Hello friends, good vibes to all.
These weeks in Formula 1 have been a bit hectic with things happening both on and off the track and in Mexico they happened again. This circuit is one of the most complicated for several reasons, the first is the altitude and the city is over two thousand meters above sea level which affects the air and therefore the performance of vehicles, the asphalt has very little grid so the car in the rear moves very easily, there are three DRS zones but it is still very complex to overtake, the distance between the exit and the first corner is a great straight that gives for much play; many curves; in short.
I say this as a preamble to a series of things that happened and that marked the course of the award. After Austin there was a meeting with the drivers to make clear how certain maneuvers were going to be penalized in the race, all because of that altercation between Norris and Verstappen. Well, yesterday something happened again between them, two drivers who are fighting for the championship but this time it was Max who was penalized with 20 SECONDS thanks to two incidents. The Dutchman is very rough and violent when driving, that is well known, but it is still surprising that this happened just after Austin. There were more frictions of this style that fortunately did not end badly, but I repeat, beyond the drivers, it is due to the characteristics of the track.
But it was not only Max who was not fine, we have to talk about Checo Perez. The Mexican is in the eye of the hurricane, to be eliminated in Q1 was bad enough, but to be penalized with 5 seconds at the start of the race is the last straw. But as that was not enough, he finished last. I believe that Perez's future hangs by a very thin and weak thread and I don't know if he will be able to continue to hold on; Horner has already made a strong statement on the matter. Now when Red Bull needs to have its two drivers in tune, due to the masterful rise of Ferrari and the constant fight of McLaren, they cannot afford the luxury of this kind of performances. Max, despite the 20-second penalty, managed to save the day and finished sixth, but Checo's performance was a total nonsense. Will he be fired after Brazil? - We will see.
The reality is that not everything was bad, of course not, in fact the race itself was very good and entertaining, we saw everything as you have been able to read. The performance of Carlos Sainz throughout the weekend was stellar and extraordinary, from pole position we saw how he was always in front, he even took more than two tenths of a second from Verstappen to take it. In the race it was more of the same, he started leading and stayed that way for almost 71 laps with a masterful pace and performance. I still find it hard to believe that this driver has been discarded by Ferrari, not because Hamilton is not worth it but because of the Spaniard's own quality. But well, we are seeing after all a very good evolution of the Italian team winning two consecutive awards and training fully in the fight of constructors overcoming the Red Bull and placing second in the standings.
On the other side both McLaren managed to score points despite Piastri did not look good in Saturday's qualifying, very surprised by the performance of the Haas, both got into the top 10 and scored important points, those cars with Ferrari engines are working a little better in recent awards. It was a race where we saw a lot of friction, it was very rough, almost all the drivers were involved in something which made it, as I said, very entertaining to watch. Lawson is another of those who is in the spotlight and not exactly for good performances, he has already had three altercations with three different drivers (Alonso, Colapinto and Checo Perez), with the Mexican perhaps the most significant of all. The temperament of the New Zealander is well known, so Horner will have to tighten the screws.
47 points separate Norris from Verstappen and 24 points from Norris to Leclerc, with four races and two sprints remaining. As for the constructors: McLaren leads with 566, Ferrari with 537 and RB with 512. As you can see everything is very tight and I would think that nothing is set in stone yet. What is left of the calendar will be very exciting, nothing should be taken for granted as surprises are the order of the day, Austin and Mexico were the proof of that. The next race will be this coming weekend at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil. Sainz was a worthy winner yesterday, Norris second thanks to Leclerc's laps off the track and the Monegasque was third.
¡Un abrazo a todos, nos leemos en la próxima!
Well friends that's all for today, I hope you liked it.
¡A hug to all, see you next time!