Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looked to be in a league of his own come Sunday in Mexico, crossing the finish line 16 seconds ahead of his closest rival in Lewis Hamilton. With his third victory in Mexico, with all being in a similar fashion, Verstappen has cemented his legacy around the high altitude place that is Mexico City, but his ninth victory of the 2021 season was particularly brilliant.
Starting third, Verstappen had to allow himself not to dwell too much on what was a disappointing qualifying session for him and his team, and instead focus his mind on how to jump both Mercedes cars before turn one. And he did, quite impressively.
Arguably, the Dutchman would have been as surprised as anyone to see Valtteri Bottas fail to cover the left hand side of the track on the long run to turn one. With the help of the tow from said Mercedes, Verstappen pulled alongside Bottas and Hamilton as they soared towards the braking zone. The Red Bull man knew where he was, the racing line was occupied by him and he had all of the braking markers he wanted. Knowing he was going to have grip, Verstappen knew that nobody is going to out brake him here – and they didn’t. Nobody got close.
With the chaos ensuing behind that saw Bottas facing the wrong way, Verstappen quickly set off into the distance. In a similar vain that saw his victories at the Mexican Grand Prix in 2017 and 2018. His rival, Hamilton, was forced to accept defeat early on and instead focus on staying ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez for a weekend saving second place. A duel that followed until the very end.
Verstappen was in cruise control. The car showed no signs of failing him, and neither did the tyres. On the odd occasion he had to increase his pace, he would with ease. A very dominant and brilliant display.
But, there was two particular moments in the race that showed the level that Verstappen was running at.
By being so far out in the lead, the driver inside car 33 could afford to lift and coast into corners, taking less stress out of his RB16B and the tyres. This, however, can cause the tyre temperatures to drop – something that Verstappen was lightly warned about. His response?
Cool down lap, set the fastest lap of the race, and return to more lifting and coasting. Of course, the fastest lap was eventually thwarted by Bottas after pitting for soft tyres at the end of the race. But that is not the point. Ironically, Bottas’ final laps of the race is where the second moment comes in.
Mercedes called Bottas into the pits with just a handful of laps left, in an attempt to take the fastest lap point away from Verstappen – after all, Bottas’ race was done for anyway. Ultimately, it worked for them but it took an extra pit stop.
The first attempt happened to be affected…by Verstappen himself. Bottas left the pitlane on his softs a handful of seconds behind the Dutch driver on the track, and a lap down. Verstappen knew what was happening, and just so happened to drop into the 1:23s lap times for one specific lap. This happened to have the Red Bull directly in front of Bottas throughout the final sector, meaning Bottas’ attempt on the set of soft tyres was finished. Verstappen dropped three seconds on that one lap, then set off once again on his usual times.
Sadly for the race winner however, Mercedes could afford to to bring Bottas in again for another set of softs, and hold him stationary so they could find the Finnish driver a gap on the track to get that fastest lap – something he did on the final tour around the circuit. They showed no intent to hide their need to take that point away from Verstappen.
Ferrari’s expertly avoided pickle
The most famous team in Formula 1 have had to pick themselves up, and dust themselves off after what can only be described as a humiliating 2020 season. Now, they find themselves back on a upward trajectory and fighting McLaren for third in the constructors championship.
Their drivers of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have performed strongly in 2021, and seem more then capable to work together. Such a point was proven during the Mexican Grand Prix.
With Leclerc stopping earlier then his teammate, both drivers were on differing strategies yet were to meet each other on track come the closing stages of the race. Sainz was closing in on Leclerc’s fifth place lap after lap, eating into the gap between them. On fresher tyres, this was not a complete surprise. Unsurprisingly, the team did not want to see a battle between their two drivers, which could have potentially seen a fifth and sixth place finish written off.
In their usual style, a direct order was indirectly hinted with Leclerc being told that a position swap is being ‘thought’ about. Leclerc did not respond – no driver wants to hear that on their radio. Yet, the formal instruction was still missing. A couple of laps later, Sainz was allowed through in an attempt to catch Pierre Gasly. Without a doubt, the delay from Leclerc was due to negotiations on the radio from the Monegasque driver about the chances of a return of favour if this Gasly chase failed.
Sadly for Ferrari, Gasly was holding a more then comfortable fourth place.
In recent years, Ferrari have been known to trip over themselves – especially in situations when they shouldn’t. And this would have been a situation in what they would have indeed shot themselves in the foot.
Sainz was six seconds ahead of Leclerc when the moment of defeat was accepted. It would have been understandable if he did not want to lose that much time. Yet, he dropped his pace. Leclerc’s favour was returned.
Team harmony is always key, and avoiding a pickle is always helpful – especially when the pickle has been created by the team itself.
The Motorsport Formula 