Race 20 - Mexican GP 2024 [Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez]

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We head to the rarefied track of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexican GP. Amid the controversy of the steward's verdict on the Verstappen Vs Norris off-track excursion that saw Norris suffer a championship punitive five-second penalty at the US COTA GP. For an incident that could have a devastating effect on the McLaren driver championship hopes in the long run, the stewards attracted criticism from many quarters for what seemed like a lack of sensitivity for the significance of the occasion.

The takeaway from COTA was that Redbull has found its mojo and is set to be very troublesome for McLaren. But COTA had other things to reveal which could play out in an interesting way in Mexico. Firstly, McLaren would need to bounce back with a one-two of their own to see off the ever-looming challenge from Ferrari. With 48 points between Ferrari and McLaren, the fight for the constructors championship is not a done deal for McLaren. With the form of Verstappen at COTA, a Redbull revival is not out of the question as the 40 points between Redbull and McLaren are surmountable by Redbull.

Mexico is an important race as it is an early indicator of where the momentum is for the remainder of the season. Who has the bit between their teeth at this time? Is McLaren drifting backwards at these crucial last races? Is Ferrari surging forward? Is Redbull's showing at COTA a flash in the pan? These are the questions that would be answered at the Autodromo Henandez Rodriguez.
At the end of this race, we would have the answer of whether the Drvier's Championship is still available to Norris.

Whatever happens, we are assured that the 2025 season is going to be a cracking one.

McLaren challenges Norris' penalty. Stewards are reviewing the case today. What are the chances they would change their action? Well, the new evidence found by McLaren must be quite compelling for them to challenge.

Read this article to see why the steward's decision was correctly applied to Norris at COTA.
https://medium.com/motor-racing/the-...e-0fac2f0fbab5

Some of us knew the rule was applied correctly when it happened, including a number of the commentators. Others had to catch up to reality.




Lando not having the best day of qually, and with two runs at it in Q3 still ends up behind Max. Not that this is always a terrible thing, as the tow in Mexico can be mighty, and how all the cars get off the line might determine who gets that tow. I'd say even Charles has a shot at exiting turn one in the lead, and really maybe even George.

Both of Carlo's laps were mighty. A well deserved pole. Max did well to stick it in second after having that first lap deleted, but I think the Ferrari's have the race pace. But with the track still changing, it could be a crap shoot who really has the race pace once the track is fully rubbered in.


And though I'm not a huge fan of the circuit overall, I think the Mexican fans can easily be compared with the Japanese fans for the enthusiasm and overall scene at the race. Though they have less DRS flap hats and more huge sombreros, it seems like a crowd of real racing fans that love the spectacle of the sport. The cheers through the stadium section are fantastic.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

Some of us knew the rule was applied correctly when it happened, including a number of the commentators. Others had to catch up to reality.




Lando not having the best day of qually, and with two runs at it in Q3 still ends up behind Max. Not that this is always a terrible thing, as the tow in Mexico can be mighty, and how all the cars get off the line might determine who gets that tow. I'd say even Charles has a shot at exiting turn one in the lead, and really maybe even George.

Both of Carlo's laps were mighty. A well deserved pole. Max did well to stick it in second after having that first lap deleted, but I think the Ferrari's have the race pace. But with the track still changing, it could be a crap shoot who really has the race pace once the track is fully rubbered in.


And though I'm not a huge fan of the circuit overall, I think the Mexican fans can easily be compared with the Japanese fans for the enthusiasm and overall scene at the race. Though they have less DRS flap hats and more huge sombreros, it seems like a crowd of real racing fans that love the spectacle of the sport. The cheers through the stadium section are fantastic.

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You make it sound so straight forward , Shifter , but if you consider that Lando had made the pass before they both hit the brakes in the braking zone , then it has the rules say that it is Max who must leave room for Lando , and not the other way around .
But they considered it all one move .

The rules are very messy in this whole situation .
If you are outside , the guy inside deserves space if he gets to your mirror
, but you don't rate space until you reach his front wheel ?
Does that make sense , or does it shut down any hope of ever overtaking on the outside ?

As written , Lando deserves the penalty , but it seems skewed to me .

Great race from Sainz. Norris impressed at this race as well. McLaren could have pitted Piastri when they heard about Verstappen's penalty to get him in front of Verstappen with new tyres l felt. Mercedes were abit slow on the uptake. They should have swapped their cars when Russell had wing damage to give Hamilton a chance to get within range of Leclerc. There was a podium opportunity for Mercedes today if they had raced smartly.

I think Perez's days at Redbull are numbered.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Great race from Sainz. Norris impressed at this race as well. McLaren could have pitted Piastri when they heard about Verstappen's penalty to get him in front of Verstappen with new tyres l felt. Mercedes were abit slow on the uptake. They should have swapped their cars when Russell had wing damage to give Hamilton a chance to get within range of Leclerc. There was a podium opportunity for Mercedes today if they had raced smartly.

