Mexico City Grand Prix Takeaways: A Smooth operator & a clumsy one

Wednesday, 30 October 2024 at 07:30

Carlos Sainz won the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix last Sunday after one of his trademark "smooth operator" drives, while Max Verstappen executed a clumsy operation.

For the second week in a row, Ferrari were on the pace, and while Charles Leclerc was their faster driver in Austin, Sainz had the upper hand in Mexico City.

Ferrari are still running their car with no upgrades, while McLaren had the fully upgraded MCL38 at Lando Norris' disposal, while Oscar Piastri will get it in Sao Paulo next weekend.

The way in which Norris was catching the Ferraris in the second sting on Hard tyres implies that McLaren had the better car but underperformed in qualifying, with Sainz taking pole from Verstappen and Norris only third.

Red Bull Racing, on the other hand, had a terrible weekend; their RB20 still lacking compared to McLaren and Ferrari, and their front-row start was only possible due to Verstappen's prowess behind the wheel as Sergio Perez was knocked out of qualifying in Q1, starting the race from 18th.

Red Bull can kiss their Formula 1 constructors' title goodbye as it is now between Ferrari and McLaren, especially as Perez's woes continue while Verstappen has enough on his plate defending his lead in the drivers' standings from Norris.

Overall, it was an enjoyable weekend in Mexico, and the star was Sainz, and with him, we start our Takeaways from the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix.

A penny for Sainz's thoughts

After all the celebrations and the champagne, the reality must have dawned on Sainz. He is in a winning car right now, but that will last for four more races.

In 2025, the Spaniard will make way for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari while he heads on to Williams, a team that is quite far away from winning ways.

That must sting, especially since Sainz is currently at the top of his game, and he must realize that he will be giving his best years in F1 to a project that needs a lot of time to succeed, that is, if it succeeds.

Williams have been in the doldrums for years now with many false dawns coming and going, and while the leadership of James Vowles has delivered some positives, there is no guarantee the former Mercedes strategist will succeed in elevating the Grove team into the winners' circle.

This is Sainz's reality; he is leaving a race-winning car at none other than Ferrari while in his prime, only for an elder stateman, in the twilight of his F1 career, to replace him.

Don't get me wrong, Lewis will definitely win races with Ferrari and possibly bag that elusive eighth drivers' crown, but there is also a strong possibility that he will fail to do so, probably through no fault of his own, as we have seen Ferrari destroy and frustrate champions before—remember Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso?

What even hurts more for Sainz is that Ferrari chose to keep Leclerc. The Monegasque is undoubtedly fast, the best qualifier in F1 right now, but did you see his mistake while defending from Norris in Mexico?

You can't help but feel for the Smooth Operator...

Verstappen's penalty fiesta

Let's start by saying that Red Bull are responsible for the situation Verstappen is in right now. The RB20 is not a contender, and the Dutchman is the one making the difference, especially in qualifying.

However, that is not an excuse for Verstappen to suffer from those occasional brain fades.

The fact remains that the gap to Norris is shrinking, and with talks about Verstappen getting a grid penalty in Sao Paulo due to a new power unit, the advantage the latter has in the championship suddenly does not seem significant, so Red Bull have some serious work to do.

After the race in Austin, I said in my previous Takeaways column that Verstappen was playing chess as he seeks to secure his fourth consecutive F1 title, but in Mexico, he was playing bumper cars.

In Austin, Verstappen was aware that Norris was closing in on him and planned his defense calmly, making sure he made use of all the gray zones in the so called racing guidelines, and as a result escaped being penalized while pushing Norris into an error.

In Mexico, Norris caught Max in a moment of red mist, just after Sainz regained the lead of the race, when the triple F1 champion realized the RB20 was not going to cooperate with him.

And while Norris went on the outside, again, this time Verstappen did not execute his defense like he did back in Austin, and he was simply out of line and was not even ahead at the apex.

In the heat of the moment, he went too far in the space of two corners, and as such, the stewards had no choice but to penalize him.

Again, I reiterate that Verstappen was wrong and deserved the penalties, so please keep this statement in mind while reading what is coming next.

The penalties

Verstappen: I'm not going to give up easily

Now, there are some questions regarding the penalties, which, by the way, Zak Brown claimed were not enough...

George Russell pushed Valtteri Bottas off the track in Austin and was given a five-second penalty, but Verstappen was given 10 seconds? Why is that?

That offense is penalized by a 10-second penalty, so why was Russell given five? Norris was also given five seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in Austin, as the Stewards justified it since the Briton had already committed to the move.

With all this talk about consistency, which is right, but where is the consistency in all of this?

One can't help but feel that the stewards in Mexico were taking decisions with Austin in the back of their minds, especially with the storm of opinions and debate around what Verstappen did and how he got away with it. As if there was anything to get away with back then...

Hamilton was talking about 2021 again; Russell gave an opinion, as did Leclerc and Sainz. All drivers who some day will find themselves fighting with Max for the same patch of tarmac.

Russell said Verstappen was "exploring a loophole" in the rules and should have been penalized for that! Really George? When you stop exploring loopholes, then you do not belong in the business of F1, whether you are a driver, engineer, designer...

Sainz said the FIA should define the limits of aggressiveness when defending, claiming that would change the way F1 drivers go racing.

And in Mexico, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the penalties Verstappen received were precedents that will change how drivers go racing.

Change how drivers went racing... Is this what we need in F1 right now? How do we want drivers to go racing?

After you... No after you... I insist!

In my Austin Takeaways, I said the issue was in the overcomplicated rules that don't cover everything. So do we go ahead and complicate them even more?

Or maybe we should take a step back and look back on the days when a driver overtaking on the outside was "fair game" and maybe put grass instead of the ridiculously wide run-off areas.

Walls would be a more efficient solution, but then we want the drivers to stick to the track limits, not get killed.

While drivers and team bosses are trying to take advantage of this latest debate to ensure their own interests, I feel the interest of F1 as a sport is being neglected.

Mexico City Grand Prix Quick Hits

Perez: Lawson needs to be a bit more humble

Another talking point from Mexico was the Liam Lawson/Sergio Perez incident. Perez is probably at his weakest, and it is understandable that Lawson would try to humiliate him on track to prove he is worthy of the Mexican's Red Bull Racing seat.
But giving a fellow F1 driver the middle finger is just bad manners...
Fernando Alonso experienced his 400th F1 Grand Prix weekend in Mexico City. Too bad it only lasted a few laps before his Aston Martin's brakes overheated.
Fernando did not miss out on a win, as the best he was expected to do was score a point or two. Nevertheless, it is a shame he couldn't finish the race.
And by the way, Alonso suffered from DNFs on his 200th Grand Prix (2013 Malaysian Grand Prix) and his 300th Grand Prix (2018 Canadian Grand Prix).
Fernando is a legend of our sport and it had been a privilege watching him race all those years.
A decent weekend for Haas, with both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg scoring points.
Pierre Gasly did well in the Alpine to score points.
Piastri had a tough weekend, qualifying 17th. He did race to eighth, which is a decent achievement. In his defense, he does not have the fully upgraded MCL38, but he will in Sao Paulo.
Then there will be no excuses.