Max Verstappen put up a dominant display once again at the Mexico City GP, finishing first and taking home his 14th win of the 2022 season. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile, finished second.
With his win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Verstappen broke a record that belonged to Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel for some time. The two German legends had the most number of race wins in a calendar year with 13. Verstappen’s win took him one clear of them and he can even add on that at the remaining two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
This year’s Mexico City GP was not particularly exciting, and it was clear from the get-go that Verstappen was the clear favorite to win. The Dutchman ended up winning by a margin of 15 seconds.
As usual, the Red Bull mechanics were there to cheer the 25-year-old on when he crossed the line. However, they remained right there on the pit wall and applauded Verstappen’s arch-rival Lewis Hamilton when he finished second. They stayed back to cheer their driver Sergio Perez’s P3 finish, but clapping for Hamilton was something that warmed the hearts of F1 fans.
Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez share Mexico podium
Last year’s race in Mexico saw Verstappen, Hamilton, and Perez finishing first, second and third respectively. This year, the same three drivers took the podium places in Mexico City in what was a very uneventful race.
After celebrating Max’s win, rb mechanics were cheering for Lewis while waiting for Checo. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
— ¹ ˣ ¹¹ CHAMPIONS 🏆 (@formulakimmich) October 31, 2022
Verstappen once again dominated the race from start to finish. The two-time World Champion started the race on pole, and his place at the front was not under threat for the majority of the race. Hamilton and Perez started from third and fourth respectively, but they capitalized on a poor start from George Russell who started from the front row.
Disastrous weekend for Ferrari in Mexico City
Ferrari started the season off on a very strong note, winning two of the opening three races. Since then, reliability issues and strategy errors saw them lose out on big points to Red Bull. The difference between them and Red Bull grew bigger in the second half of the season, and it started becoming clear that they won’t be winning the Championship in 2022.
Not the easiest of Sundays, but we keep going 👊
Two to go in 2022 and we’re feeling your amazing support every step of the way, #Tifosi ❤️#essereFerrari 🔴 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/53oMNCArJz
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 31, 2022
Despite their problems, Ferrari was always in the mix for podium results but Mexico turned out to be a disaster for them. They were so far off the pace in qualifying that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished in P5 and P7 respectively. The race itself wasn’t much better as they crossed the line in fifth and sixth.
The 2022 season is ending in a very disappointing fashion for Ferrari. The Maranello-based outfit will be hoping to recover from their mistakes and bounce back strongly once the 2023 campaign kicks off in Bahrain.
