F1 Takeaways: Unmatched Max Verstappen continues march on document books Specific Occasions

It’s a “candy 16” for Max Verstappen because the Pink Bull driver scored his document sixteenth victory of the season Sunday on the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who has already clinched his third consecutive world championship, surpassed his whole from a yr in the past.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes crossed the road second adopted by pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in third.

Right here’s what you might want to know from the Mexico Metropolis GP.

Unmatched Verstappen continues march on document books

Verstappen is now on the level the place he’s breaking his personal information. After incomes 15 wins final season, Verstappen has completed one higher, reaching 16 wins within the 2023 marketing campaign — and with three extra races remaining.

Regardless of qualifying third behind the 2 Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Verstappen was capable of get out to a greater begin and simply punch proper in between the pair on the entrance straight to grab the lead.

Solely the restart on lap 36 may have supplied one other alternative for sparks, however Verstappen proved to be no match as he simply pulled away once more en path to ending with a 13-second benefit over Hamilton.

Verstappen tied Alain Prost for fourth place on the all-time wins checklist with 51 victories every. The Dutch driver can declare sole possession as quickly as subsequent weekend on the Brazil GP, and subsequent in his sights will likely be Sebastian Vettel with 53 wins.

In the meantime, Verstappen additionally handed Prost for fifth place in most laps led all-time (2,709 to 2,683 for these counting). That’s not the final time we’ll point out Prost right here in our takeaways.

All danger, no reward for Perez

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez mentioned he was “massively wanting ahead” to his dwelling grand prix. Beginning fifth on the grid, Perez was ready to do properly in entrance of his adoring followers. You possibly can in all probability sense the place that is going.

Proper on the primary nook of the opening lap, Perez made a transfer on the skin of Leclerc and didn’t give the Ferrari practically sufficient house. The 2 made contact with Perez catching air and flying off the monitor. You would really feel the passion from the group dissipate like air out of a balloon. Perez was capable of limp his automobile again to the pits however the injury was completed, and he was compelled to retire from the Grand Prix.

It was a grasping, all-too-eager transfer from Perez and contemplating the tempo we’ve seen from Pink Bull, there certainly would have been different alternatives for him to get by Leclerc. Perez might be feeling the warmth, although, with no podium finishes within the earlier 4 races and having Hamilton closing in on second place within the championship. Talking of Hamilton …

Hammer time

It seems this P2 end will stick for Hamilton after he was disqualified final week at the USA GP. Hamilton additionally snatched the quickest lap bonus level on the end line. That almost minimize the deficit in half to Perez with the hole now at 20 factors.

Hamilton began sixth on the grid (the “worst” he’s certified on the Mexico Metropolis monitor) however he turned in one other classic efficiency, managed his tires properly and outperformed the Ferraris.

Norris on fireplace (figuratively not actually)

McLaren weren’t capable of lengthen their streak of 4 consecutive podium finishes, however Landon Norris supplied an entertaining effort.

It seemed like Norris’ Sunday had unravelled on Saturday when he didn’t advance out of the primary session in qualifying and was compelled to begin seventeenth on the grid. Norris had labored his method up into the highest 10, though the group had an unlucky break once they known as him into the pits after Kevin Magnussen had crashed. Positive, it was nonetheless a “low-cost” pitstop, however then out got here the purple flag and they might have been capable of make any adjustments with out shedding monitor place.

Norris then obtained out to a disastrous restart and fell down into sixteenth and was practically again to the place he began. That’s after we noticed the true energy of the McLaren as Norris started selecting aside the sphere, hovering all the way in which up into fifth place. That’s fairly the valiant efficiency given how a lot went fallacious over the weekend.

Leclerc unable to transform from pole

Pop quiz, when was the final time a Ferrari driver gained the Mexican Grand Prix? That might be Prost again in 1990 and a proven fact that’ll stand for at the least one other yr.

Ferrari locked up the entrance row of the grid throughout qualifying however solely Leclerc was capable of end on the rostrum. Actually, Leclerc is fortunate he was capable of end the race after tangling with Perez. His automobile solely appeared to maintain entrance wing injury, and the group was lastly capable of change for a brand new one in the course of the purple flag.

Regardless of the repair, Leclerc wasn’t capable of fend off Hamilton for second because the Mercedes breezed by on lap 40. With Hamilton on the medium tires and Leclerc on the arduous set, no matter tire benefit Ferrari thought they’d have by no means got here to be.

Leclerc, who’s winless on the yr, has began from pole place 4 instances this season however all 4 have resulted in Pink Bull wins: as soon as from Perez and three from Verstappen.

AlphaTauri’s turnaround

Daniel Ricciardo got here dwelling in seventh for AlphaTauri’s greatest results of the yr and their greatest since final season’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Pierre Gasly completed fifth.

The six factors Ricciardo scored have been huge as AlphaTauri moved out of the basement and into eighth place within the constructors’ championship. Though they’re tied with Alfa Romeo with 16 factors apiece, Ricciardo holds the perfect particular person consequence because the tiebreaker. (Maybe they need to draw to the button to interrupt ties, wait fallacious sport.)

Ought to the standings maintain up, Ricciardo could have simply helped AlphaTauri earn $20 million additional when the season ends.

It seemed like AlphaTauri was properly on their method to their first double-points end in practically two years with Yuki Tsunoda operating eighth till he obtained slightly too aggressive and minimize into Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Piastri emerged unscathed, however Tsunoda spun off the monitor and out of the factors. Tsunoda may need been enjoying with home cash after beginning 18th (because of the group altering engine components), however he went all-in on a wager he couldn’t money out.

Extra from Sportsnet

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