2021 F1 Mexico Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

The 2021 Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix may not have been as action-packed, but there was plenty that happened in the title race both up and down the field, including Max Verstappen extending his lead at the top with a victory in dominant fashion. 

In this report, we take you through all of them who shined (and those who didn’t) in the 18th round of the 2021 F1 Mexico Grand Prix. 

Winners

Red Bull Racing Honda

 

It all started with Max Verstappen taking a fantastic start and pulling off a brilliant move around the outside of Turn 1 to take the lead. After that, the Dutch never looked back, registering his ninth win of the season. 

His teammate Sergio Perez also had a home race to remember, challenging the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton for second place all along. While he had to settle for third in the end, a couple of more laps could’ve seen a Red Bull 1-2 finish. In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen now has a 19-point lead over Hamilton. But the more significant result is in the constructor standings, where Red Bull Racing Honda is now only a single point behind Mercedes with just four rounds to go.

Ferrari 

McLaren had a difficult race, and Ferrari took full advantage of that, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing fifth and sixth eventually. This means Ferrari is now third in the constructor standings and has a 13.5-point advantage over McLaren.

Pierre Gasly 

With teammate Yuki Tsunoda taken out on the opening lap, Pierre Gasly continued as the one-man army for the AlphaTauri squad, qualifying fifth and then finishining fourth. best of the rest in fourth position. This result is crucial for the team, as they’re now tied on points with Alpine for fifth place in the constructors standings.

Losers

Valtteri Bottas

 

Everything that had to go wrong went horribly wrong for Valtteri Bottas during the race. That small glory of pole position was eliminated immediately as not only he lost the lead, but was spun around by the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. That wasn’t the end of it as the Mercedes driver was stuck behind Ricciardo for most of the race, and any attempt to overtake in the pitstop phases was eliminated by poor pit stops. Eventually Bottas had to settle for a difficult 15th place finish at the chequered flag which was crucial for Red Bull to slash the gap to Mercedes in the constructors standings.

Daniel Ricciardo

With Lando Norris starting further down the grid due to engine penalties, teammate Daniel Ricciardo was looking set to limit McLaren’s damage dealt by Ferrari this weekend, but all hopes of that went up in smoke on the opening lap by colliding with Valtteri Bottas and sustaining damage. While the Australian did recover to 12th place in the end, Ferrari’s strong result led to McLaren losing third place in the constructors standings.

Alpine

 

It was another difficult weekend for the Alpine squad, with the pair of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon struggling to break into the top 10 positions. Sure, Alonso managed to salvage a ninth place finish, Alpine are now tied on points with AlphaTauri for fifth place in the constructors standings.

Next week will see Formula One head further down south to Interlagos for the Brazilian Grand Prix, scheduled from November 12- 14.