In Mexico City triumph of Carlos Sainz and Ferrari
At Città of Mexico triumph of Carlos Sainz and Ferrari
Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari triumphs in the Mexico City Grand Prix preceding the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who è third. Fourth and fifth Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the Mercedes, sixth world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
As always Verstappen è the best at the start and at the end of the very long straight Sainz, who è already; behind the Dutchman, cuts the first corner remains in front but obviously has to let the world champion pass, but in the middle of the group Albon crashes into Tsunoda who ends up against the wall and then the safety car enters the track. Meanwhile, Perez is penalized 5 seconds for false start, actually è è because heé was clearly ahead of the starting pitch.
When we restart, on the ninth lap Sainz surprises Verstappen with a very long braking move and overtakes him, the next lap Norris also tries but once again fails to pass, or rather, he passes by cutting the corner after Verstappen has thrown him off, the Dutchman repasses him in front, the two touch, they both go out of the track limits and Leclerc takes the opportunity to pass them both and get behind Sainz! Moral of the story, Verstappen is penalized 20 seconds and not 5 for the second maneuver, and he will have to serve them at the pit stop!”
Max stops at the end of lap 26°, Norris at the end of lap 30° and in the next two laps è the turn of the two Ferraris, first Leclerc and then Sainz. Verstappen loses a dozen positions com the prolonged stop but in a few laps he regains the points zone and climbs up to sixth position behind the Mercedes of Russell who è fourth and Hamilton who è fifth and battling each other.
The first three positions seem to be crystallized with Sainz ahead of Leclerc and Norris but the Briton slowly gets closer to the Monegasque and when he è on him, with nine laps to go, Leclerc goes long and miraculously avoids the wall of the last corner but Norris passes him. With six laps to go Hamilton takes fourth place from teammate Russell.
Sainz crosses the finish line victorious, for him è his fourth Formula 1 win and second of the season after the one in Melbourne, Australia, for Ferrari è his fifth win of 2024 and third in the last five races. Norris and Leclerc move closer to Verstappen in the world standings at 47 and 71 points behind respectively but the margin è still reassuring for the Dutchman with four races and two sprints to go.
Leclerc gained an extra point with the fastest lap made on the last lap because the team made him stop as his lead over the Mercedes was very wide. In the constructors’ standings, the Maranello marque bypasses Red Bull by 25 lengths and moves to 29 from McLaren. Closing out the top ten, in the order from seventh to 10th, are Kevin Magnussen in Haas, Oscar Piastri in McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in Haas and Pierre Gasly in Alpine.
