Lewis Hamilton

Mexican GP: Verstappen wins ahead of Hamilton, Perez third in home race(full results)

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Max Verstappen stretched his Formula 1 world championship lead by dominating the Mexican Grand Prix, as his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez narrowly failed to deprive Lewis Hamilton of second. Verstappen had surged down the outside of the front-row-starting Mercedes into Turn 1 on the opening lap, braking later and instantly sweeping into the lead. Polesitter Valtteri Bottas looked set to fall into third behind Hamilton, but was tapped into a mid-corner spin by seventh-place starter Daniel Ricciardo – who was passing Perez down the inside on the dusty line. The ensuing traffic chaos triggered by Bottas spinning in front of the pack led to Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher sandwiching Esteban Ocon and both sustaining race-ending damage, though the Alpine they had both bounced over continued. After a four-lap safety car period, Verstappen simply stormed away. By lap 20 he was 8s clear of Hamilton, who could not shake Perez off. Mercedes brought Hamilton in for his sole pitstop long before the two Red Bulls in the hope of gaining an undercut advantage. While that made no difference to Verstappen’s comfortable margin, Red Bull responded by extending Perez’s first stint so that he came in a full 10 laps later than Hamilton. That long run on older tyres dropped Perez 8s away from the Mercedes by the time he rejoined, but the hope was he could hunt down Hamilton on his fresher tyres. Sure enough, Perez caught Hamilton with 10 laps to go. Despite his best efforts, and amid various traffic headaches, the home favourite couldn’t quite make it a Red Bull 1-2. Verstappen’s points lead is now up to 19 as he was denied a fastest lap point by Mercedes bringing in the delayed Bottas (who had made little progress from the back after his spin then had a poor second scheduled pitstop) for two extra pitstops for fresh tyres late on so he could deny Verstappen that bonus point. Bottas’s first effort to take fastest lap was ironically denied when he came across Verstappen on track. The second attempt finally proved successful on the last lap. Pierre Gasly spent most of the race in a comfortable fourth for AlphaTauri, but did have to be wary of the closing Carlos Sainz late on. The Ferrari driver had left his sole pitstop very late and was charging on fresh tyres, being let through by team-mate Charles Leclerc along the way. They swapped places back as it became clear Sainz wouldn’t catch Gasly. Ferrari’s fifth and sixth places meant it swept past McLaren into third in the constructors’ championship as its rival only scored one point for Lando Norris’s 10th place – achieved from 18th on the grid. Ricciardo smashed his front wing hitting Bottas and could only recover to 12th. Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin’s best result in nearly two months with seventh, while Kimi Raikkonen’s eighth place ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine was Alfa Romeo’s highest finish all season. Raikkonen’s team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi looked like he would be Alfa’s hero as he emerged from the first-corner mess sixth, but pitting too early for his sole stop left him in the midfield and he finished 11th. George Russell and Nikita Mazepin had also leapt forward through the lap one chaos and briefly ran ninth and 11th for Williams and Haas. That proved unsustainable and they fell back to 16th and 18th respectively by the finish. 2021 F1 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX – RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 71 Laps 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 16.555s 3 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing + 17.752s 4 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 63.845s 5 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 81.037s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 1 Lap 7 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 1 Lap 8 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 9 Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team + 1 Lap 10 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 1 Lap 11 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 12 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team + 1 Lap 13 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team + 1 Lap 14 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 2 Laps 15 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 2 Laps 16 George Russell GBR Williams Racing + 2 Laps 17 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing + 2 Laps 18 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 3 Laps DNF Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team DNF DNF Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda DNF

