ECSTASY FOR RED BULL, AGONY FOR MERCEDES: Verstappen earns dominant win in Mexico City; Hamilton holds on for P2 over Perez but pole-sitter Bottas spins out of points in opening lap contretemps

Red Bull’s superlative pilot Max Verstappen took another step closer to earning his first Formula 1 Drivers’ title by cruising to a dominant victory at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday. The Dutch wunderkind, who started from P3 on the grid after Mercedes surprised the paddock by locking out the front row during Saturday qualifying, made an outstanding overtaking move going on the outside into Turn 1 against the pole-sitting Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and the P2 car of Lewis Hamilton. To compound the Finn’s misfortunes, Bottas was promptly spun around after contact from the rear by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, completely wrecking both fo their days although no penalties were assessed. With Verstappen also scooting around the outside of the English seven-time Champion in that impressive two-for-one maneuver, he took a lead in the race that he would never really relinquish again. As the lead Red Bull scampered away from him in the distance, Hamilton was forced to defend his vital second place for the latter portion of this 71-lap contest against Verstappen’s teammate and hometown hero Sergio “Checo” Perez. The hard charging Mexican harried and harassed Hamilton as best he could in an effort to strip even more points from the number two man in the Championship and aid Verstappen’s title hunt but Hamilton had enough left to hold on for those valuable P2 points when the laps ran out.

A nightmare start for Bottas, a thriller for Verstappen 😳😅#MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/YimWSYxe9i

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 7, 2021

Perez had to be satisfied with P3 and a podium and the ecstatic fans in the stands certainly were well pleased by the sight of a Mexican driver finishing so well in his home race. Team Red Bull was also delighted as whole, because not only did Verstappen extend his lead over Lewis to a more robust 19 points but, with Bottas unable to recover from his opening lap mishap and score any points at all on a day that looked so promising for the Finn, Verstappen and Perez’s combined finishing results pulled Red Bull within one slim point of mighty Mercedes in the all important Constructors’ standings. Facing the gravest threat to their unrivaled supremacy in the turbo-hybrid era, the Silver Arrows braintrust will be sweating bullets as the races tick down to a mere four remaining on 2021’s calendar. Ominously for Hamilton and Mercedes, Verstappen has now won the last two Grand Prix on the trot and he will certainly be trying to keep his Western Hemisphere mojo working when the teams head to Brazil, where he has excelled both in the wet and dry in the past, in but a week’s time.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

With Bottas’s role reduced to merely stealing the extra point for the race’s fastest lap off of Verstappen with two late pit stops after that highly unfortunate and race-destroying opening lap kerfuffle, it opened up chances for advancement to the other contenders. Chief among them was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who avoided the carnage at the start and then sure-footedly capitalized by driving a superb if somewhat lonely race to come home P4, earning a valuable points haul for both himself and the team. Ferrari also had a good day and pounced on Ricciardo’s misfortune by placing Charles Leclerc P5 and Carlos Sainz P6, thereby reclaiming third in the Constructors over McLaren, which only scored a single point on the day via Lando Norris’s subpar P10. It was also a good day for seasoned veterans, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finishing P7, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen taking P8 and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso coming home in P9, while all of their more junior teammates failed to score. Chalk one up for the age and treachery over youth and exuberance.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

Complete race result available via Fomrula1.com.

The season is steaming towards its end stage and the F1 circus now heads to Interlagos in Brazil for next week’s contest, the second of three consecutive race weekends. The turnaorund time will be frantic for teams and drivers alike and Hamilton and Mercedes will be desperate to stop Red Bull and Verstappen’s momentum before it’s too late. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!