November 3, 2022
The Mexican Grand Prix was pretty cool. We got to see some new faces drive in FP1 again, saw Pierre Gasly get yet another penalty (it is becoming a problem), and saw many of the championship fights get closer. It wasn’t my favorite race, but it was still good. Here is everything that happened at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix:
FP1: October 28, 2022
Just like at COTA, this weekend saw many teams swap their drivers for junior and reserve drivers during FP1.
Carlos Sainz led the session with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in tow. The Red Bulls followed and their lap times were identical!
Max Verstappen had a strange spin when he was on soft-tires, but the team chalked this up to the altitude and its effects on the car.
Valtteri Bottas took a shocking P7 and was followed by Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, and Sebastian Vettel.
Zhou Guanyu finished P12 after he stopped at the end of the pit lane, ending his session early.
There were five new drivers in FP1: Liam Lawson, Logan Sargeant, Nyck de Vries, Jack Doohan, and Pietro Fittipaldi.
Lawson went P16 in Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri but had to stop on the track toward the end of the session.
Sargeant took over a Williams again, but this time it was Alex Albon’s. He went P17.
de Vries came back to drive George Russell’s Mercedes to P18.
Doohan went P19 in the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. Unfortunately, his session ended early after “anomalies” were found in the power unit.
Fittipaldi drove Kevin Magnussen’s Hass to P20 after stopping on the track with a MGU-K issue and bringing out a Red Flag.
FP2: October 28, 2022
There was another Pirelli Tire Test during FP2 (the first was at the US GP). The session was extended to ninety minutes and just like last time, the drivers who didn’t get to drive in FP1 were allowed to drive their own programs for the first half of the session. The rest of the drivers had to run on unmarked Pirelli tires and test them in different conditions.
Russell went fastest with Tsunoda eight-tenths off in P2 and Ocon in P3. All three drivers had missed out on FP1.
Lewis Hamilton led the pack of drivers testing tires as he went P4. The Red Bulls followed Hamilton with Perez ahead of Verstappen in P5.
Leclerc lost control of his car at Turn 7 and slid backwards into the barriers, red flagging the session and causing damage to the rear of the car. Leclerc ended up P7 and the other Ferrari of Sainz was P8.
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| Leclerc crashed into the barriers |
Zhou ended his session early again after experiencing technical issues.
FP3: October 29, 2022
FP3 was finally normal with all twenty cars running this season’s Pirelli tires.
Russell went fastest once again, but this time his incredible lap time of 1m 18,399s was over a second quicker than his FP2 pace. Hamilton was about one tenth behind in P2.
Verstappen took P3 and Perez was in P5, sandwiched by the Ferraris. It looks like this weekend will be a Mercedes vs Red Bull weekend since the Ferraris haven’t had much pace after their FP1 1-2.
Schumacher had a spin at the beginning of the session but managed to recover it, finishing in P17.
Aston Martin didn’t have a good session as Lance Stroll was given a fine for speeding in the pit lane and Sebasitan Vettel reported that the car wasn’t performing well.
Qualifying: October 29, 2022
Kevin Magnussen faces a five place grid penalty for an engine change after Pietro Fittipaldi suffered MGU-K issues in the Haas during FP1. Lance Stroll has a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Alonso during the United States Grand Prix.
Q1:
Hamilton was fastest ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. However, a final flying lap gave Bottas the spot for third and pushed Leclerc down to P4.
Eliminated: Schumacher (P16), Vettel (P17), Stroll (P18), Albon (P19), Latifi (P20)
Schumacher got himself out of the elimination zone with three minutes left of Q1, but his lap time was deleted for track limits and he stayed in P16.
Vettel and Schumacher’s qualifying lap times were both exactly the same. Schumacher starts ahead because he completed that lap first.
Stroll will drop down to P20 because of his penalty.
Q2:
Hamilton set the fastest time again with Sainz taking second. Russell, who was struggling with his brakes, was set for third after suffering a front-right lock-up on his final flying lap.
Bottas was in P6, keeping up his good form of the weekend.
Eliminated: Ricciardo (P11), Zhou (P12), Tsunoda (P13), Gasly (P14), Magnussen (P15)
Magnussen will be in P19 due to his penalty. Even though Magnussen has the larger penalty, Stroll will start last because he qualified below the Haas.
Q3:
Verstappen took pole position for the first time in Mexico City. Russell gave the Red Bull driver a run for his money but after getting a lap time deleted for track limits and still struggling with his brakes, second was the best he could do. Hamilton rounded out the top three, making it a Mercedes 2-3.
