Investigation against Leclerc
Charles Leclerc could face trouble after the race. After the collision with Sergio Perez, Leclerc had a battered front wing end plate on the left side, which eventually fell off and triggered a short VSC phase.
There was no “yolk flag”, Leclerc could continue driving and did so. Now there will be a post-race investigation against him for driving in unsafe conditions.
Personally, I find it to be a very unfortunate solution.
Uneventful
There’s not much going on in Mexico, the distances are pretty frozen, the DRS advantage is hardly noticeable and obviously most drivers are managing their tires right now.
Verstappen continues to lead ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, Hamilton is now in 4th place and Hülkenberg remains in 8th place.
Round 18 of 71.
Mood plug pulled
The atmosphere at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez had already come to a standstill after the first corner.
Sergio Perez got off to a great start, wanted to push past Verstappen and Leclerc on the far left and, like Verstappen in 2021, make the move on the outside, but overlooked Leclerc and collided violently with him, took off and thus destroyed his race. Damage to the side pod and the wheel suspension and thus elimination in lap 1.
Alexander Wurz on this in ORF: “He has to know that the other person is there. He can’t disappear into thin air. He can’t give in there. He has to write that down on his own sombrero.”
Very bitter.
Verstappen leads Leclerc and Sainz after 7 laps, Ricciardo stays ahead of Hamilton on 4th place and Hülkenberg has gained 4 places and is in 8th place.
The tire choice
Everyone on medium except Alexander Albon and Esteban Ocon on the hard tires, and Lando Norris on soft tires.
This will be a strategy festival, dear Formula 1 friends.
It’s about to start!
Red Bull expects slower pit stops
McLaren set a new pit stop world record of 1.8 seconds in Austin, and Red Bull is also one of the teams that usually changes tires the fastest. But Helmut Marko expects that the pit stops at the Mexican Grand Prix could possibly be “one to one and a half seconds” slower than usual. Because: Several members of the regular pit crew have apparently caught a virus.
“Some mechanics,” confirms Marko in an interview with ORF, are “affected by this Mexican disease.” There are enough replacement staff on site. But you can’t expect the same performance from them: “If someone steps in, they’re also good, but they don’t have the same routine.”
Points possible?
It would of course be great for Nico Hülkenberg to finish in the points at the anniversary. But at Sky Deutschland he discovered what was necessary:
“It always depends on the start and then it takes on its own dynamic. But the plan is of course to have a good start and then pick something up.”
Interest unbroken
The organizers of the Mexican Grand Prix have set a new attendance record and show that interest in Formula 1 in Mexico remains unbroken.
There were 400,639 spectators at the track over the entire weekend, another increase on the 395,000 last year.