I think Perez's days at Redbull are numbered.

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The best thing about this race is that Verstappen got his comeuppance- finally he Stewards and F1 have had enough of his dirty driving. Had they taken this stance in 2021 Lewis would have 8 world titles. He's an 8 time WDC in my book anyway but the books should reflect it.

RBR would be mad to stick with Perez for next year. I'd be very surprised if we see him on the grid next year. He deserves to lose his drive. His moaning about Lawson's driving has all the hallmarks of a guy who knows his days are numbered.

Colapinto and Lawson look like future stars of F1.

Good race and am delighted for Sainz. I've said it before that I think he's one of the best drivers on the grid and delighted he's having such a great season. I think Ferrari may regret dropping him for an aging Hamilton.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

The best thing about this race is that Verstappen got his comeuppance- finally he Stewards and F1 have had enough of his dirty driving. Had they taken this stance in 2021 Lewis would have 8 world titles. He's an 8 time WDC in my book anyway but the books should reflect it.

RBR would be mad to stick with Perez for next year. I'd be very surprised if we see him on the grid next year. He deserves to lose his drive. His moaning about Lawson's driving has all the hallmarks of a guy who knows his days are numbered.

Colapinto and Lawson look like future stars of F1.

Good race and am delighted for Sainz. I've said it before that I think he's one of the best drivers on the grid and delighted he's having such a great season. I think Ferrari may regret dropping him for an aging Hamilton.

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Sainz is definitely making a clear statement about his departure from Ferrari. I think he would be in a top team by 2027 at the latest. I thought he would replace the ageing Alonso at Aston Martin. His time would come. He is too good for Williams.

It is looking more like a fight to the wire for the driver's championship. On the constructor's side of things, Ferrari is looking like they could snatch it from McLaren. Now the folks at McLaren are probably realising that should have backed Norris sooner. How much closer he could have been if they hadn't made Norris give the win to Piastri a while back.

Another excellent Sunday for Ferrari and its fans. They are surely in the race to win the WCC this year.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Sainz is definitely making a clear statement about his departure from Ferrari. I think he would be in a top team by 2027 at the latest. I thought he would replace the ageing Alonso at Aston Martin. His time would come. He is too good for Williams.

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Williams has shown some signs of life the latter part of this year. Should that continue it might be a consistent mid field team next year and not such a bad place to be.

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Originally Posted by Used to be Starter

Williams has shown some signs of life the latter part of this year. Should that continue it might be a consistent mid field team next year and not such a bad place to be.

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Williams have made it clear that they are going to sacrifice 2025 development to concentrate on 2026 so I doubt they’ll be anywhere.

Considering Schumacher got a race ban for doing something similar, l think Verstappen received a light punishment of 20 seconds. With four races to go and Ferrari on the up, Verstappen still has a chance to hang on to win the 2024 driver's championship. It would be his hardest, and the only real battle he has had to win a championship. Whatever happens, he would have properly earned the respect of everyone.

Zach Brown went to celebrate Sainz's win with Ferrari. It made me wonder what would have been if Sainz was still in the McLaren racing this season. I think he may have been the lead McLaren chasing down Verstappen. I would hazard a guess that he may have been further ahead and closer to Verstappen at this stage than Norris. Then again, that would not be surprising as Sainz is a more experienced driver than Norris. He has gone toe to toe with Verstappen in the Torro Rosso. Hence, it would been quite a spectacle to watch.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Considering Schumacher got a race ban for doing something similar, l think Verstappen received a light punishment of 20 seconds. .

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When did Schumacher get a race ban for "doing something similiar"?
The only instance I remember him getting banned was for overtaking Damon Hill on the formation lap in Silverstone in '94.

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Originally Posted by gm99

When did Schumacher get a race ban for "doing something similiar"?
The only instance I remember him getting banned was for overtaking Damon Hill on the formation lap in Silverstone in '94.

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Schumacher got two race bans in 1994, one for illegal overtakes, and the other for not taking stop-and-go penalty within the designated period and ignoring the consequential black flag. Irvine and Haklkinen also got race bans for causing a collision in the same year.

My point is Verstappen does these things and gets away with much lighter penalties. He could have received a race ban for the collision in Austria. His double infraction which earned him 20 points would have earned him a race ban by the old rules. So l use the word similar in a very general sense.

For that matter, he could have received multiple race bans in 2021, especially in the Brazillian GP where the Redbull end up on top of the Mercedes. If we look at things from the lense of when things were done properly by Charlie Whiting, Ecclestone and Max Mosley.