Losers

Fernando Alonso

It was another frus♔trating day for Fernando Alonso in Mexico after his latest retirement cost him seventh-place.

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

It was clear that he was struggling when teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Esteban Ocon powered past him ꧒a few laps before his eventual retirement.

"Unbelievable. What a season, what a season," Alonso said over team radio when retir🐼ing 😼from the race on Lap 65.

Rem🦋arkably, it was Alonso’s fifth retirement of the year, six if you include an issue which meant he couldn’t start the sprint in Austria.

Let’s not fo✱rget the mechanical issue that cost him a top five position on the grid in A🎃ustralia.

A cruel run of bad luck which according to Alonso has cost him🦋 around “60 points”𝔉 this season.

Ferrari

Ferrari endured their worst weekend of the season in terms of outright performance as 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Carlos Sainz finished over 40 seconds off the lead in fifth.

Ferrari have oft𝓰en performed best at high downforce circuits so it was surprising to see them struggle so much for pace.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Charles Leclerc hinted after the race that they went in the wrong direction setup wise, while there were murmurings that Ferrari were forced to turn their engine down due it st𒉰ruggling with the high altitude.

A poor weekend overall and one which wo💝uld hℱave left the whole team confused.

Alfa Romeo

After starring in qualifying, it was a missed opportunity for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodri🐷guez.

A sluggish start dropped him behind Alonso, who he☂ was𝔉 unable to pass in the first stint despite being clearly quicker. 

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

He was overtaken by 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon and Lando Norris, nearly losing out to Pierrꦜe Gasly on the final lap.

Bottas ended his own points d🌺rought, but it should have been a lot more ꦓfor him and Alfa Romeo.

Given th🌼at they had the fourth fastest car in 🃏Mexico, to come away one point is incredibly disappointing.

Pierre Gasly 

Pierre Gasly must be counting down the days before his Alpine s🍷witch.

It was another difficult afternoon for the Frenchman, who narrowly missed out on ജa poi🌼nts finish by just 0.6s.

Had it not💝 been for his five-second time penalty, he probably would have beat🌃en Bottas to finish inside the top 10.

While the result wasn’t too bad on paper, the repercussions of his latest penalty areಌ more severe.

Ga𓃲sly is now 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 co📖ntinues 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 once Mercedes opted to switch to the hard tyre d꧂uring the pit stop phase, the race was done and dusted.

Verstappen also bro🐠ke the record for th♐e most points scored in a single season - 416 to Hamilton’s 413 in 2019.

Another incredible weekend for Verstappen - uns෴toppable. 

Mercedes 

It was a strong day for Mercedes as Hamiltonꦿ finished second, while George Russell picked up fourth-place with the fastest lap.

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

Mercedes simply got it wrong with strategy.

Toto Wolff told Sky Spo𝔉rts F1 ahead of the race that Mercedes plan to be “aggressive” with strategy.

Using tꦐhe two most durable compounds wasn’t particulaꦐrly aggressive from Mercedes.

In performance terms (and points scored), Mercedes are 𒁃clear 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 penalty ⛦in the process.

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

Granted, the Al⭕pines, Bᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚottas and teammate Norris struggled on the hard tyre, but Ricciardo made it work.

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

ℱStrategy did play its part, but that’s 🅰the nature of F1.