Four races remain in the 2023 Formula One world championship, as the circus travels south of their last event in Texas to the bustling Mexico City for the perennially popular Mexican Grand Prix. Tune in on The Roar from 7am (AEDT) for live blog coverage and lap-by-lap updates.
While the championships themselves have been sewn up by the imperious Max Verstappen and Red Bull respectively, there is still intrigue over the minor positions and vital points in play for the constructor’s championship.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodiguez is a unique challenge for the Formula One cars, as while its 4.3km parklands style circuit appears simple on paper – the high-altitude nature of the location makes the air thinner and tougher on the cars.
Reliability is always a concern through the 71-laps here and therefore a race of attrition could see unlikely results on offer. Pirelli bringing the softest tyre compounds in their range as well, should see a variety of strategy options during the race – including possible two-stops.
Overtaking is aided at this circuit, by the long pit-straight with DRS as well as two other straights – including the one in the run up to the stadium section.
Ferrari stunned with a front-row lockout and at no point appearing as if they were on the money, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz outqualified Verstappen. In terms of race pace, the Scuderia are still only fourth quickest behind Mercedes and McLaren – who start further down.
A standout effort from Daniel Ricciardo in the AlphaTauri, bringing the underwhelming AT04 to the lofty heights of fourth – ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The Aussie’s race pace should see him plummet, though it will be interesting to see him robust in defence.
Yuki Tsunoda in the other car will start from the back of the field, having been stung by grid penalties for wholesale changes to his car. Joining a big name in McLaren’s Lando Norris who failed to make it out of Q1 at the rear.
Verstappen regardless of where he starts, is still favourite for the race. Ferrari despite their shock poles, could be in contention for best of the rest if they can get their strategy to work and keep the quicker cars behind.
Will we see another Max masterclass in Mexico City? Or will one of the chasing aspirants break through for a first win in 2023?
Lights out: 7am (AEDT)
Venue: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City
TV: Fox Sports
Streaming: Kayo Sports
Grid
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), 3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 4. Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), 5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull), 6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 8. George Russell (Mercedes), 9. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), 10. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), 11. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), 12. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), 13. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), 14. Alexander Albon (Williams), 15. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), 16. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), 17. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 18. Lando Norris (McLaren), 19. Logan Sargeant (Williams), 20. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Well that then wraps up this live blog of the Mexico City Grand Prix. Thank you again for tuning in here on The Roar for this race and I'll be back next weekend for the São Paulo Grand Prix. Until then, bye for now.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 491 - Max Verstappen 240 - Sergio Perez 220 - Lewis Hamilton 183 - Carlos Sainz 183 - Fernando Alonso 169 - Lando Norris 166 - Charles Leclerc 151 - George Russell 87 -- Oscar Piastri 56 -- Pierre Gasly 53 -- Lance Stroll 45 -- Esteban Ocon 27 -- Alexander Albon 10 -- Valtteri Bottas 9 --- Nico Hülkenberg 8 --- Yuki Tsunoda 6 --- Daniel Ricciardo 6 --- Zhou Guanyu 3 --- Kevin Magnussen 2 --- Liam Lawson 1 --- Logan Sargeant 0 --- Nyck De Vries
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 731 - Red Bull Racing 371 - Mercedes AMG 349 - Ferrari 256 - McLaren Mercedes 236 - Aston Martin Racing 101 - Alpine 24 -- Williams Mercedes 16 -- Scuderia AlphaTauri 16 -- Alfa Romeo Racing 12 -- Haas Ferrari
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RACE REPORT Max Verstappen has rewritten the record books again, eclipsing his own record of most wins in a single season from 2022 – with a sixteenth victory of the season at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Starting third, the reigning world champion sliced through the front-row of Ferraris on the run into the first corner – before commanding the race and building a 13.8-second lead over Lewis Hamilton and the pole sitting Charles Leclerc. It was an unfortunate first lap for Sergio Perez at his home race, as the under pressure Red Bull driver made contact with the polesitter at Turn 1 – seeing a gap around the outside of the corner. Perez’s race was done before the end of the first lap. The race then settled into a rhythm with little movement, as drivers sought to take their tyres deep into the race to aim for a one-stop strategy. An out of position Lando Norris started on the softs looking for an alternate strategy to target a points finish. Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit on Lap 20 and threw on the hard tyres. While Hamilton was in on Lap 25 to undercut the Ferraris that were ahead of him at that point. The seven-time world champion split the Ferraris then after Sainz’s stop on Lap 31 and then Leclerc in a lap later. Red flags halted the race on Lap 35, as Kevin Magnussen found the barriers in the high-speed Turn 9 section. The Dane was ok, while his Haas car was done for the day. This reset the race, with drivers getting a free pit-stop and saw Hamilton opt for mediums in the final stint and the Ferraris on the hard tyre. The standing restart saw Verstappen blast off into the distance, while Hamilton waited till Lap 40 to make his move on Leclerc for second. Behind, there was Norris who made a slow getaway on the restart and dropped to fourteenth. Though the McLaren driver put in a solid final stint on the medium tyres to climb back up to fifth. His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri had some interesting wheel-to-wheel exchanges with Yuki Tsunoda, including when they made contact at Turn 1 which was worse off for the AlphaTauri driver. The other AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile excelled and almost took sixth off George Russell, as the result for the Red Bull affiliate team saw them move up to eighth in the constructor’s championship. More points for Williams courtesy of Alexander Albon keeps them ahead in seventh currently, while the Alpines denied Nico Hülkenberg in the solitary Haas a point as they dropped to last in the standings.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by Jenson Button VERSTAPPEN - "It has been incredible, but unfortunately Checo retired on Lap 1." "We are experiencing an incredible season." "We tried to do a different strategy to everyone else, but we couldn't show it with the red flag." HAMILTON - "I feel fresh, we weren't having to push hard out there." "To bounce back from a difficult result last weekend, this is great." "I was thinking it [medium tyres] wasn't going to last, but I drove with finesse." LECLERC - "A lot of booing! I had nowhere to go, I unfortunately touched Checo." "We struggle a little bit with the harder tyre." "They were just a little bit better than us today."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 71-LAP MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX 1 M. Verstappen 2 L. Hamilton (Fastest Lap) 3 C. Leclerc 4 C. Sainz 5 L. Norris 6 G. Russell 7 D. Ricciardo 8 O. Piastri 9 A. Albon 10 E. Ocon 11 P. Gasly 12 Y. Tsunoda 13 N. Hülkenberg 14 V. Bottas 15 G. Zhou 16 L. Sargeant RET L. Stroll RET F. Alonso RET K. Magnussen RET S. Perez
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX! An excellent second from Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. And a podium for Ferrari after starting from pole position with Charles Leclerc in third.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 71/71: FINAL LAP
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 70/71: Ricciardo in with a sniff for Russell's sixth place, as the Aussie is right within DRS range of the Mercedes.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 69/71: Verstappen with a 14-second lead now approaching his sixteenth win of the season. Continuing to rewrite his own record for most wins by a driver in a single season.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 68/71: There was contact between Bottas and Stroll, as the stewards are going to investigate the incident at Turn 14 after the race. Looks as if Bottas did have some ill-intent in not wanting the Aston Martin to get away.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 67/71: Yellow flags in Sector 3 as Stroll seems like he is retiring his car. He's limped into the pits. Norris makes a mega move to take fifth from Russell. What a drive so far from the Briton.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 66/71: Ocon has passed Hülkenberg then, as the Haas loses two spots with the other Alpine of Gasly through too.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 65/71: Norris encouraged to be patient behind Russell, given the Mercedes driver's 'all or nothing' approach. Think back to the Singapore Grand Prix.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 64/71: Norris is closing the gap to Russell as well, with only 1.5 seconds between the two.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 63/71: Hülkenberg hanging on just, with enough to grunt to keep the Haas ahead of Ocon's Alpine.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 62/71: As it stands with Ricciardo in eighth - AlphaTauri would move up into eighth in the standings and Haas would drop to last.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 61/71: Hülkenberg in the top ten currently but does have Ocon with DRS range of the Haas. Interesting permutations in terms of the constructor's championship too, between AlphaTauri and Haas with the results as they are.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/71: Norris gets the move done as they go side-by-side into Turn 4, a slight bump and then nails the exit coming out of Turn 5. That is sixth now for Norris.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/71: VER HAM LEC SAI RUS RIC NOR PIA ALB HÜL OCO GAS BOT STR SAR TSU ZHO is how the field looks. Alonso, Magnussen and Perez are out of the race.