Hamilton admits Red Bull are ‘too quick’ after Friday practice

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Mercedes team secured a one-two in the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix on Friday, but that glory was short-lived as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen outperformed both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in FP2. The defending world champion got candid about the situation and admitted that his championship rival may simply be too quick this weekend. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has always seen strong performances from the Red Bull, and this weekend may not be any different. Hamilton knows that he needs to step up his game, with even his teammate Bottas trumping him in both the practice sessions so far. More significantly, Verstappen was half a second quicker in FP2. “They’re definitely too quick for us at the moment,” Lewis Hamilton said after the session, before adding that he still feels like they have a strong chance to keep pace with the Red Bulls. “The car has been feeling OK. I’ve not really had any major issues,” he said. Lewis Hamilton is always one to stay positive, but his honest assessment reveals that the Red Bulls currently have an advantage. “We’re giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, and I think they are just quicker than us at the moment,” he said, before pointing to their lack of downforce as a possible culprit. He then assured that the Mercedes team will be busy finding a solution to the pace disadvantage. Bottas also spoke up and complained about low grip on his car. He said that it was a dusty track and that made things more difficult for him and his teammate. Nevertheless, practice pace is often not necessarily reflective of race pace. The Mercedes drivers have always been strong for the long haul on Sunday, and the tight results of the practice sessions make it impossible to predict which team will be dominant on Saturday qualifying and on the main race on Sunday.

Mexican GP FP1: Bottas tops Mercedes 1-2 as Hamilton is under investigation for track limits breach

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Valtteri Bottas kicked off the Mexican Grand Prix weekend by setting the fastest time in opening practice, ahead of Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton. Dusty conditions and a green track made for challenging, low grip conditions for the drivers, but Bottas appeared unfazed as he lit up the timesheets with a 1m18.341s to finish 0.076s clear of Hamilton. Hamilton, who heads into the weekend trialing Max Verstappen in the world championship by 12 points, has been summoned to see the stewards in Mexico City between practice sessions for a track limits incident. The seven-time world champion ran wide at Turn 1 before rejoining at Turn 3 in a moment early on during the first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Hamilton reported over team radio that he “couldn’t slow down there” but he will be investigated after FP1 for failing to follow race director Michael Masi’s notes which state that drivers must return to the track by going around the left hand side of the Turn 3 bollard, which Hamilton did not do. However, it is unlikely Hamilton will be given anything more than a reprimand for the transgression. Hamilton’s title rival Verstappen was just 0.123s off the pace as he took third, ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who finished 0.269s down. Home hero Perez recovered from an early setback to his weekend when he missed track running after hitting the Turn 16 barriers following a spin early in the session. He was able to return to the action for the final 20 minutes. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was fifth-fastest and the final driver to get within a second of Bottas’ benchmark time. Behind Gasly was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc, who like Perez suffered rear wing damage with an off at Turn 16. Esteban Ocon ensured both Alpine cars finished inside the top 10, which was completed by Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin. During the session it was confirmed that both Yuki Tsunoda (11th) and Lance Stroll (13th) will start this weekend’s race from the back of the grid after taking new power unit elements. 2021 F1 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.341s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.417s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m18.464s 4 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m18.610s 5 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m18.985s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.463s 7 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m19.656s 8 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.667s 9 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m19.795s 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m19.858s 11 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m20.011s 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.026s 13 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m20.030s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m20.273s 15 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m20.301s 16 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.344s 17 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m20.517s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m21.580s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.144s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.819s

Verstappen could have lost Austin race to Hamilton as his tyres hit the cliff on the final lap

