2019 Mexican GP - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

[Nitrodaze]

https://www.sportfair.it/wp-content/uploads/timthumb.php?src=https://www.sportfair.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Autodromo-Hermanos-Rodriguez.png&q=80&w=753&zc=1

The Mexico circuit has always been a bogey track for Mercedes. Even so, they have won this race twice, in 2015 and 2016. Redbull has won this race ever since, with two wins in 2017 and 2018. Mclaren and Williams are the joint most successful teams on the current grid to races this track with three wins each. The accolade of the most sucessful team to race in Mexico goes to Lotus with four wins.

This circuit has the highest altitude on the current F1 calendar. The Hybrid engine really gasp for air here and Renault engines have excelled in these conditions. It would be interesting to see how the fearsome Ferrari engine would perform at this altitude. All indications suggests that Ferrari shall be the car to beat this weekend.

https://racerdigital.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/mexico-tee.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1

Hamilton comes to this race with a 14 points target to close the championship. On paper, chances are the Mercedes might be the 3rd best car on the grid, hence chances of the driver's championship concluding in Mexico looks very slim. There is also the outside chance that a midfield team could win this race this year. My money is on Mclaren with their Renault engine to be in the mix for the win and possibly mount an unbelievable upset. But that is just me day dreaming.

The rivalry in the Ferrari team is set to play out again as Ferrari seem favorite to take pole and win this race. This is a track that should suite Vettel, hence it presents a chance for him to level on number of wins with Leclerc. But how nice are these two going to race each other this weekend?

Can you remember the grid boys of the Monaco GP a few years back? Well, what about bringing back the cool grid boys eh? Mia what do you think?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFxKelLWIAE7zVl.jpg:large

Check out this true beauty of an hispanic grid girl.
https://cdn-s3.si.com/s3fs-public/images/grid-girls-495249128_master.jpg

https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/static/img/mgl/5900000/5980000/5988000/5988800/5988842/s8/f1-mexican-gp-2015-grid-girls-on-the-drivers-parade.jpg

[Tazio]

Quali dawgz! :wave:

[Tazio]

Red Bull 1,2 after Q1! :ninja:

[Tazio]

Seb on med 1:15.9

[Nitrodaze]

Ferrari seem to have pole covered. I wonder if Merc can find somethig to get in the midst of the Ferrari. Redbull going well too.

[Tazio]

Q2 Merc 1,2

[Nitrodaze]

What a lap by Verstapenn 1:14:4, wow. Ferrari have their work cut out if seems. Merc not fast enough

[Nitrodaze]

Redbull's Verstapenn on pole, double wow. Hamilton on the 2nd row in 4th.

[Tazio]

Big hit by Bot! Congrat's Max!

[The Black Knight]

Bottas v2.0 smh. Mercedes have only themselves to blame for retaining him.

[Tazio]

McLerc, and Max on front row!

[Nitrodaze]

McLerc, and Max on front row!

The two multi-world champions just behind in the 2nd row to watch the future contenders of driver world championship title battle each other for the win of the Mexico GP. I wonder if the slip stream is strong enough to propel Vettel into the lead from 3rd.

[Tazio]

The two multi- world champions just behind in the 2nd row to watch the future contenders of driver world championship title battkle each other for the win of the Mexico GP. I wonder if the slip stream is striong enough to propel Vettel into the lead from 3rd.
If Vettel gets a good start then it is entirely possible. Turn one could be very interesting!



Sent from my REVVL 2 using Tapatalk

Edit: Whoops, Max gets a 3 place grid penalty for ignoring waved yellow flag!

[Nitrodaze]

If Vettel gets a good start then it is entirely possible. Turn one could be very interesting!



Sent from my REVVL 2 using Tapatalk

Edit: Whoops, Max gets a 3 place grid penalty for ignoring waved yellow flag!

It is a long straight to turn one. I think Verstapenn would be swamped by the two Red Ferrari in the drag race to turn one. With the double tow, Hamilton would be very much in the action too. There would be clashing of aero bits in turn one, the order of the first three cars out of turn one would be interesting l think.

[zako85]

I think Verstapenn would be swamped by the two Red Ferrari in the drag race to turn one.

The Ferrari drivers have stepped on their dicks so many times, specially Vettel, that I would place very little weight on such theory of today's events.

[airshifter]

The pre-race show is already streaming live on YouTube in the US.

Catch the "Check" chant!

https://youtu.be/A09smmijVIg

[airshifter]

"Checo"

[Nitrodaze]

Verstapenn kicked off pole for yellow flag infraction. What a shame, l was looking forward to him duking it out with Leclerc up to turn one. Leclerc on pole.

[gm99]

Verstappen seems to have a target for the Mercedes painted on his car.
Shame about Norris as well.

[airshifter]

Well that turned into a strategy race at the front. But well done by Mercedes and Hamilton.

[Nitrodaze]

The Mercedes strategist at this race should be commended. It was a steelly foresight that most of us doubted would produce a win. But it did, hats off to the chap.

Mercedes now joins Mclaren and Williams with three wins at this race. Albon impressed and Verstapenn could have won this race but an excellent recovery drive. Ferrari sort of allowed the win of this race get out of their hands. If Ferrari wants to win the 2020 season, they have to sort out their strategy department. Bottas was great this weekend as well.

Hat's off to Hamilton for making what seemed an impossible strategy work.

