(Reuters) – Team-by-team analysis of Sunday’s Formula One Grand Prix in Mexico City, the 20th race of the 22-round season (listed in championship order):
RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 3)
Verstappen won for a record 14th time this season and fourth time in Mexico. He led from pole, starting on the softs and switching to the mediums for the long final stint. He now has 34 career wins and set the record for points scored in a season. Perez took home third for the second straight year and is now second overall. He was held up by a slow tire change.
FERRARI (Carlos Sainz 5, Charles Leclerc 6)
The Ferraris were the last cars without a lap, but were still off the pace, with Sainz 58 seconds adrift of the winner. Both started on soft tires and then switched to mediums. Leclerc, who started for the 100th time in F1, passed Bottas on the first lap to take the place. Ferrari is now only 40 points ahead of Mercedes.
MERCEDES (Lewis Hamilton 2, George Russell 4)
Both drivers briefly led during pit stops after starting on medium tires and running longer than the Red Bull. Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 29 for the hards, while Russell did the same on lap 34. Russell started on the front row but lost out to his teammate and Perez. He made a late stop on the softs at the end of lap 69 and was awarded a bonus point for fastest lap. Hamilton moved up to fifth overall and ahead of Sainz.
ALPINE (Esteban Ocon 8th, Fernando Alonso 19th)
Alonso retired from eighth with six laps to go with a cylinder failure but was classified. His retirement, parked in the run-off area, prompted a virtual safety car. Ocon also had cooling problems late in the race. Both drivers finished the race on solid tyres, with Ocon pitting on lap 34 and Alonso pitting on lap 42. Alpine now leads McLaren by just seven points.
MACLAREN (Daniel Ricardo 7, Landa Norris 9)
A race that saw Ricciardo smile again, with the Australian handed a 10-second time penalty for a collision with Tsunoda, but then closing a large gap on the faster soft tyres. Norris, following a medium-hard strategy, lost early and let Ricciardo pass late to overtake the Alpines. McLaren had the fastest pit stop of the year, Ricciardo in 1.98 seconds.
ALFA ROMEO (Valtteri Bottas 10, Zhou Guanyu 13)
Bottas returned to the points for the first time since Canada in June. Bottas qualified sixth but was unable to execute his medium/hard strategy, failing to warm up the tires after the pit stop.
ASTON MARTIN (Sebastian Vettel 14, Lance Stroll 15)
Stroll carried a three-place penalty from Austin for a collision with Alonso and started last. Vettel moved up from 16th to 14th, moving from soft to medium. Stroll made two stops, starting with used media and moving on to new programs.
HAAS (Mick Schumacher 16, Kevin Magnussen 17)
Schumacher started 15th on the softs and lost two places on the first lap, while Magnussen lined up on the mediums after the grid dropped four places to 19th due to an engine change.
ALPHATAURI (Pierre Gasly 11, Yuki Tsunoda retired)
Gasly received a five-second penalty for pushing out Stroll while overtaking on lap 14. He served it at the second stop. Tsunoda retired after colliding with Ricciardo as the Australian tried to overtake. Tsunoda started on softs, Gasly – on mediums. After the first lap, the Frenchman was 17th.
WILLIAMS (Alex Albon 12, Nicholas Latifi 18)
Albon started 17th but dropped to 19th, with Latifi finishing 18th. Albon made the medium-soft one stop, Latifi switched to hard tires early but struggled.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London Editing by Peter Rutherford)