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Mercedes believe that Max Verstappen’s tyres had just started to hit the cliff of their performance on the final lap of the US Grand Prix, and that Lewis Hamilton could have snatched victory with just one lap extra in the race. The ‘cliff’ refers to the life of the tyre, with performance degrading over the course of a stint based on a reasonably predictable and shallow trend downwards. However, there is a point at which the tyre is pushed too far and goes ‘over the cliff’, with a severe loss of performance, and Mercedes believe Verstappen hit that point on the final lap of the US Grand Prix. Speaking in the team’s official US GP debrief, Head of Strategy James Vowles was asked whether Hamilton may have been able to take the win away from Verstappen had he pitted just one lap earlier for his final stint on the Hard compound. “First of all, one lap or two laps earlier at the end of the race would have given him tyres that allowed him to approach Verstappen, but I doubt it would have allowed him to overtake,” Vowles said. “To explain that in more detail, there is a compromise, clearly. For every lap that you go shorter at the end of the race, your tyres will be one lap younger and the tyre degrades. Every lap you put onto a tyre, every time you roll around five kilometres, it takes an amount of performance out of that tyre. “So, one lap earlier means, at the end of the race, your tyre will be a tenth, maybe a bit more, slower than it would have been. “To generate an overtake, you need a bigger and bigger tyre differential between you and the car that you are fighting. “One part of that, that we can control, is our degradation and what lap we stop on. The second, that we can’t [control], is what Verstappen’s degradation is and where he falls on the tyre curve. Now, he was predicted to fall off the tyre curve and he did, but he only did that on the very last lap of the race.” Vowles explained that the result of the race could have been very different, had Verstappen needed to go even a lap further. “I think you would have seen a different race result, but they managed that last stint very well and dropped the level of management in corners as Lewis got closer to them to make sure he had the tyres remaining for those last few laps,” Vowles added. With Hamilton pitting on Lap 37 of 56 for the final time, Vowles explained what might have happened had the reigning World Champion pitted a lap or two earlier and not fallen so far back for the start of the final stint. “If we had gone a lap or two earlier a few things would have happened,” he said. “Verstappen would have been closer on pit exit. He is on fresher tyres so, for every lap he has been going relative to Lewis, he is actually pulling just a little bit of a gap on track and, when Lewis stops, he has to push back to basically catch back up to Verstappen. If the gap is too large, let’s take it to an exaggerated level of 15 seconds, he will use all his tyres back up closing that gap down and there is nothing left in the race. “So that’s where the compromise lies. What you want is to find the lap that minimises the gap on exit and maximises the differential therefore at the end of race. And when we stopped was that, in terms of the models. “It’s difficult to really know what would have happened if we stopped a lap earlier or lap later, but what you are reliant on really for the strategy to work is Verstappen to run out of tyres and they didn’t really do that until it was too late.”

