Losers

Fernando Alonso

It w🌱as another frustrating day for Fernando Alonso in Mexico after his latest retirement cost him seventh-plac👍e.

Alonso was running comfortably in the points on Sunday until he encountereܫd another engine-related issue.

It was clear that he was struggling when teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Esteban Ocon powered past﷽ him a few laps before his eventual retirement.

"Unbelievable. What a season, what a season," Alonso said🦩 over🍨 team radio when retiring from the race on Lap 65.

Remarkably, it was Alonso’s fifth retirement of the year, six if you include an issue which meant he co♌uldn’t start the sprint in A🐟ustria.

Le𒁃t’s not forget the mechanical issue that cost him a top five position on the grid in Australia.

A cruel run of bad luck w🎃hich according to Alonso has cost him around “60 points” this season.

Ferrari

Ferrari endured their worst weekend of the season in terms of outright performance as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz finished over 40 seconds off the lead in fifth.

Ferrar✨i have often performed best at high downforce circuits so it was surprising to see them struggle so much for pace.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc hinted after the race that they went in the wrong direction setup wise, while there were murmurings tha📖t Ferrari wer💃e forced to turn their engine down due it struggling with the high altitude.

A poor weekend overall and one which would have left t🍒he whole team confused.

Alfa Romeo

After starring in qualifying, it was a missed opportunity for 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo at the Autodro꧑mo Hermanos Rodriguez.

A sluggish start dropped him behind Alonso, who he was unable to pass in the first stin⛄t despite being clearlᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚy quicker. 

Bottas was one of a handful of midfield drivers to switch to the hard tyre, and he s🌠truggled more than most to get them up to temperature.

He was overtaken by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon and Lando Norris, nearly🍸 losing out to Pierre Gasly on the f𒁃inal lap.

Bottas ended his own points drought, but it should have been a lot more for him and Alfa R🤪omeo.

Giv🍸en that they had the fourth fastest car in Mexico, to come away one point is incredibly disౠappointing.

Pierre Gasly 

Pierre Gasly must be counti𓆉ng down theꦬ days before his Alpine switch.

I☂t was another difficult afternoon for the Frenchman, who narrowly missed out on a points finish by just 0.6s.

Had it not been for his five-second time penalty꧂, he probably would have beate꧅n Bottas to finish inside the top 10.

While the resu൩lt wasn’t too bad on paper, theꦦ repercussions of his latest penalty are more severe.

Gasly is no🉐w just two penalty points away from a race ban, with none of his existing super licence points expiring until May 2023.

Winners 

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen continues to break records in F1 💖as he claimed his 14th victory of the year.

He was kept honest by Lewis Hamilton in the opening stint of the race but onceꦫ Mercedes opted to switch to the hard tyre during the pit stop phase, the race was done and dusted.

Verstappen also broke the re☂cord for the most points❀ scored in a single season - 416 to Hamilton’s 413 in 2019.

🍎Another incredible weekend f✃or Verstappen - unstoppable. 

Mercedes 

It wasꦗ a strong day for Mercedes as Hamilton finished second, whi🔯le George Russell picked up fourth-place with the fastest lap.

The main positive for Mercedes is that they were cle🌠arly the second-fastest car in Mexico and had the pace to challenge Red Bull had they been on the correct strategy.

Mercedes simply got it wrong with strategy.

Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 ahead of t🥃he race t🧔hat Mercedes plan to be “aggressive” with strategy.

Using the two most 🌜durableꦕ compounds wasn’t particularly aggressive from Mercedes.

In performance terms (and points scoredꦯ), Mercedes are clear winners, however, they didn’t put up much of a fight when they should have based on the first stint of the race.

Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren

Welcome back Daniel Ricciardo!

It wasn’t a perfect race by any means for the Australian, colliding with Yuki Tsunoda and picking up a 10-second time penalꦗty in the process.

However, ꦓRicciardoꦰ put in his best drive of the season as he made the most of the soft tyres in the second half of the race.

Granted, the Alpines, Bottas and teammate No𒅌rris struggled on the hard tyre, but Ricciardo made it work.

Let’s not forget that just over one week ago, Ri𓃲cciardo was battling Nicholas Latifi at COTA.

Strategy did play its part, but that’s the nature�🐠� of F1.