[gm99]

Bottas was great this weekend as well.


Seriously? Wasn't he the guy who crashed in qualifying and would probably have finished fifth if Verstappen hadn't been run off the road on the first lap and Ferrari wouldn't once again have screwed up their strategy with LeClerc?

[N. Jones]

When is Ferrari going to actually let LeClerc finish ahead of him Vettel? Is Charles going to have to qualify P5?

[zako85]

With race strategists like these, it will take Ferrari about a decade to win their next championship. In our age of Formula 1 racing, the order of the grid among the top 4 or 5 after the first lap of race will usually determine how they're going to finish the race 90 percent of time. Yet, Ferrari managed to go from 1-2 after the first lap to 2-4 at the finish.

Clearly, the two-stop strategy was very bad. This explains the slide of Albon (from third place) and Leclerc (from the lead). But if you're focusing on a one-stop strategy using two different tire compounds, it makes sense to use the faster but quicker degrading medium tire for less than half of the race, and then using the slower but longer lasting hard tire for the rest of the race. Indeed, this is how Hamilton's strategists played it. But Vettel's strategy was just strange. First he run most of the race on the quicker degrading medium tire, then he finished the race on the slower but longer lasting hard tire. No wonder he lost the race lead. Another comedy of errors for Ferrari.

[The Black Knight]

Apparently Vettel didn't see Hamilton at the start of the race when he pushed him onto the grass. I find this hard to believe but I guess we'll just have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Great job from Mercedes strategists. They stole this one from Ferrari. An equally great job from Hamilton for how he executed it.

I can't be too hard on Ferrari strategy wise for this one because at the time is seemed as though Mercedes gamble would not pay off. No one knew that the hard tyre would last so long and be so strong pace wise towards the end of its tire life. This race could have just as easily swung Ferrari's way. I think Mercedes tried it because they knew that if anyone could make it work Hamilton would so they didn't do it with Bottas for instance. This race could have been won just as easily by Ferrari as by Mercedes. Mercedes took the gamble and it paid off, but it could just as easily have been them in third and fourth positions.

Pretty dull race and I really hope they get those 2021 rules sorted soon. The sport needs cars that can overtake at the front. I fully expect Hamilton to wrap up the title on Austin. It's worth noting that Bottas must win all remaining races to win the championship so his chances of being WDC are gone. Hamilton will probably be 2019 champion come next Sunday.

[Nitrodaze]

Apparently Vettel didn't see Hamilton at the start of the race when he pushed him onto the grass. I find this hard to believe but I guess we'll just have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Great job from Mercedes strategists. They stole this one from Ferrari. An equally great job from Hamilton for how he executed it.

I can't be too hard on Ferrari strategy wise for this one because at the time is seemed as though Mercedes gamble would not pay off. No one knew that the hard tyre would last so long and be so strong pace wise towards the end of its tire life. This race could have just as easily swung Ferrari's way. I think Mercedes tried it because they knew that if anyone could make it work Hamilton would so they didn't do it with Bottas for instance. This race could have been won just as easily by Ferrari as by Mercedes. Mercedes took the gamble and it paid off, but it could just as easily have been them in third and fourth positions.

Pretty dull race and I really hope they get those 2021 rules sorted soon. The sport needs cars that can overtake at the front. I fully expect Hamilton to wrap up the title on Austin. It's worth noting that Bottas must win all remaining races to win the championship so his chances of being WDC are gone. Hamilton will probably be 2019 champion come next Sunday.

Well analysed. But the Ferrari strategist is becoming an embarrasment really. They have given away so many opportunities due to very poor strategic analysis. This race was for Ferrari to lose and that they did.

[Bagwan]

About Vettel not seeing Hamilton at the start of the race , couldn't the side bolsters now be drawn back a little , with there being the halo in place , so as to give the drivers more peripheral vision ?

The excuse ,"I didn't see him" is used too often , because they can't .

The halo runs out side the bolster , and diminishes to no gap just behind the head , so designing the bolster a little lower beside the helmet would allow for significantly more vision to the sides , seemingly without compromising safety to any degree .

[Nitrodaze]

About Vettel not seeing Hamilton at the start of the race , couldn't the side bolsters now be drawn back a little , with there being the halo in place , so as to give the drivers more peripheral vision ?

The excuse ,"I didn't see him" is used too often , because they can't .

The halo runs out side the bolster , and diminishes to no gap just behind the head , so designing the bolster a little lower beside the helmet would allow for significantly more vision to the sides , seemingly without compromising safety to any degree .

He was talking out of his arse. He heard the mercedes engine next to him and clearly could see the front wheels alongside him. He was hard but the current rules allow for this sort of hard racing.

[journeyman racer]

I've seen the onboard replays from Hamilton, and at no stage was alongside him so that he could see. I haven't seen the positioning of the beginning of this moment, but Vettel probably did unnecessarily encroach. He certainly is guilty had a "normal racing situation".

Further down the road, I reckon Hamilton should've got pinged for corralling Verstappen off. Verstappen was leading the two going into the corner, and at the apex of the kerb. There was a moment of understeer for Verstappen, but he was still ahead in the process of going through the corner, and plenty of room for Hamilton to go around. Hamilton then momentarily loses control, and in the process of regaining control, corrals Verstappen off.

I note that Nitrodaze is the only one that has praised the MB strategists. Their critics however remain quiet.