Verstappen on record-smashing run with 2022 Mexican GP win: race report

F1

Max Verstappen set two new all-time F1 records with victory in Mexico City but was helped by a strategy mis-step by a resurgent Mercedes: 2022 Mexican Grand Prix report

Max Verstappen celewbrates in front of stadium crowd at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

Mario Renzi/F1 via Getty Images

If I’d said to you after the Australian Grand Prix that Max Verstappen was going to set the record for most victories in a season and most points in a season – and all within 20 races – you’d probably have laughed at me.

I’d have laughed at myself, to be honest. But in a Mexico City Grand Prix weekend that will live longest in the memory for cost cap stories rather than any racing, it shouldn’t be overlooked what Verstappen has achieved.

With his star driver starting from pole but two quick Mercedes cars directly behind him, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was nervous about the run to Turn 1 and the threat posed from the more competitive Silver Arrows. He needn’t have been.

Verstappen’s start on soft tyres wasn’t great, but Red Bull is no longer hampered by a lack of power and he was able to keep the Mercedes pair – starting on mediums – at bay.

Max Verstappen leads after the start of the 2022 Mexican GP as Geirge Russell runs off the track

Verstappen leds out of Turn 1 as Russell takes avoiding action off track

Red Bull

“The start was crucial,” Verstappen said. “My start itself I made a small mistake with the release but it was still good enough. We had good top speed and that probably helped a little bit into Turn 1 to fully stay ahead. I was never worried that they would fly past me but of course if you are squeezed side-by-side it can be a bit difficult. But we managed to hang in there and it was all OK.”

The Mercedes pair had both had a look, and it was George Russell who sized Verstappen up around the outside of Turn 1, but that left him on a tight line for Turn 2 that allowed Lewis Hamilton to sweep around his team-mate. The pair were side-by-side exiting Turn 3 but with Russell playing it safe by running onto the kerb, Hamilton had the better traction to pull ahead.

So too did Sergio Perez, who much to the delight of a the fevered crowd was able to jump Russell by Turn 4 to promote himself into the podium positions.

Further back, it was all relatively calm, with Valtteri Bottas slipping from sixth to eighth, and Lando Norris similarly losing two spots to the Alpines to run tenth.

Max Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

Hamilton couldn’t get close enough to Verstappen, even though the leader was in conservation mode

Red Bull

For a few laps, Hamilton kept Verstappen within two seconds, even threatening to get within DRS range. But Verstappen was having to manage his tyres whereas Hamilton was being more aggressive, and he just couldn’t quite close in.

“We knew that that first stint was going to be the crucial one for us, to keep that soft tyre alive long enough,” Verstappen added. “It seemed to work, I did struggle a bit towards the end but luckily the gap was big enough to extend a few laps, and once we put on the medium tires everything was working quite well.”

While the 2022 cars can follow more closely, the altitude in Mexico City can cause cooling issues that often means drivers look for clean air and drop back from each other. It took until lap nine for an overtaking move to happen as Daniel Ricciardo took 12th place from Zhou Guanyu into Turn 1, before the first bit of controversy of the race four laps later.

Pierre Gasly got Lance Stroll out of position through the first three corners and had a run on him towards Turn 4. Diving to the inside, Gasly failed to get it stopped in time and both cars ran wide, with the Frenchman emerging ahead. The stewards handed him a five-second time penalty – and a penalty point that leaves him two from a race ban for another seven months – that Gasly was unhappy with.

Lance Stroll and Pierre GAsly wheel to wheel in the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

Gasly-Stroll battle ended with a brief run off the track

Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

“I’m a racing driver, if I see a gap I go for a gap,” Gasly said afterwards. “If you are not happy about it then tell me to give the position back and I’ll try again. I wasn’t given any comments, so that’s a shame.

“Of course [I considered giving it back], so just need to say it on the radio. That’s what they’ve done in the past, but for some reason not this time.”

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Stroll soon came into the pits as Aston Martin was enduring a tough weekend pace-wise, but he was the only driver to make a stop in what Pirelli had deemed the pit window for those starting on softs. When Perez came in on lap 23 for a set of mediums, it opened up the potential for an ambitious one-stop, although a slow left rear change meant he lost three seconds and dropped back from Hamilton.

Verstappen came in two laps later and Mercedes was able to extend on the medium compound, clearly one-stopping when Hamilton switched to hards on lap 29. Russell followed suit on lap 34 but the top four remained fairly comfortably spread out, and the big focus was on whether Red Bull could go to the end or would need to stop again.

“I was speaking in strategy about us taking a risk and I had a gut feeling [Red Bull] would be on the soft to start with,” Hamilton said. “When we took the blankets off everyone around us was on the softs and we were on the mediums. At that moment I thought that we may be in trouble, but it’s a long, long race so I thought they may be on a two-stop.

“But that medium tyre just had no drop-off, so ultimately I think they were on the right tyre strategy.”

Lewis Hamilton in the stadium section at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

Hard tyre proved the wrong move for Hamilton and Mercedes

Mercedes

While that played out, it was in the fight for the lesser points that a radically different strategy was unfolding. Daniel Ricciardo ran as high as seventh and at decent pace, reaching lap 44 before making his switch from mediums to softs. That suggested Red Bull could get to the end, but also meant there was going to be some overtaking…

Unfortunately for Ricciardo, his first attempt saw him make contact with Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 6 when trying to take 11th place, forcing Tsunoda into retirement and earning himself a 10-second time penalty.

“I saw a replay, I obviously take responsibility but I don’t think it was that black and white,” Ricciardo said. “I held the apex, I honestly didn’t plan on actually overtaking him, I just wanted to keep him a little wide to then get him on the exit as I definitely had a much better tyre, so I was just doing what I could to set him up.”

AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda is tilted as he hits Daniel Ricciardo in the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

A bruising encounter with Tsunoda but Ricciardo showed that he hasn’t lost his touch for overtaking

Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

With no damage to Ricciardo’s car, it was still a much better tyre, and his pace was eye-catching. Six laps after the collision, he was allowed to pass team-mate Norris for tenth. Then Bottas was dispatched with ease, and Ricciardo set off after the Alpines ahead.

As Fernando Alonso — the lead of the two Alpine cars — had to let Hamilton and Perez through, Ricciardo managed to follow Ocon in jumping the Spaniard, and one lap later was back into seventh place. He had nine laps to pull out the ten seconds he was to be penalised with post-race, and duly did so to ensure he wouldn’t lose a position at the flag.

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It was the main piece of excitement – even Alonso’s late retirement due to a power unit issue only requiring a brief virtual safety car to clear – in an otherwise processional race at the front as Hamilton’s complaints that the hard tyre was the wrong one to be on compared to the medium proved true as Verstappen never faded.

Russell set the fastest lap on the final tour, but in a case of history repeating, Verstappen comfortably led home Hamilton, who in turn kept Perez at bay, with similar gaps between them as at the same venue 12 months ago.

This time, though, Verstappen was smashing records rather than chasing his first championship. How times have changed.

Max Verstappen gives the thumbs up as he sits on his 2022 Red Bull F1 car

“A lot in Formula 1 relies on your package and we have a great package,” Verstappen said. “I’m just enjoying the moment and I’m not that interested in keeping in touch with every stat. Of course it is an amazing stat and I’m very happy with winning so many races.”

Verstappen might not be keeping tabs, but you’d be hard-pushed to see him failing to extend those records in the final two rounds.

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