Team ratings | Red Bull impresses, Ferrari falls well short
- GPblog.com
The Mexican Grand Prix was all about tyre strategy. Red Bull Racing and Ferrari made the right choice, while Mercedes had to admit afterwards that they had chosen the wrong strategy. What grade do the teams get on their reports for their performance at the Mexican Grand Prix?
Red Bull Racing: 9
Red Bull had another top weekend in Mexico City. Max Verstappen took pole position at the circuit for the first time and took home victory in dominant fashion on Sunday. The team took a risk with the tyre strategy, but the softs and mediums proved to be the right choice. However, Red Bull did not get a perfect score because of Sergio Perez's slow pit stop, which may have caused the team to miss out on a one-two.
McLaren: 8
McLaren did what they needed to do in Mexico: score more points than Alpine for the battle for P4 in the constructors' championship. The team did get lucky with Fernando Alonso's late retirement, but Daniel Ricciardo managed to impress in the closing stages of the race with several overtaking runs. Despite the crash with Yuki Tsunoda and the 10-second penalty the Australian received for the incident, he still managed to finish seventh. Lando Norris also scored points for the British team.
Mercedes: 7
Mercedes again showed in Mexico that the team have managed to close the gap towards Red Bull and Ferrari, but this was especially evident in qualifying. The team chose the wrong strategy in the race, which meant Lewis Hamilton could not match Max Verstappen's pace on the hard tyres, as he did in Austin. Whether the team would have won if it had chosen the same strategy as Red Bull, we will never know.
Alpine: 7
Alpine could have produced a strong result, but Fernando Alonso was hit by reliability problems for the umpteenth time. Esteban Ocon managed to save the team somewhat with eighth position, but in the final two races of the season Alpine cannot afford any more dropouts if they wants to secure P4 in the championship.
Alfa Romeo: 7
Alfa Romeo's car proved strong on the circuit in Mexico City. Valtteri Bottas drove an excellent qualifying session, and although the Finn lost many places at the start, he crossed the finish line in tenth place. Guanyu Zhou, unfortunately, did not manage to get the same pace out of the car as his teammate. Bottas' point, however, could become important in the battle with Aston Martin.
Ferrari: 6.5
Ferrari will want to forget the weekend quickly. The team were far from fighting for pole position in qualifying, and even in the race, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc did not come close to Red Bull and Mercedes. The two drivers drove in no man's land and had to settle for P5 and P6. Although Ferrari did choose the right strategy, they simply did not have the pace to keep up with the competition. However, the Italians expect this to be a one-off poor performance due to the specific conditions at the high-altitude circuit.
AlphaTauri: 6
AlphaTauri would have won points in Mexico had Yuki Tsunoda not been eliminated by Ricciardo. At the second-to-last spot in the championship, the team could have used those points, but AlphaTauri's pace is still not what it should be.
Haas: 5
Haas have been dry for a while and the team has also failed to pick up more points in Mexico. Team boss Guenther Steiner thinks Mick Schumacher needs to score points again to secure himself a seat, but without the equipment, that will be rather difficult.
Aston Martin: 5
Like Haas, Aston Martin did not have the material to score points this weekend. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll could only make up a few spots in the rear.
Williams: 5
Alexander Albon did not score any points in Mexico, but the Thai drove a solid race and crossed the finish line in 12th place. Nor could the driver have done much more in the Williams. Nicholas Latifi will want to forget the weekend quickly.