Mexico City track is not the fastest of all due to how thin is the air up there about 2000+ feet over the sea level, teams have to run a lot of down force to make the aero package work meaning it doesn't necessary create more drag and on the side some times cars are tune down because cooling becomes a problem, we saw cars running bigger vents on the side pods and some on the engine cover all this to compensate the thin air. It seems the only car on the grid that was not affected by any of this was the Red Bull RB19 on the hands of the current World Champion Max Verstappen who took the lead after the first turn thanks to his team partner Checo Perez, not because Checo did some defense move to cover Verstappen but because he destroy his car in front of the two Ferrari coming after Verstappen, at this point we know Verstappen would destroy the two Ferrari anyways but at least it was very interesting to see him fight both Leclerc and Sainz, once Verstappen took the lead he had clear air the entire race, at some point Hamilton got three or even two seconds close to him but then Medium tires start to de gradate horrible and Verstappen had Hard Compound this let him increase that gap to up to +15 seconds.
Look at this beauty of a start, you got the two Ferrari against both Red Bulls with Mercedes lurking from the middle and just the single AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo who out qualified Checo Perez on Saturday, the scramble at the start was awesome and the best part is that it was a long straight wide enough so drivers were able to avoid contact.
Until we get to turn one and Checo Perez decided to stay put next to Charles who was in between the two Red Bulls, it is a racing incident everybody gets that but it was a naive decision, what he did reminds me of what Verstappen did on Italy in 2021 with Hamilton but the conditions where totally different, lets face it Verstappen was fighting for the F1 World Championship against Hamilton, that season was decided on the last race by a point so if he end up out because he takes out Hamilton then they are even basically a nothing to loose scenario for Verstappen but in the case of Checo he is on the lead against Hamilton for second place, his ass is probably on the line if he cant get second place probably Red Bull takes him out who knows and you are in your home country track so do not fuck it up or at least not so fast. Checo Perez said he saw a risky opportunity and he took it so he pay the price, many people went to the track just to watch him, there was no need for him to proof that he can beat Max Verstappen because at this point it is very very difficult for him to pull that out, all he had to do was fight for the podium, gave his people a good show and who knows if Verstappen car breaks then had a better shot to win the race. Checo Perez car got destroyed after the impact with Leclerc, their was a hole on the side pod after the Ferrari's tire impact the side of the Red Bull and when the car landed the floor broke in pieces plus the fuel tank broke too.
After the crash Leclerc got out almost without damage just with the end plate on the left of the front wing but that's no biggy, everything else was fine and Ferrari gave him the go to keep pushing in the mean time Verstappen who had nothing to do with it got away so easy.
Verstappen start to pull away but there were some interesting battles going on, HAAS team has been faster on straight line and Kevin Magnussen was fighting against Logan Sargent, Williams is mostly a brute force car very fast on straights and when they got to the straight to finish lap 32 Magnussen got out of the track, it look like a very bumpy ride even though he was not on top of the piano, dust came out and then he took the car back on the track.
Until this happen, it seems that during his offroad trip the HAAS car of Magnuseen either stress too much the rear suspension, specially he left side and during the heavy stress of consecutive turns his rear suspension broke, at high speed the car intermediately went into the opposite barrier when he tried to turn right, on video the impact doesn't look too bad but the car did bounce twice destroying the rear end and part of the front suspension, what worry is that the car caught on fire but it was probably due to brake fluid leak and very hot rotors.
The race was Red Flag and Verstappen seem to be pissed about it, it was funy at the same time because he was like "red flag? why? its ridiculous I saw him out, is he ok?" but who can blame him, the guy was in the zone and restarting the race was like throwing away all the work that he has done so far. The race restart with Max at the front, there were other drivers who spin out like Yuki and Lance but nothing mayor, Kevin Magnussen got out of the crash without any injuries.
Second restart was very good for Hamilton but a Land who started way back on the grid looses if Im not mistaken more than four places after a lot of wheels spin, who knows probably tires were too cold but from there he start working on his race, with Lando pace its always interesting to see him fighting at the top, the car still doesn't have what it takes to win races and Lando has mention a few times that he also need to be more consistent.
Mercedes on the other hand had a great race with Lewis Hamilton, this time not so close to win the race as it happen on Texas but with every race he looks more comfortable with the car, he mention during race that the balance was great, all he cared about the tire compound, Mercedes pit knew their car and Hamilton was performing better than the Ferrari who are always worry about tire degradation so they took the chance and went for it on a software compound Hamilton had the speed to take over Leclerc, I truly love that shot above; everyone thought it was from the outside because of all the dust but it was not, just dirty side of the track; after passing Leclerc they told Hamilton to just lift and coast to keep his tires.
Lando Norris was driver of he day, he had an amazing race but he is still not as constant as he needs to be to win race at least not against Verstappen, the car is evolving very fast but both Piastri and Norris has mention how some times they still fighting the car, McLaren has a great project on their hands and I want them to bring it to the top to see more competition.
On a short note, the other driver who had a great race was Daniel Ricciardo, he is a very fast guy but the AlphaTauri is not on the same level as the McLaren, its been said that next year Red Bull is going to share components with AlphaTauri so they are competitive, this will benefit a lot Ricciardo but it still not a Red Bull, it is ironic that on this shot we got Ricciardo who had the worst season of his carrier with McLaren next to Norris, both on the same picture having an amazing race.
Max Verstappen dominance of this race is out of the question, today I mention how very recent I figure out how I don't enjoy futbol as I enjoy F1 or MMA, most of the time when Barcelona loose I stay mad for the rest of the day and I hate that feeling, I thin people are starting to feel the same way with Verstappen but on Formula 1 it happens from time to time, Hamilton did it for seven years so this feeling of been bored or mad that Verstappen wins every race is nothing new, people make it worst at not been objective thinking that Leclerc, Hamilton or Checo are on the same level and I'm not talking about the car Im talking driver level, some say if they had an RB19 things would be different like Hamilton said but that's not the case, bad luck see you on 2026 when regulation changes, Checo has the same car and look at how far he is from Verstappen so thinking that there is any other team that can win against Verstappen right now is foolish, Leclerc and Hamilton had a few close chances but its not about a lucky shot, there has to bee a tendency, a pattern of races when they out perform Verstappen on the track and Red Bull so then the doors to win races opens up.
In my opinion to keep things interesting I look for the underdog, I go for McLaren, Aston Martin, even Williams depending on the track, that's why the races stay interested for me, I really do not care what Verstappen does during race after he takes the lead because NO BODY is going to catch him, NO BODY, stop living in lala land, right now there is no driver or car that can beat him, as man I hope this changes on the next regulations cycle.
Here a clip of Checo Perez crash before turn one and how he ruin his race
