F1. Mexico 2024 Review

By Graeme Woolf, Aiden McLaughlin, Gavin Huet and Chelsea Wintle

Driver of the day

Graeme – Carlos Sainz.  He was strong all weekend and clearly wanted this race right from the outset.  He produced a stunning lap to get P1 for the race and apart from his start, when Verstappen came through to take the lead at the 1st corner, he was flawless.  After biding his time for a few laps, he overtook Max after the early safety car departed and was not troubled again.  Williams have got a good one in Sainz for 2025.  I hope they can give him a car befitting his talents.

Gavin – Carlos Sainz drove a great race and was never really under pressure even though he was on the radio during the race to ensure teammate Charles Leclerc did not push him too much. The sad thing for me is that we won’t see how great a driver Carlos can be now that his seat has gone to Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari are looking good for a second place in the Constructors Championship.

Chelsea – There’s nobody but Carlos Sainz this week. He dominated in qualifying, only to lose the lead on the first lap, but performed a beautiful overtake on Verstappen on lap nine that was pure magic. For the rest of the race he never faltered, and knowing it could be his one of his last chances at winning for a while made it even sweeter. For the Spanish-speaking crowd, his victory provided some solace from the failure of local boy Perez

Aiden – If it is to be Carlos Sainz’s last victory in a Ferrari, then what a way to finish. Apart from losing the lead to Max Verstappen at the start (and hey, that’s not a big deal like it used to be) , once he retook the lead, the Spaniard never looked back to earn the fourth win of his F1 career. Can Williams give him the car his talents deserve? How will he and Alex Albon stack up against each other? Questions for next year and beyond. For now, vamos Carlos!

 

Moment of the weekend

Graeme – There were a lot of moments, so to pick just one is a tough choice. Instead of making that choice, I’m going to go leftfield.  When teams gain a podium spot, it’s tradition to take a team photo outside the pits with the drivers and trophies front and centre.  Sky’s crew were just along from that and the Ferrari team members were eagerly awaiting both drivers to come out for the photo.  When they finally arrived, so did McLaren Chief, Zac Brown who jumped in front and photobombed them.  For me it showed a lighter side of F1.  While the competition is serious on the track, we got to see a light hearted moment between these 2 teams.  And moments later we saw it again when Carlos Sainz returned the favour.  I thought it was brilliant.

Gavin – Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson tussling during the race was quite funny. And did Liam really give Sergio the middle finger? Brilliant! There are rumours Red Bull boss Christian Horner had words with Liam after the race but the reality is his team should not have a driver in that position and it is Horner’s lack of team leadership that has caused this. Oh, and I thought RB were a seperate entity but once again that is proven to be false.

Chelsea – I don’t often watch races live, so this was my first experience seeing a betting agency spouting live odds ahead of the start. I fancy myself as a handy gambler, which is precisely why I don’t – but even I was tempted seeing Yuki Tsunoda paying $14.58 to be the first retirement. I was just calculating how much of the Christmas budget to pitch in when he did precisely that, making contact with Esteban Ocon on the first corner and ending his race. Probably for the best really.

Aiden – A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

Hot take of the weekend

Graeme – I’m a Ferrari fan so if Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are going to tangle every weekend now, and hand Ferrari the lead and double podium, I’m all for it.  Sooner or later, one or both of Max and Lando will end up out of a race and no one wants to see that.  There were plenty of examples of good clean racing in Mexico, and Max wasn’t involved in any of them that I saw.  Actually, for that move on Turn 8 where he clearly didn’t brake in time and ran Lando wide, I think he should’ve had a points deduction.  If Max is going to continue driving recklessly, he might as well give it all up and stick to SIM racing.

Gavin – Hardly a hot take but Sergio Perez is done. He started at the back and pretty much stayed there making no inroads except to fight with Liam Lawson who will more than likely be in Sergio’s car next season. He even managed to stuff up his fastest lap attempt at the end of the race in order to take a point away from the Red Bull rivals. All of this at his home race too. What a disaster of a weekend.

Chelsea – For the second week in a row, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen went elbow-to-elbow, with Verstappen forcing Norris off the track. This time, Verstappen was to blame, and when informed about the first of his 10-second penalties, he retorted, “Ten seconds? Impressive.” I chortled. Verstappen’s championship is all but in the bag now, and he deserves it – he’s the slickest, most consistent driver on the grid.

Aiden – 5 second penalties, 10 second penalties, grid penalties, start in the pit lane, yadda yadda. It’s time to start deducting championship points if you want to change behaviours. Don’t have any points? Let’s see you on minus points. That said, let’s try and sort out the confusing rules and regulations first. It’s been a bit of a mess recently between apexes, corners, who’s ahead, who’s behind etc. We all want to see competitive, but ultimately fair racing.

 

Cold take of the weekend

Graeme – This is the same cold take I used when I last wrote after Monza in early September.  Red Bull will finish 3rd in the Constructors Championship come seasons end.  I said it then as Ferrari looked to have something brewing and after Mexico, Ferrari did indeed move up to second place in the Constructors race behind McLaren and ahead of Red Bull.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  Unless Perez remembers how to drive again, this will be the finishing order I think.

Gavin – A bad weekend for Oscar Piastri, everyone’s favourite Aussie now that Daniel Ricciardo is gone. The pace of the McLaren, especially at the end of the race, should be enough for a high point finish but Oscar was essentially nowhere all weekend, starting in P17 and ending in P8 between the two Haas cars tells you everything. By the way, those Haas cars are suddenly very good aren’t they?

Chelsea – I’m so happy to have Liam Lawson back in the driver’s lineup, and even happier to see him unafraid to take on veterans Alonso last week, and this week direct rival Sergio Perez. Perez himself had an absolutely miserable weekend, falling in the first qualifying session and ultimately finishing last of the active runners in 17th. Still, Lawson flipping the bird at him is, as the kids would say, cringe. He’s far too cherubic to enter his villain era just yet.

Aiden – Although Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Helmut Marko publicly criticized Liam Lawson for his, umm, incidents, with Serio Perez, and one bit of footage made it look like Lawson had been summoned to Horner’s headmasters’ office, I think off the record, they will both be delighted with the Kiwi’s willingness to get his elbows out and fight. Let’s be honest, had he been up against other team, it wouldn’t have been an issue. We don’t see Horner and Marko criticize Max Verstappen very often now, do we…

 

Bonus Pictures of the Week

Max showing everyone how a World Champion takes a corner.

 

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