day for the Team and also for the fans, to have Checo on the podium here in Mexico at his home Grand Prix was great, so it couldn’t have been better. I knew the start was very important today, we were three wide at one point and I was on the more ideal race line so I could brake later and get into the lead. After that I could do my own thing, the pace was very good today so I could just keep building and creating a gap, the pit stops were seamless and the car was good throughout the race which was crucial today. Checo, for the last few races has really picked it up, he’s been up there and he was really pressuring Lewis today towards the end. I’m still not thinking about that trophy, we’ll try again in Brazil and just keep pushing.”
Lewis Hamilton:
“First, congratulations to Max. That car was faster than we were this weekend and there’s nothing we could really do about it. I gave it absolutely everything and obviously a great fight with Sergio at the end but I’m grateful I could still at least get a second-place finish. It was easy enough to hold on – I’ve been in that situation many times before – but it shows how fast their car was when Sergio was that close behind me and able to follow that closely. He did a great job! Even so, I really enjoyed the race and got everything out of it that we could today. Now we need to get our heads down and keep working hard to prepare for the next races, they will be coming at us fast over the next two weekends.“
Sergio Perez:
“This is a great result for my country, I really wanted more but unfortunately we didn’t get that. It was so messy in turn one so to avoid incident there was critical and then I wanted second place, but we didn’t get the chance because it is just so difficult to overtake around here. I was really close to getting Lewis but the Mercedes are so quick on the straight lines so I didn’t get a opportunity to go for it but I gave my best. I could feel the fans energy when I was going through the stadium sector and I was thinking about how many people were here for me, I could actually hear the crowd when I was driving through Foro Sol. I wanted more but I am just very happy to be on the podium of my home country, the Mexicans were so happy today. We are so competitive as drivers that when we finish third we aren’t happy but today I had to enjoy it, everyone who has been there since the start with me was there at the end of the race and that was an amazing moment for me. I think today we were the fastest Team but that is going to swing around for the remainder of the season, so we just have to keep our focus and keep pushing.”
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 71 | 1:38:39.086 | 25 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 71 | +16.555s | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 71 | +17.752s | 15 |
| 4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 71 | +63.845s | 12 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 71 | +81.037s | 10 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 70 | +1 lap | 8 |
| 7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 70 | +1 lap | 6 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 70 | +1 lap | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ALPINE RENAULT | 70 | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 70 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 69 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 15 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 69 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 69 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 17 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 69 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 18 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | HAAS FERRARI | 68 | +3 laps | 0 |
| NC | 47 | Mick Schumacher | HAAS FERRARI | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 0 | DNF | 0 |
By Myanna Wedes