Max Verstappen extends title lead after winning US Grand Prix, Hamilton second

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix, converting his pole position into victory and thus extending his lead in the World Championship. Lewis Hamilton, who started second, got the better of Verstappen heading into Turn 1, only for the Red Bull driver to retake the lead thanks a well-timed undercut during the first round of pit stops. Although Hamilton battled back on fresher tyres in the closing stages, it was to no avail, with the Red Bull driver claiming his eighth win of the season. The final podium spot went to the second Red Bull car of Sergio Perez, who finished eight seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The two championship rivals wasted no time in getting the action underway. Both got off the line well, and although Verstappen tried to squeeze Hamilton into Turn 1, it didn’t work out. The Mercedes driver squeezed through down the inside, pushing Verstappen into the run off area. As a result, the Dutchman dropped all the way down to third, however Perez ceded his position to his teammate immediately. Behind them, Ferrari and McLaren got into an early tussle as well, with Lando Norris battling it out with Carlos Sainz. In the end, it was Ricciardo who benefited from the battle, as he found his way past the Ferrari to take fifth. Further back, Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll collided – with the Aston Martin driver in turn blocking his compatriot, while Esteban Ocon was forced to pit on Lap 4 following contact with an Alfa Romeo. Drivers settled into their positions from there, with Hamilton stating over the radio that Verstappen had the quicker car. Although the Red Bull driver remained with DRS range, he failed to really challenge his Mercedes rival for the lead. Things changed on Lap 11. With Verstappen complaining his tyres were overheating, Red Bull called him in early in an attempt to undercut Hamilton, and the move paid off as he took the lead when Hamilton pitted for new tyres on Lap 14. With a six-second lead in hand, Verstappen settled in as race leader while Pierre Gasly, who had some engine concerns in the minutes leading up to the start, became the first retirement of the race on Lap 15. A rear-suspension issue was to blame, though the Frenchman was able to bring his AlphaTauri car back into the pits. He would be joined by Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso later in the race. Hamilton began to eat into Verstappen’s advantage, the Mercedes driver continuing his charge after a very brief Virtual Safety Car period for debris on Lap 28. Thus, in an effort to cover against the undercut, Red Bull pitted Verstappen for new tyres on Lap 29. Mercedes kept Hamilton out on track, with their sights set on having the advantage in the closing stages of the race, while Valtteri Bottas pitted in an attempt to make something happen strategically. It wasn’t meant to be for the Finn however, as he finished the race down in P6. Hamilton finally pitted on Lap 37 for a new set of Hards, with Mercedes getting him out in just 2.4s, but 8.5s back of Verstappen. That advantage quickly disappeared, with Verstappen slowed down by traffic and Hamilton decidedly quicker on his fresher tyres. Despite Hamilton’s best efforts, Verstappen crossed the line in the end to take victory by less than two seconds, while Perez finished a distant third. Behind the top three, Charles Leclerc brought his Ferrari home in fourth spot after being locked into the position for much of the race, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. 2021 F1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX – RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 56 Laps 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 1.333s 3 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing + 42.223s 4 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 52.246s 5 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team + 76.854s 6 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 80.128s 7 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 83.545s 8 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 84.395s 9 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 1 Lap 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 1 Lap 11 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 12 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 1 Lap 13 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 14 George Russell GBR Williams Racing + 1 Lap 15 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing + 1 Lap 16 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 2 Laps 17 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 2 Laps DNF Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team DNF DNF Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team DNF DNF Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda DNF

Mercedes believes Hamilton would have gotten a better result if he pitted earlier

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Mercedes believe that they needed to pit Lewis Hamilton earlier than they did in order for him to finish higher than fifth in the Turkish Grand Prix. Hamilton ran as high as third at one point in the race after deciding not to fit a fresh set of intermediate tyres at the same time as Max Verstappen and his other rivals ahead. The team called him in at one stage, but he decided to stay out.Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team had to decide between coming in at that point or risking a run to the end of the race without pitting. They opted for the latter, but abandoned the strategy after they became concerned how much time Hamilton was losing to the cars behind him. “In the car it’s always very difficult to assess your position in the race,” said Wolff. “I think we could have either played it very conservative and pitted him when Verstappen, Perez at the time pitted, and then fight it out on-track, probably come out behind Perez and fight for P4, P3 on track.” “The other thing was to try to go long and either think whether it’s transitioning to a dry tyre or just not stopping any more. So there was two possible options that sounded quite good.” However Hamilton’s tyres began to fade, putting him at risk of losing a place to Pierre Gasly if he pitted, leading Mercedes to bring him in with eight laps to go. “Unfortunately the pace just dropped off much quicker than we would have needed in order to stay third or even fourth or even fifth,” said Wolff. “We almost lost the window against Gasly and then we decided okay, that’s not going to happen, and let’s pit and consolidate it.” “So in hindsight now, I would have pitted ten laps earlier and fought it out on track, probably finished third or fourth. It was much more to gain from the other more dynamic variant.” While Mercedes won the race with Valtteri Bottas Hamilton finished fifth. Wolff said that was the best they could have expected from 11th on the grid in a dry race, but the damp conditions meant a better result was possible. “I think in a normal dry race, this would have probably been the best case, finishing fifth. And today best case with every decision, with the hindsight of the end result or with the information we have at the end, probably third would have been the best we could have achieved. So it’s a five point swing. “But I think we need to walk away from here and say that was damage limitation for this weekend. And Valtteri, thank God Valtteri was up there and won the race and and scored an extra point for fastest lap.”