Meterax Verstappen is just one of the more than 300 kilometers of the Mexican Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton drive. For the rest of the distance, this is just a match against yourself and yourself in the 18th Formula One World Championship. “It’s like a textbook,” said team owner Christian Horner. The performance of the victory ceremony echoed this: the Dutchman and Red Bull raced through the elevator to the podium.
After the ninth victory of the season, the challenger now leads Hamilton by 19 points in the overall standings, with four games left to play. “His car is simply overwhelming,” the defending champion had to admit, he eventually had to defeat Mexican Sergio Perez in a dramatic defensive battle. In this show, Heppenheimer Sebastian Vettel, who is in seventh place, was almost overwhelmed by Aston Martin.
One, two, three-The curve in Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez seems to follow in a crazy counting rhyme, where the Mexican Grand Prix was decided very early. The quick combination from the start to this sharp turn, covering 890 meters, made it the longest sprint of the year.Initially started under completely different conditions than expected. After Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton occupied the front row, the favorite Red Bull racing car only started. Max Verstappen Sergio Perez followed closely behind.
With an impressive 140,000 spectators in the background, this starting lineup is hardly more exciting than this. Before the start of the 18th round of the World Championships, “hands on the clutch tremble”, suspecting it is not only Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Valtteri Bottas intends to play the role of “wingman” on the pole position. He should let his neighbor Hamilton slipstream, and then stop Verstappen and Perez if possible. In theory, Red Bull played 25 tactical variants for World Cup leader Verstappen before the game.
Then the exercise looks like this: Bottas left right on the left and Hamilton is better on the right. But the blue-red competition has risen accordingly. Max Verstappen can pull himself behind Bottas, pass from the left outside at overspeed, and then return to the inside as the last brake in the trio-which makes him number one. The terrible crash happened and the unfortunate Valtteri Bottas was reversed by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. When Yuki Kakuda and Mick Schumacher, who started from 14th, were also in chaos due to their car in the subsequent round, the safety car must be deployed.
When the fifth lap restarted, Lewis Hamilton did not even approach Verstappen, who deftly delayed and quickly moved the distance. The chaser struggled with aerodynamics and tires in the thin mountain air. “It’s fast,” the Englishman radioed to the pit when he no longer saw Verstappen. After the first third, there has been more than eight seconds between the two cars. Hamilton assigned his personal speedometer: “They are too fast for us!”
Due to the damage limitation, the field of view in the rearview mirror becomes more important because Hamilton is lurking behind Sergio Perez. Who will take the first step in PS chess? As Perez gets closer, Mercedes must bring Hamilton in on lap 30. The pit stops work perfectly, with fewer classifications. Hamilton must be in fifth place for the time being. Max Verstappen has enough free time at the top to watch the performance of competitors on large video boards. As the car became lighter, it rushed up and took a few seconds, forcing Verstappen to stop in front of the garage on lap 34.
The noise in the stadium area is deafening because it gives Perez the lead. The adjutant was obviously in a good mood, and Verstappen could let him go for the time being, and once again led Hamilton by seven seconds. On lap 41, he stood in front again and Perez was behind Hamilton on the last 30 laps. He wanted to know from his racing engineer where Verstappen was much faster than him. The technician names the two curves. The honest answer should be: Thanks to Red Bull Honda for its perfect overall balance everywhere. His lead has been in the double-digit second range for a long time.
Hamilton couldn’t make himself so comfortable, he was under the pressure of Perez. His tires were falling, Perez arrived in half a second, and there were ten laps left. Hamilton’s radio message became more breathless, and the champion was fighting desperately-in this World Cup final sprint, every point is of the utmost importance. Verstappen also knew this and slowed down the first attempt Valtery BottasTake away the extra points for the fastest lap, personally. This is both clever and unusual, but Bottas still did it in the second attempt. Nonetheless: Max Verstappen presents himself in impeccable form for the second time in a row. You can almost say: world champion.