Ferrari seemed to have lost their pace. The Alfa Romeo of Bottas split the Ferraris with Sainz in P5, Bottas P6, and Leclerc P7. Somehow, Bottas managed to get a really good performance out of that car.
Race: October 30, 2022
As the lights went out, Verstappen mastered yet another race start and flawlessly defended against the Mercedes duo on the way down to Turn 1. George Russell did not have a great start and by the end of Lap 1, he was down in P4. Sainz kept his position in P5 while Bottas dropped back to eight after Leclerc took P7 from him.
Hamilton stayed quite close to Verstappen at the beginning of the race, but after a few laps he started to drop back to cool his engine. Drivers couldn’t risk overheating at the high altitude and warm temperatures of Mexico City. By Lap 10, Verstappen was nearly two seconds ahead.
Gasly and Stroll were fighting for a position and Gasly braked late into Turn 4, forcing Stroll wide and taking the position. Gasly was soon given a five-second time penalty for this move. Gasly and AlphaTauri have not been getting along with the FIA lately.
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| Gasly (right) pushing Stroll (left) wide |
By Lap 20, Verstappen, who started on soft compound tires, started to worry about tire wear. Red Bull told him to stretch out his opening stint for as long as possible. Mercedes was on the more durable medium compound, so they would pit later than Red Bull anyway. Verstappen needed to minimize the damage his early stop would do.
Perez ended up pitting for mediums on Lap 24. Unfortunately, he had a long stop when his rear-left tire got stuck and came back out in P6, behind the Ferraris. Verstappen pitted two laps after his teammate and came out in P3. Hamilton responded to Red Bull with a stop for hards on Lap 30. Russell decided to try going long on his mediums and pit for softs toward the end of the race. However, his plan didn’t end up working out and Russell boxed for hards on Lap 35. He came out sixteen seconds off Verstappen’s lead and was instructed to “life and coast” for the rest of the race.
The race became pretty mundane until Lap 51. Ricciardo went wheel-to-wheel with Tsunoda and hit him at Turn 6, punting the AlphaTauri into the air. As a result, Tsunoda retired from the race and the stewards gave Ricciardo a ten-second penalty for causing a collision. Somehow, this penalty gave him the pace he has been lacking all year. Ricciardo became a beast and on soft tires, he pushed past Norris, Bottas, Alonso, and Ocon to get to P7. He then built enough of a gap between himself and Ocon that even with his penalty, he still kept P7. Maybe we should give Ricciardo penalties in every race if it means he’s going to get McLaren some points.
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| The collision from Ricciardo's perspective |
Verstappen was leading Hamilton by more than ten seconds at this point. Perez was closing in on Hamilton as Mercedes questioned their strategy. Both Mercedes drivers felt their pace slipping away after they switched to hard-compound tires but the team hoped their move would pay off. In the end, Verstappen won with a fifteen second margin but Hamilton kept his position in P2, regulating Perez to P3. Russell finally got to pit for softs in the last two laps of the race and took the point for fastest lap.
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| The 2022 Mexican Grand Prix Podium |
Sirens should be blaring in Maranello because the Ferraris finished nearly ONE MINUTE off of Verstappen’s time. Finishing P5 and P6 is not good if they want to keep second in the constructors. Mercedes are now forty points away from beating Ferrari, so the Italian team really needs to step up its game. Hopefully this poor result was just a result of the altitude change.
Norris and Ricciardo both scored points, with DannyRic in P7 and Norris in P9. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished P8, but Alonso had a failure that put him out of the race with six laps remaining. This means that McLaren took home more points in this race and the tensions regarding fourth in the Constructors Championships have heightened.
Honorable Mentions:
Back in July, Sergio Perez’s dad took the F1 world by storm when he was caught kissing Lewis Hamilton’s dad in celebration of their sons’ podiums. Now, Hamilton’s dad got his payback and kissed Perez’s dad back!
I wouldn’t say it was the best race in the world, but the Mexican Grand Prix was decent. I got deja vu watching the ending though because the podium was exactly the same as it was last year. Anyway, I’m glad we got to see Papa Perez again and watch McLaren perform well! Hopefully Aston Martin can give Sebastian Vettel a better car for his last two races.
I will be back in a week for the Brazilian Grand Prix! Get ready, we are about to hit the last two races of the season!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
Pictures:
https://www.grandprix247.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/leclerc-crash-ferrari-f1-mexico.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FgWB0LEXwAE8QZO?format=jpg&name=small
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article28367054.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_FgWNkK6WAAgO1Ji-1.jpg
https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTkzNDA1MTkxODg0NjQ1OTU1/mercedes-red-bull.jpg