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Alpha Tauri at some point look like they were not sure if Ricciardo could make it alone to Q2 so they got Yuki to help him on DRS Zone specially with slipstream as a push but at the end based on the Quali results seem he never need it, Yuki is starting from the pit lane due to an engine problem.
The most devastating and crazy results of this Quali was the man on the white car above, Daniel Riccardo ended P4 on yesterday Quali who had a not so good start with Alpha Tauri after they got Nyck de Vries out of the seat, then put Riccardo who broke his hand in Zanvoort, came back for Texas GP last weekend where his performance was no where to be seen. For the past almost three years many have lost faith in Riccardo, some fans who are starting to watch Formula 1 either know him from McLaren where he had a horrible performance I would say mostly because of the car, consider how Hamilton did last year when the car was terrible and how he is performing now that the car has change a lot, some other fans know Riccardo as the reserve driver who just got promoted to Alpha Tauri so not the best part of his carrier.
Source Mexico GP is turning into a conspiracy, I'm a Checo Perez fan, I like how he drives how humble he is a great driver over all, he started the year strong and many forget that is he still second place for this year Formula 1 Drivers Standing with 240 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third who has 201 points but its just human nature to remember only the bad things specially when everything is going wrong, that's called panic and humans are easy prey for it. The truth is that I did not expect Checo to perform on Quali yesterday, when I say perform was take Pole or be on the top three, he has been trying to bounce back since Miami this year without any luck and his seat has been in jeopardy because of this but until now he is Red Bull second driver, the problem with yesterday Quali results is that Red Bull is the only team that did not loose faith on Riccardo, he is a Red Bull favorite and Ricciardo with an Alpha Tauri Car out performing Checo on a Red Bull says a lot.
Did Red Bull change Riccardo Car? is it a white RB19? or is it that Ricciardo is really back? in sports great athletes some times has that unstopable break through after a very bad season and when that happens there is just nothing others can do to stop it, if we compare the Alpha Tauri car to the Red Bull RB19 they are totally different worlds, even on a Checo bad day Ricciardo could not out perform him at least until last weekend so how in hell was Ricciardo not only faster than Checo but also the most consistent driver through the weekend? does this mean Ricciardo has a chance for podium? well its hard to say because strategy and pits stops has a lot to do on top of safety cars but at least a third place if everything goes well for him I think that's not a crazy result.
Ferrari lock down the front row with Leclerc first and Sainz second, until Hamilton on six place they are all very close so it is expected this race to be a very close one, it would be great if at least four of the six cars on top have good pit stops and strategies with an uneventful race like Texas but that is probably asking too much for this track specially for Ferrari who most of the time fucks something up, Leclerc increase his record of the man with the most Poles who ends not wining a race, he could probably do Pole on Monaco and find a way to not win as it happen on 2022 so if we talk about converting Pole into a Win Leclerc is the worst driver ever at that statistics, Ferrari didn't look the fastest during Free Practices or Quali until Q3 but at least having both drivers on top might secure them a good start for TEAM FERRARI.
I expect at least one safety or virtual safety car during the race since on Free Practice and on Quali there were a few cars spinning out, McLaren doesn't look too great with Piastri 7th and Norrish 18th, I expect Norris to climb during the race since he was doing good although a bad decision on tires and then a poor lap leave him out of options, out in Q1
Another driver who has been trying to bounce back is Fernando Alonso but without luck, similar to Checo, Aston Martin car is under a lot of changes right now with a new floor and I thought they would be able to come out with a good setup for the car this weekend, they had three practice sessions but that doesnt look like it was the case, Lance is still performing poor and Alonso starting 13th who got out of Q1 but by +0.7 of a second from the leader ending 10th on Q1 and then could not improve his time on Q2 even spinning out and ending his quali.
I'm very excited about this race specially for the first seven drivers who start the grid today Sunday, who or what team will fuck it up because Ferrari has a perfect opportunity to win this race, Alpha Tauri with just one lottery ticket at making podium but if they can stay within the top five that's great result for a team that has gone through a lot this year, there were rumors that next year they getting the RB19 as the startup car, not sure if that's true, probably not. Drivers like Hamilton, Russel and Piastri are going to battle out to climb the first top five and probably a podium and for Verstappen based on his performance this year he will most likely kick everyone ass even with Ferrari locking the first two place on the grid, the RB19 just performs way better int terms of race pace plus Red Bull has been excellent when it comes to strategy, as for Checo who knows he is a wild card at this point, great driver, this is his home grand prix but his results are not there, he was very close to Verstappen but for Checo close is not enough he needs results, I do not expect him to win or be on the podium for this weekend.
