Alonso’s Alpine frustrations hit a new high in Mexico

Losers

Fernando Alonso

It was another frustrating 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 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 couldn’t start the sprint in Austria.

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

A cruel run of bad luck which 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 Carlos Sainz finished over 40 seconds off the lead in fifth.

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

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 struggling with the high altitude.

A poor weekend overall and one which would have left the whole team confused.

Alfa Romeo

After starring in qualifying, it was a missed opportunity for Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

A sluggish start dropped him behind Alonso, who he was 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 Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon and Lando Norris, nearly losing out to Pierre Gasly on the final lap.

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

Given that 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 switch.

It 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 beaten Bottas to finish inside the top 10.

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

Gasly 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 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 once Mercedes opted to switch to the hard tyre during the pit stop phase, the race was done and dusted.

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

Another incredible weekend for Verstappen - unstoppable. 

Mercedes 

It was a strong day for Mercedes as Hamilton 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 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 the race that Mercedes plan to be “aggressive” with strategy.

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

In performance terms (and points scored), 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 penalty in the process.

However, Ricciardo 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 Norris struggled on the hard tyre, but Ricciardo made it work.

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

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