Mexico Grand Prix 6 winners and 5 losers – Who threw the triple header?

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Max Verstappen continued his progression to a first world championship with a dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix. We have selected our six winners and five losers from a festival-like race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez …

Winner: Max Verstappen

After spending hours figuring out how best to attack the opening corner streak at the start, Verstappen executed the perfect strategy to overtake Mercedes and catapult himself into the lead in a race he would lead with authority.

The win was his ninth this season and saw him extend his championship lead for the third race in a row, leaving him to head to Brazil with a 19-point lead over Lewis Hamilton.

READ MORE: ‘It can turn really fast’ – Verstappen insists he doesn’t think about title despite dominant win in Mexico

The Red Bull rider is the first three-time winner in Mexico and overtook Jim Clark to seize the record for the all-time leader on the Mexico City track. By winning the Red Bull Ring and Spa in Mexico City, it took home the three highest altitude venues visited so far this year.


Verstappen strengthened his grip on the drivers’ championship

Loser: Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas had one of the best laps of his career to clinch pole position at this year’s Mexico City Grand Prix, blocking the front row with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

However, he failed to cover the outside line after a good jaunt, allowing Verstappen to recover a tow from him before moving to the outside. He was then returned by Daniel Ricciardo, with whom he then spent much of the race behind, and eventually finished out of points.

READ MORE: Hamilton says he ‘gave absolutely everything’ but unable to explain loss of pace in Mexico loss

It was a small consolation, however, that he was able to complete the fastest lap at the end of the race, depriving Verstappen of the extra point and keeping Mercedes leading the constructors’ championship, but only by one point.

2021 Mexico Grand Prix: Bottas and Ricciardo collide at the start

Winners: Mexican fans

Everywhere you look in Mexico City, there’s the face of Sergio Perez staring at you, whether it’s on billboards or at bus stops, on the sides of buildings or on posters adorning highways.

Perez is a megastar in Mexico and her fans came in droves – more than 300,000 walked through the doors over the weekend – draped in Mexican flags and dressed head to toe in Red Bull gear.

READ MORE: Mexico GP Facts & Stats – Verstappen and Perez Both Make Mexico History

And they were awarded with the podium they dreamed of, the section of the stadium – which alone can seat 30,000 fans – erupted when he got out of the car and absorbed the enthusiastic reception.



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Perez’s podium ensured the party started in style as fans reveled in the return of the Mexican Grand Prix

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

It was one of Yuki Tsunoda’s best weekends in F1 so far, the Japanese driver on pace from the first practice session (on a circuit he had never driven before).

He was unfortunate that he was doomed to start at the back of the pack, thanks to a multitude of engine penalties, but he did not let his head fall. Its appearance in Q3, albeit on the soft, ensured AlphaTauri had two cars in the final segment of qualifying for the third race in a row.

READ MORE: What the teams said – Mexico race day

But we were deprived of seeing if he could fight in the peloton with a car that looked third best in pure performance when he was hit by Esteban Ocon, who himself was pinched as the peloton compressed. at the start and forced to retire.



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It’s not his day – Tsunoda had nowhere to go to start, crashing after a few turns

Winner: Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez is on fine form as the Mexican is recovering from a trip to the grass at the start to score his third consecutive podium – the first time he has achieved this feat in his F1 career.

Although he failed in his pursuit of Hamilton for second place, he became the first Mexican to lead a lap and reach the podium in a home race with third place – his fifth podium of the season. , putting him just 20 points behind Bottas in the championship.

READ MORE: “I wanted more, I wanted to win” admits Perez after making history with Mexico City podium

Losers: McLaren

McLaren had a feeling it was going to be a tough weekend, and that’s what happened with the British team leaving Mexico with just a lonely point thanks to Lando Norris.

With Ferrari placing both cars in the top six, McLaren is behind the Italian team in fourth in the constructors’ championship, 13.5 points behind with four races remaining.



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It was an emotional day for Perez as he became the first Mexican to score a home podium.

Winner: Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly was right all weekend, the Frenchman taking advantage of an AlphaTauri who excelled at altitude in Mexico.

He followed a top-five spot on the grid with a sublime, albeit lonely, fourth place. This is his third top four of the year and the best result for the team based in Faenza, Mexico.

The good collection of points also allowed AlphaTauri to climb to the level of points with Alpine, fifth in the constructors’ championship.

READ MORE: Gasly hails’ fantastic ‘P4 in Mexico as AlphaTauri matches Alpine level among manufacturers’

Losers: Williams

George Russell described Sunday’s race as his toughest of the season, with the Briton making significant progress at the start and then slipping back into the field like a rock.



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Gasly was right in the race to come home in a fourth “best of the rest”

His teammate Nicholas Latifi did not do better and spent much of the afternoon straying because of the blue flags. This means Williams has not scored any more points for three consecutive races, with rival Alfa Romeo closing in on 12 points in the constructors’ championship.

Winner: Sébastien Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has always tended to run well in Mexico in the past and although he ended his record of still qualifying in the top 10, he has only scored for the sixth time this season.

Apart from the shortened Belgian Grand Prix, seventh was his best result since his podium in Baku (he finished second on the road in Hungary but was disqualified).

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RACE: Relive all the action of the Grand Prix de Mexico

2021 Mexico Grand Prix: Antonio Giovinazzi wins places in a chaotic start

Loser: Antonio Giovinazzi

The sadness in Antonio Giovinazzi’s eyes was evident when we spoke in the paddock after the race. It’s hard not to feel bad for the Italian, who finished 11th for the third race in a row, a place out of the points.

This one hurt mostly because he was sixth at the start. However, he caught up with traffic after his pit stop, which compromised his race to the point where he was unable to extract the car’s true pace. Another frustrating day.

DRIVERS MARKET: Giovinazzi admits it is “not easy” to race with doubts about your future in F1

Winner: Kimi Räikkönen

The other Alfa Romeo fared much better, with Kimi Raikkonen completing his strongest race of the year with an eighth place, set up by an impressive opening sequence of turns.

The car showed a steady pace throughout, meaning Raikkonen rarely faced a threat from behind. It was his second top-eight finish in four races, having failed to achieve a top-eight finish since 2019.

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