Hola, Zoomies! We are in Mexico City for the 20th Grand Prix race of 2024! As I ended the last Zoom blog, we have a tight race for the Constructers Cup(team), between current leader McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari, so unlike last season, every point counts with five races to go (including this one)! For the eye candy, I've chosen Mexico City's favorite son, Sergio "Checo" Perez, of Red Bull. Perez is a family guy, so I was demure in my choice of pics with him, plus, based on the paddock buzz, this might be the last season Checo is racing with with Red Bull, as the "Death Star" team of F1 has been not so subtle that Checo needs to step it up to keep his seat. As usual, your Driver and Team graphic for reference:
Plus the add of two new replacement drivers:
Kiwi Liam Lawson, replacing Riccardo at RB, NOT Red Bull!
Argentine Franco Colapinto, replacing Sargent at Williams! No Sprint race this week, but we have FIVE rookies/reserves drivers racing in practice one! A couple of names will look familiar! Felipe Drugivitch for Aston-Martin, Ollie Bearman for Ferrari, Pato O'Ward for McLaren, Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes and Robert Scwartzman for Sauber. Add Lawson and Colapinto, and its like a F1 cart-racing reunion! Temperature is 62 degrees, but over 105 on the track, and with the high elevation that is Mexico City, low grip and decreased downforce are in play on a track that is about 2.5 plus miles and 17 turns. The cars power units may not be pleased with the conditions, especially with all these whipper-snappers driving in P1! Oh, and it's Fernando Alonso's 400th Grand Prix this weekend....that many years of racing!
P1: Sixty minutes. With 36 minutes to go, Red Flag up, as Williams Albon under-steered and braked and his rear tyres lost grip, and they bounced up as Albon was surprised to see Bearman there on the track at turn 7, causing Albon to clip Bearman and spin into the barriers hard. Bearman also had to to pit as the Red Flag was out for about 15 minutes until Green flag, and practice continues. No further incidents so on to P2.
P2: Ninety minutes, and it's a Perelli Tyre test! A 4th Perelli tyre will be tested by the drivers for about 60 minutes. Unless something big pops up, I'm not going to torture us with trying to figure out performance of the tyres! Red Flag after 15 minutes between turn 8 and Turn 9, Mercedes George Russell scrapes the curb HARD, and smashes into the barriers, (on those new Perelli tyres), Georgie off to the medical center, he was holding his ribs; the side of the car took hard damage, rear wing also heavily damaged. Barriers fixed, Green flag up, drivers back on track. Georgie is back from the medical center and back in the Mercedes paddock, but the pit crew will be working all night fixing his car. At about 40 minutes left, Red Bull has pulled Max's car for the rest of the session- possible floor damage? Turns out the damage to Albon's car was too extreme for him to take his Williams car out for P3. And that's a wrap for P2 on Friday in Mexico City!
P3: Sixty minutes, partly cloudy skies, and very high humidity being this high above sea level. The fallout from yesterday's issues is that George Russell had to have a whole new chassis done for his Mercedes car, while Max Verstappen and Red Bull replaced his engine (Max was right while racing yesterday, trust your instincts!). Alex Albon's car has been repaired and he is back on track, as well. Both Red Bull drivers, Max and Sergio "Checo" Perez, are having front brake issues, lots of smoke popping up on those front tyres! No incidents, so on to Qualifying!
Driver Eye Candy: Checo Perez loves Mexico, and Mexico love Checo!
Checo has a resting dull face, but has a great smile when he releases it!
A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.
Q1: 18 minutes. Very very hot on the track asphalt, 111 degrees, and that elevation above sea level is NOT going to help with downforce, so drivers going to have to adjust. Some did, some did not. No incidents, but a couple of shockers in the bottom five, as Perez, much to the disappointment of his Mexico City home fans, is in the bottom five, along with Ocon/Alpine, Colapinto/Williams, Zhou/Sauber and the biggest shock, Piastri/McLaren, failing to make Q3 for the first time this season!
Q2: 15 minutes: Rather quiet (for F1 racing) until the last ten seconds, when RB's Yuki Tsunoda skids off the track at turn 17 and gently crashes into to the wall, he's okay, but this Q2 with a Red Flag, is over. So the next bottom five are: Tsunoda and Lawson of RB, Alonso and Stroll of Aston-Martin, and Bottas of Sauber.
Q3: 12 minutes. Top ten for grid, and pole position! No incidents, so your pole position leader is Carlos Sainz/Ferrari, #2 Verstappen/Red Bull, #3 Norris/McLaren, #4 LeClerc/Ferrari, #5 and #6 Russell and Hamilton/Mercedes, #7 Magnussen/Haas, #8 Gasly/Alpine (!!), #9 Albon/Williams and #10 Hulkenberg/ Haas. The Haas team has showed some real improvement these last two races, as they are in a points fight with RB. Now that we have the starting grid, on to Grand Prix Day Sunday! (Thanks SF 49ers, for the Sunday Night game!).
Eye Candy Alert!
A younger Checo Perez with bushy hair. I'm sorry, Sergio, of continuing the Eye Candy curse!
