The Italian media react to "frightening Verstappen" in Mexico Grand Prix

Sky Sports (Italian version)

Journalist Leo Turrini has no doubts in awarding yet another 10 to Max Verstappen in his report cards. "What am I telling you for?" is the eloquent comment to the grade given to the two-time world champion. After the 9 to Hamilton, and the 7s to Perez, Russell and the two Alpine's there are the 6s given to the two Ferrari drivers for their not unforgettable race. 'Anonymous in red ' and 'Anonymous in red 2' define them.

Mara Sangiorgio, in her report from Mexico, also celebrates Verstappen. "With different tyre strategies from the start compared to Mercedes, the Dutchman managed the 71 laps of the race brilliantly, never flinching, and once again demolished everyone. Just as he demolished the historic record of Schumacher and Vettel by winning the fourteenth race in the same season. Frightening,' says the journalist.

As for Ferrari, there is concern about Mercedes getting closer in the standings, even if the Silver Arrows got their strategy wrong yesterday, and in fact Sangiorgio says 'The points from Sainz's fifth place and Leclerc's sixth were important to maintain second place in the constructors' standings for now, but Mercedes is playing on the attack against a Ferrari that has been too bad here to be true'.

The Gazzetta dello Sport

The Gazzetta also takes ample space to celebrate Verstappen and headlines 'Verstappen a record: 14 wins in a year, nobody like him'. In particular, Giusto Ferronato was impressed by the Dutch driver's handling of the race and writes: "Impressive was Verstappen's winning stint, who on medium tyres allowed himself the luxury of running the race interval between lap 25 and lap 71 without a drop in performance".

Lewis Hamilton liked it, but "this Mercedes is not at Red Bull's level in terms of race pace and tyre management". According to Gazzetta, Mercedes did the best, while Ferrari was certainly expected to do more. "Weekend to forget for Ferrari, which finished with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in fifth and sixth place behind George Russell. Reds never competitive on this track, there will be a lot of homework to do," is the verdict with which a mediocre performance by the Maranello team is archived.

Corriere dello Sport

For the Corriere dello Sport it is "Verstappen's law" . Even the pages of the newspaper talk about the unchallenged domination of the Dutch driver, even writing that "Not even crumbs fall from the table set for Max Verstappen anymore". The newspaper devotes ample space to the 'dream' of Lewis Hamilton, who "after eleven months of walking in the desert with a bad car, skipping, constant stability problems and a set-up that had to be reinvented at every race" finally seemed to be able to grab the first victory of his season.

On the other hand, Ferrari were 'uncertain' according to Corriere Dello Sport. The Reds were struggling with a certain instability, but they must redeem themselves in the coming races and return to winning ways to "close in second place in the rankings and file the 2022 season as a step forward compared to the previous one, not to cover an entire half of the World Championship without success, for morale". The newspaper also features a little praise for Valtteri Bottas for his interesting weekend.

Autosprint

For the trade magazine, Verstappen is "dominant", while Ferrari are "opaque". Again, nothing more is asked of Hamilton who is "very good at not conceding any overtaking opportunities to Perez". Ricciardo is also 'very good' and is praised for saving his seventh place despite the penalty. Autosprint places particular emphasis on Ferrari's difficulties, even saying that "it went far worse than when they returned to the track at Spa-Francorchamps after the summer break".

Several causes of the Ferrari debacle are identified: "It pays heavily with the power unit, a downward compromise on turbo management, necessary for reliability reasons, has conditioned the performance on the straight. A deficit to which to add the traction difficulties. The challenges of the Mexican high altitude have not been tamed to a level sufficient to race with Red Bull and Mercedes." For the magazine, "the signal is not the most encouraging if, after the reliability change in Austin, the performance was forced down again so as not to suffer in Mexico with the tightness of the power unit."

La Republica

For La Repubblica Verstappen gets 10 "because more is not possible. He deserves 14, like the number of wins in the season, a milestone that allows him to surpass Ferrari's Schumacher in 2004 and Vettel, then a Red Bull driver, in 2013, phenomena that had stopped at 13". If Verstappen is "majestic, unbeatable, perfect", Leclerc and Sainz were rather anonymous.

A 6 is given to the Spaniard, and 5 to the Monegasque "because he loses the head-to-head confrontation at the start". 5 also for the Scuderia Ferrari, for whom one speaks of "unbearable mediocrity" and is advised to watch their backs so as not to be overtaken by Mercedes. Mercedes, on the other hand, deserves a solid eight and is praised for their determination to chase Ferrari in the championship.

Of the two British drivers, Hamilton liked it a lot: "He looked lost at the start of the season and instead showed that a seven-time world champion has unparalleled pride. He started behind Russell, and fooled him in the first straight. The pedestal, at least in the backyard, remains his".