TEAM-BY-TEAM analysis of Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, the 19th race of the 22-round Formula One season (teams listed in championship order):
RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez retired)
Verstappen lined up third and made a great getaway to take the lead into the first corner. He also led cleanly from the re-start. The win was his 16th of the season, a record, and 51st of his career to go level in the all-time lists with French great Alain Prost. He has now won five of the last six races in Mexico. Perez tried to pass Ferrari’s Leclerc at the first corner, collided and retired from his home race.
MERCEDES (Lewis Hamilton 2, George Russell 6)
Hamilton started sixth, third at the re-start and finished runner-up for the second race in a row — getting to keep it this time after being disqualified in Texas last weekend. He has been second to Verstappen in Mexico for three years in a row now. Hamilton also set the fastest lap. Russell suffered from overheating brakes towards the end, had to back off and lost tyre temperatures. He was passed by Norris on lap 67 and had Ricciardo chasing him at the finish.
FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 3, Carlos Sainz 4)
Leclerc started on pole for the 22nd time in his career after a Ferrari front-row sweep but lost the lead at the first corner when he and Perez collided, damaging his car’s front wing and losing an endplate. The podium was the 28th of his career. Sainz is now fourth overall, level on points with Aston Martin’s Alonso but ahead on wins.
MCLAREN (Lando Norris 5, Oscar Piastri 8)
Norris started 17th and made three pitstops, one when the safety car was deployed. He was 14th after losing positions at the re-start but then overtook a string of cars in the space of 30 laps. Piastri let Norris past for seventh place on lap 56, getting a thank you from his teammate. The Australian collided with AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda, who was spun around.
ASTON MARTIN (Lance Stroll 17, Fernando Alonso retired)
Stroll started from the pit lane after overnight setup changes. The Canadian retired on lap 66 after colliding with Bottas. Alonso picked up some debris and retired after the restart. McLaren are now 20 points ahead.
ALPINE (Esteban Ocon 10, Pierre Gasly 11)
Ocon changed tyres for the first time during the red flag period and made the new set of mediums last to the end of the race. Ocon overtook Hulkenberg on lap 66 for the final points-paying position.
WILLIAMS (Alex Albon 9, Logan Sargeant 16)
Albon scored points for the third race in a row. Sargeant retired on the last lap to avoid damaging the car’s power unit due to a fuel pump issue.
ALPHATAURI (Daniel Ricciardo 7, Yuki Tsunoda 12)
Ricciardo got the team’s best result so far this season after starting fourth.
ALFA ROMEO (Guanyu Zhou 14, Valtteri Bottas 15)
Alfa slipped to ninth in the constructors’ standings. Bottas collected a five-second time penalty for ‘causing a collision’ with Stroll and was also given two penalty points by stewards.
HAAS (Nico Hulkenberg 13, Kevin Magnussen retired)
Magnussen crashed out on lap 34 as Haas sank to the bottom of the table.