Mexico City Grand Prix: Short track, (2.6 miles) so 71 laps of racing. Track is hot like yesterday, so tyres will definitely get punished as Hards and Mediums being used by most teams to start this race on a slightly overcast day. It's LIGHTS OUT, and within seconds of the start, we have a COLLISION, as Yuki Ysunoda is tapped by Albon (Yuki was in a charging up the grid mode), and finds himself and his car scraping the left side of the wall ass-backwards, with one less tyre, that goes merrily bouncing off the track, thankfully avoiding all the other cars. Albon's day is also over, as front damage to his car; this all before drivers hit Turn 1!! Both drivers okay, but it's a DNF (Did Not Finish) for them in this GP. Also of note, Checo Perez was hit with a five-second PENALTY for a false start, he'll have to serve that during his first pit stop. The safety car is out, and in this heat, not good for the tyres or engines as drivers lap around waiting to go zoom zoom when they see the green flag. After all that, I should note that Max was able to overtake Carlos for the lead in that first lap, and all drivers are holding positions they were at at they continue to lap until they see the Green Flag. That was a LOT folks, for just for first 30 seconds of this race!
After seven laps, Green Flag is out, and real racing can start again, now that the debris has been cleared from the track. Elbows are out again on Lap 10 between Max and Lando, as Max forces Lando off-track, not once but twice; Lando and McLaren are livid and the stewards agree, Max is hit with a 10 second PENALTY for his very naughty driving a turn 8!
This scrap between those two drivers has allowed LeClerc to move into second, behind his teammate Sainz. Lap 15 see Aston-Martin have Alonso retire his car (I'm a bit sad about this, as this was Alonso's 400th race, as I noted earlier). Big news, as the stewards have hit Max with ANOTHER 10 second PENALTY for running Lando off the track AGAIN on turn 7, from the incident earlier (hence why I bolded the word twice!). Lap 21, Perez hits the pit stop, to serve his five second penalty (8.1 pit stop). Red Bull has Max pit on Lap 27, to serve his 20 seconds of penalties (24.0 pit stop) and comes out on hard tyres in 16th place! Both Red Bulls at the back of the pack! Certainly not how they had seen this day go!
Even on a bad day, you can always look good- just eat your feelings (or Liam Lawson), Sergio!
On Lap 34, young Liam Lawson of RB, just got schooled, as he was the cork in the bottle in 5th place, with Piastri and Hamilton behind him, when first Piastri made his move to jump to 5th, and on the next turn, Hamilton also made a nice overtake move on Lawson, who drops to 7th. Of note, neither Piastri nor Lawson have pitted, Max is up to 9th, Sainz with a 8.5 second lead on his teammate LeClerc, with Norris and Russell 3rd and 4th, respectively. Still lots of laps to go! Piastri (2.0!!)and Lawson (2.9) finally pit on lap 40, are now in the back of the pack. Lap 64 has Sainz still in the lead by about 7.8 seconds, with Leclec behind him, and Lando on Charles tail, when on the turn out of 17, Charles experiences a lock-up, and BARELY survives not crashing into the wall, but allows Lando to move into 2nd place! For the second straight race week, Ferrari takes the checkered flag as Carlos Sainz wins his first ever Mexican Grand Prix by 4.7 seconds over Lando Norris, with Charles LeClerc (last weeks winner in Austin) filling out the podium in 3rd place (and also snagged an extra point for fastest lap of the day!). Both Mercedes cars finished 4th and 5th, Max and his Red Bull in 6th (his teammate, Perez, dead last!), it's a Paistri sandwich that the two Haas cars did, finishing 7th, Paistri 8th (who started the race in 17th place!) and Haas 9th, and ....be still my heart, Gasly and Alpine have picked up a point, with Pierre (who has been racing well of late) getting the final point in 10th!
Methinks Ferrari is going to miss Carlos when he takes his seat at Williams in 2025!
Notes: Carlos picks up driver of the day! Haas team has vastly improved this season! We definitely have a race for the Constructers Cup (team standings) between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, who for the first time in years, has dropped to third in the standings!!
Perez does NOT LIKE Liam Lawson! Perhaps because Liam flashing the middle finger salute once he finally passed Checo? ( Liam later apologized ), or taking Checo's seat in 2025, David? :) My Driver Eye Candy curse continues! Off to Sao Paulo, Brazil next weekend to complete the America's circuit leg of F1!
Oh, a couple of stray tyre tidbits! there has been a lot of "buzz" about this snap of the way Lando sprays Carlos with the champagne on the podium! After the race, Carlos invited Lando to the family victory dinner, and while Carlos girlfriend sat across from her man, Lando was sitting right next to Carlos! The video is out there, that Carlos himself posted! (The Sainz family LOVES Lando ever since they both raced for McLaren!).
Take from this pic what you will! CarLando fans certainly have! Lastly, I would be remiss not to acknowledge Rocco's birthday this past week!
Darn cute b-day cake!
Party hard, crash hard!
Roscoe with his F1 racing hooman!
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