In Pictures: Mexico 2022
ROUND 20 | MEXICO CITY | AUTODROMO HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ
A week after an amazing weekend in Austin, Texas, the Formula 1 circus arrived in happy Mexico for the Mexico City Grand Prix, Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez’s home race.
There was a few big news around:
After the initial denying from the stewards, they accepted Alpine’s protest on how Haas presented the complaint after allowed time to do so had expired and decided to reinstate Fernando Alonso’s seventh place at the 2022 USGP.
Aston Martin was given a $450,000 fine for a procedural breach of the cost cap. The FIA stated AMR had incorrectly excluded or adjusted costs in 12 items, including wrongly reporting catering costs, tax credits, a new F1 simulator, wind tunnel fees, and signing bonuses, among other things.
Red Bull Racing was fined $7 million, and a 10% reduction in car development time for a budget cap breach. 13 points were highlighted as areas that were incorrectly interpreted by Red Bull, including catering, unused parts, and PUs, among others. In the end, the Breach was calculated to be £1,864,000 ($2.2m) or 1.6%, but FIA acknowledged if a tax credit had been correctly applied would have lowered the amount to £432,652 ($0.5m), or 0.37%. Reduction in wind tunnel and CFD time will be over the next 12 months.
And now onto the weekend ahead.
Red Bull started the week with a show car run by Sergio Perez in his native Guadalajara, you can read the summary and see photos from it here. Most teams and drivers arrived in Mexico City early as it was a short flight from Austin and got prepared for what the Mexicans called the F1esta.
FRIDAY
FP1
It was hot, hotter than Texas, which added to the city’s high altitude, 2229 meters above sea level, it made for a complicated weekend. For people living in Mexico City, altitude has no real effect, as they are accustomed to the thinner air, but for the F1 people, mechanics and drivers, it is very hard.
FP1 saw many young drivers trading places again with some of the regulars. There was Logan Sargeant (Albon) at Williams, Liam Lawson (Tsunoda) at AlphaTauri, Pietro Fittipaldi (Magnussen) at Haas, Jack Doohan (Ocon) at Alpine, and Nyck De Vries (Russell) at Mercedes.
Everybody came out quite soon after the 1-Hour session started, and it was the Red Bull duo going up to the top of the charts with Verstappen ahead of Perez. On the other end, after the first 15-minutes had gone, neither Vettel, Lawson, nor Leclerc had set a timed lap yet.
Regretfully, Pietro Fittipaldi had to stop his Haas on track, bringing out the first Red Flag of the weekend, and cutting short his time driving an F1 car. A bit later, Jack Doohan’s FP1 also came to an early finish. The Alpine Team stopped him as a precaution after seeing anomalies in its Power Unit data.
Tough luck for the young guns as Liam Lawson had to stop off to the side of the track with some odd noises coming out the back of his AlphaTauri. While it was waiting for the marshals to arrive, the left front brake caught fire. Second Red Flag of the day, and as there wasn’t enough time left in the session, it was not resumed.
In the end, the 1:20.707 lap by Carlos Sainz was enough to top the charts. Just ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, local hero Sergio Perez, the 2022 WDC Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton the Top-Five.
Thinner air playing havoc at Mexico City.
FP2
As had happened in Austin, Practice 2 was 90 minutes long as Pirelli continued testing compounds for the upcoming 2023 season, and as with every tire test session, tires do not carry any identifiable markings on them. Those drivers that did not participate in the first practice only had to complete 45 minutes of the 2023 Pirelli tests. Also, teams are not permitted to change the car setup, and drivers cannot change any settings. In other words, they can only drive the cars around.
After a bit more than 1/2 an hour into the session, Charles Leclerc lost it on the entry into Turn 7, swapped ends, and went backward into the barrier, practically destroying the rear of his Ferrari. Third Red Flag of the day and the first in Practice 2.
With the clock showing about 37 minutes left in the session, the track went green, and drivers went back to driving.
And after (almost) 90 minutes of track action, Zhou Guanyu was asked to stop the car on track with hydraulic issues. Yet another Red Flag and with it, the end of the session as well. That left George Russell’s 1:19.970 as the fastest lap around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He was followed by Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez the top five fastest.
SATURDAY
The talk around the Paddock was mainly about the Cost Breach Penalty given to Red Bull. Most every Media Person kept asking for opinions about it.
FP3
This session was going to be very busy, on and off the track. People did not stop coming into the racetrack for hours. Just a few seats were empty for this last practice before Qualifying. Leclerc’s Ferrari was repaired on time, but the team decided not to come out, as a matter of fact, only four drivers went on track when the green light came on, both Alfa Romeos and both Aston Martins.
With just over 20 minutes left in the session, both Mercedes came out on track and did the fastest two laps of the weekend so far, a blistering 1:18.399 for George Russell, with Hamilton just 0.144 of a second behind.
