Carlos Sainz Wins In Mexico, Ferrari Move Up In Constructor’s Battle

1200 kilometres separate Austin from Mexico City, but on the racetrack not that much seems to have changed since last week. A Ferrari won in Texas and a Ferrari won in the Mexican capital. This time it was Carlos Sainz first past the chequered flag, while team-mate Charles Leclerc came home third. Splitting the two Italian cars was Lando Norris.

For the Spaniard, this was career win number four, the second this season after Melbourne. It is the 248th win for Ferrari, the second in a row and the fifth this year, and the most wins it has scored in a season since 2018. It is also the Scuderia’s third win on the track named after the Rodriguez brothers, following on from victories for Jacky Ickx in 1970 and Alain Prost in 1990.

Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ classification has now come down to 47 points ahead of Norris and 71 more than Leclerc. In the Constructors’ standings, McLaren still leads on 566 points while Ferrari has 537 and has moved ahead of Red Bull who are now third on 512.

14 drivers opted to start on the Medium, while six (Perez, Ocon, Colapinto, Lawson, Bottas and Zhou) went with the Hard. The Safety Car was required right from the opening lap following the collision between Tsunoda and Albon, which led to both of them retiring. In the first few laps after the restart, the race was action-packed with drivers passing and repassing, giving the Stewards plenty of work to do… Then the race settled down, especially the leading positions, before springing back to life in the closing stages with duels between Leclerc and Norris and the Mercedes pair.

The only unusual aspects were Verstappen’s climb through the field, having dropped down the order with a double penalty totalling 20 seconds, before he eventually made it up to sixth place. There was also a long distance chess game as some drivers tried to gain, or stop others from gaining, the extra point for the race fastest lap.

Piastri drove the longest stint on the Medium, doing the opening 39 laps on a set of the C4. The longest stint of all on one set of tyres came from one of the specialists in this discipline, namely Bottas who ran 49 laps on the Hard.

Aside from the final pit stops at the very end in the chase for the fastest lap time, all the drivers ran a one-stop race with the exception of Perez who, starting down the back, tried something different.

Carlos Sainz – P1

‘I’m incredibly happy! I’ve been chasing another win since Australia and getting it here in Mexico makes it even more special, as it almost feels like a second home to me with the incredible support of the Mexican fans! My family is also here this weekend so I can’t ask for more. We knew losing a position at the start could happen but regaining it quickly by diving down the inside into turn 1 was the key to the race. From there it was all about managing tyres and pace, a very smooth operation until the chequered flag! This second win in a row is a further testament to the work the team has done in recent months, we are getting closer in the Constructors’ Championship and we’ll fight until the end as a team. Congrats to everyone! On to Brazil!’

Lando Norris – P2

“It was a good race but a very tough race. Over the first few laps, a lot of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes. With Max Verstappen, I knew what to expect, and I just tried to avoid it. I think in the end, we were probably the quickest car today. We’re doing a very good job as a team, so we’ll keep our heads down, keep focused and keep pushing. A big thanks to all the team, and then the fans today, they make this race very enjoyable.”

Charles Leclerc – P3

‘It was a difficult race and I think P3 was the best we could do, having spent the weekend a bit on the back foot. The first stint was all about managing the tyre temperatures which was not easy. After that I just had to bring it home and maximise the points we scored as a team. It was a good race for Carlos and a nice points haul for the team, which has been working really well, coming back to the level we want to be at, which is amazing to see. Our target is still to fight for the Constructors’ title and we are getting closer thanks to weekends like the last two. Now on to the final race of this triple header where we will push to keep up this momentum.’

Mario Isola – Pirellie Director of Motorsport

“A race that provided plenty of excitement right from the start, before gradually settling down, at least as far as the leaders were concerned, before livening up again towards the finish with duels between Leclerc and Norris and an even longer one between Hamilton and Russell. There was plenty of action behind the top five, and at the very end, several drivers pitted for fresh tyres to go for the fastest race lap.

“In terms of strategy, the predictions going into the event were confirmed, with the one-stop being the outright favourite and starting on the Medium before switching to the Hard proving to be the quickest of all the various combinations. Piastri was a good example of this, because even starting from a long way back on the grid, he adopted the same strategy as those at the front and was able to finish in the points.

“Usually, one-stop races require careful tyre management, but today we saw that the drivers were able to push without worrying too much about degradation, which was very limited on both compounds. The Medium showed a few signs of graining, but that did not affect performance excessively, while the Hard always performed well, even for those running the longest stints which came close to the 50 laps mark.”