Formula 1 2021 Mexican Grand Prix was held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. The 18th round of the 2021 Formula 1 season marked the 21st running of the Mexican Grand Prix.
The track is located about 2,200 meters above sea level, making it very tricky for the teams to fine-tune their cars. The thinner air changes the downforce levels, engine power, and brake cooling.
Since the return of the Mexico Grand Prix to the F1 calendar, Red Bull has been the team that consistently performed well here. The pre-race favourites suffered a setback when Mercedes locked out the front row for the 1st time this season, while Verstappen was only 3rd.
On Sunday afternoon, Max put the disappointment behind and got the job done going into the first chicane. Max won the race from Lewis Hamilton and local hero, Perez. The Dutchman extended the lead in the driver's championship, while Red Bull closed the gap to Mercedes within 2 points.
Pre-Race Preparations Thursday for F1 Mexico City
It looked like the Mexican spectators would have plenty of sunshine to watch all the Grand Prix events over the weekend. With only five races to go, not many teams have been bringing updates to the cars for the season. Only Red Bull has been pushing like crazy to try and win their first championship since 2013.
Pirelli brought in middle-of-the-range compounds for the race in Mexico City. C2(White) was the hard tyre, C3(Yellow) was the medium and C4(Red) was the soft tyre.
Practice & Qualifying Sessions
Friday Practice:
Mercedes led the opening FP1 session by securing the top 2 spots with Bottas in the lead, but Verstappen went quickest from Bottas in the second session.
Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez completed the top 4 with a gap behind the midfield teams. It was pretty evident that Red Bull was the quickest team in low or high fuel condition.
The Ferraris were expected to lead the midfield teams and were significantly faster than McLaren, their rival for P3 in the constructors’ championship.
Alpha Tauri looked quick as well, especially in the hands of Pierre Gasly. Other teams which could fight for minor points were Alpine and Aston Martin.
Saturday Practice:
Red Bull locked the front row at the end of the FP3 session with Perez leading his teammate Verstappen and the Mercedes pair. The overnight changes seemed to have made Red Bull even faster, and they were seven-tenths quicker than lead Mercedes.
Carlos Sainz was in 5th place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo. Pierre Gasly was the 8th quickest, ahead of Leclerc and Lando Norris, who would start from the back of the grid due to a power unit change.
Qualifying:
Lance Stroll had to start from the back of the grid for taking an extra power unit. As if that wasn't bad enough, he crashed in the Q1 session, bringing out the red flag and making it worse for Aston Martin.
The track improved dramatically by the end of Q1 as Leclerc finished as the quickest driver. Alonso was knocked out, along with Latifi, Stroll, and the two Haas drivers.
The medium tyre was the order of the Q2 session as everybody tried to start the race of the more durable tyre. Yuki Tsunoda was the exception after he finished the session in P3 on soft tyres but had to start from the back of the grid due to a penalty for extra power unit elements.
Both the Alfa Romeo drivers, along with Vettel, Russell and Ocon, failed to progress into the last session.
The tow was quite powerful on the very long straights in the first sector, but Verstappen somehow couldn't pick up the tow from his teammate and ended up 3rd behind Bottas and Hamilton at the end of the first round of laps.
At the end of the final round, Bottas improved his time and secured a 1-2 for Mercedes. Verstappen was 3rd ahead of Perez and Gasly. Sainz was 6th ahead of Ricciardo, Leclerc, Tsunoda and Norris.
The Sunday Race: F1 2021 Mexican Grand Prix
Five red lights went out, and Verstappen starting from P3, picked up the tow from fast-starting Mercedes and muscled his way into the lead. Behind them, the fast-starting Ricciardo touched the back wheel of Bottas, sending him into a spin, ruining the race for both.
Esteban Ocon collided with Mick Schumacher and Tsunoda, ending both their race and bringing in the safety car. After the restart on lap 5, Verstappen led the race from Hamilton and Perez. From this point onwards, there was no stopping Verstappen, who built a seven-second lead by lap 21.
Perez was catching Hamilton, so Mercedes pitted Lewis on lap 30 to avoid an undercut by Perez.
Max pitted on lap 34, switched to hard tyres, and came out behind Perez (who had yet to pit) and ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Perez stayed out until lap 41 before pitting for hard tyres. Lewis was back in the P2 spot but only nine seconds ahead of Sergio Perez.
Perez was flying and was within 6 seconds of Hamilton by lap 50. Red Bull topped off their brilliant afternoon after Verstappen delivered the fastest lap of the race on lap 52 for extra championship points.
Perez continued to reduce the gap to Hamilton and was within a second on lap 60 but eventually ran out of time to make it a 1-2 for Red Bull. Perez would eventually finish the race in just half a second from Hamilton.
Max took the chequered flag and won the race quite easily from defending champion Lewis Hamilton and extended his lead in the championship. Gasly finished the race in P4 ahead of Leclerc and Sainz. It was a good afternoon for Ferrari as they retook P3 from McLaren.
Vettel was 7th ahead of Raikkonen, Alonso, and Norris. It was a great weekender for Kimi Raikkonen. Bottas finished the race in P15 and two laps down from his teammate.
F1 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix:
F1 travels from the highest track (in terms of altitude) to the second-highest track in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the title battle continues between the two giants of the current era. Be there!