And that’s how they ended. Russell first, Hamilton second, and third was Verstappen, albeit 0.477 slower than Russel, Leclerc (+0.724), Perez (+0.842), and Sainz (+902), the top six. Could this be that the high altitude in Mexico means that the drag penalty Mercedes carried elsewhere was less of an issue?
QUALIFYING
Certain media continued talking about the Red Bull penalty for breaching the Cost Cap. Some think the penalty was too lenient, some think it was too much, and then there were those that thought it was ok. Make your own opinion about it.
Now, onto Qualifying. Russell appeared to be the strongest going into Q1, having topped both FP2 and FP3 way ahead of his rivals. But you cannot discount the Red Bulls nor the Ferraris, or Hamilton himself. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was filled up to the brim, with more than 140 thousand people coming to see Formula 1 cars, drivers, and especially, their home hero, Checo Perez. This is what happened during the Mexico City Grand Prix Qualifying:
Q1
The first knockout session started with a 60% chance of rain, and as had happened before, those with the highest risk of not going to Q2 came out first.
And it was hot, very hot, with 27°C air temperature and more than 50°C track temperature. Making for additional complications for drivers and teams to sort out.
Mick Schumacher (Haas), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Alex Albon (Williams), and Nicholas Latifi (Williams) were knocked out of Qualifying. Lewis Hamilton topped the charts with 1:19.169
Q2
Both Mercedes were the first to come out, followed by the AlphaTauris, and the rest of the cars.
Out were Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), and Kevin Magnussen (Haas). On the other end, Hamilton was fastest (1:18.552), but only 0.063 of a second covered the top five, 0.014 the top four!
Mercedes demonstrated that they are the team to beat. Would the Qualifying power translate to the race. Everything was set for a fantastic, and surprising race on Sunday.
Q3
And then there were ten. The final shootout started with nine of the ten warriors coming out on track, just Alonso stayed in the garage. After the first round was over for those nine drivers, Alonso came out. Verstappen won that first round by the way, with a blistering 1:17.947, the only one under the 1:18s.
Eleven years in a row, a different polesitter in Mexico City as the World Champion sets the fastest lap of the weekend, a mighty fast 1:17.775. 0.304 ahead of George Russell, and 0.309 of Lewis Hamilton. Then came Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon.
SUNDAY
High altitude. High speed. High chance of an epic race! The Grand Prix was 71 laps around the 4.304-kilometer Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in lively Mexico City. There is about 22% less air density, hurting not only the drivers and team personnel but the cooling of the Power Units inside the cars.
The fans started arriving at the track quite early and by midday, it was completely filled with screaming, happy, and anxious fans, cheering for their favorite teams and drivers.
With less than 40 minutes to lights out the cars started coming out of the pits for a few installations and practice laps before going to the grid.
Everything was set for a cracking race; this was the Mexico City Grand Prix.
A fantastic start from the World Champion, holding both Mercedes behind him and pulling away albeit not by much.
In the early laps, Hamilton kept Verstappen on sight, and initially sat little more than a second adrift of his 2021 title rival, before dropping back by a few tenths and getting some fresh air to cool his engine, a crucial factor amid the high altitude and warm temperatures.
On lap 14, Gasly made a move on Stroll going into Turn 4, but had a lockup, forcing the Aston Martin off-track. Several laps later, the stewards handed a five-second penalty to the AlphaTauri driver.
Up ahead, Verstappen continued his race, edging away from Hamilton bit by bit. Perez was about six seconds further back with Russell about 1.5 seconds from the Mexican. Behind them, the lonely Ferraris, struggling to keep up with the Red Bulls and Mercedes ahead.
On lap 24, Perez came in for his first tire change and a new set of mediums (yellow) but had a long stop due to the rear left tire getting stuck, he ended up losing around five seconds. Two laps later, Verstappen came in for his set of mediums. Hamilton and Russell were now leading the Grand Prix.
“Box - Box” On lap 30, Hamilton was called in, changing his original mediums for hards (white). Five laps later, Russell was called in for his new set of hards, even though the driver had been asking for softs (red). He came out around 16 seconds off the lead. A bit later his teams asked the Britton to “lift and coast” for the remainder of the race.
On lap 51, Ricciardo made a bold, although impossible move on Tsunoda going into Turn6, hitting the AlphaTauri’s right rear with his left front and sending the young Japanese into the air, damaging his car and having to retire from the race upon reaching the pits. The Australian was handed a 10-second time penalty.
That Penalty gave some new strength to Ricciardo who, in fresh new softs, overtook Norris, Bottas, Alonso, and Ocon, and made a buffer long enough for a worthy P7.
Up ahead, both Hamilton and Russell kept questioning the team’s tire strategy, as Verstappen kept his medium tires in check by doing almost the exact lap time for several laps. But the Mercedes pit kept reassuring them wall that the race would come their way in the end.
Well, it did not, and after 71 laps, Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix, his fourteenth in 2022, setting a new record for most wins in a single season, surpassing Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, both with 13. Lewis Hamilton finished second for Mercedes. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the podium.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was voted Driver of the Day by the F1 fans for his amazing drive to take P7 for McLaren.