Verstappen, 24, added his twenty-first victory in F1, winning ahead of Leclerc -of the same age, winner seven days ago in Sakhir and author of the fastest lap this Sunday- and the other Ferrari, that of the Spanish Carlos Sainz, who, by finishing third, added his second podium so far this season, the eighth since he races in F1 and the sixth since he does it for the ‘Scuderia’. The Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), who started from pole, was left without a prize, harmed by the safety car that came out after the accident of the Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams); and finished fourth in a race in which the other Spaniard, the double Asturian world champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine) abandoned, due to an engine problem, with 14 laps to go.
Sainz, 27, second in the World Championship, with 33 points -twelve less than Leclerc- confirmed that he is driving a winning car and also celebrated his third consecutive podium, since he had also been third in the last race last year, in Abu Dabi, the one who closed his second season in red. In a race in which ‘Checo’, who had also abandoned in (the last lap of) Bahrain, was the victim of bad luck; that transformed what would have been his third victory in F1 into a fourth place that he knew little about.
The weekend was full of emotions, starting on Friday, when there was an attack -claimed by Houthis from Yemen-, 15 kilometers from the circuit, at the facilities of an oil company that sponsors the Grand Prix. An attack that provoked a meeting of almost four hours of the pilots -first together with those responsible for the teams, in the end alone-, to decide if, for security reasons, they would stand up, or if instead they would continue driving, as was finally the case. .
Then, Saturday was marked by Mick Schumacher’s accident, which literally split his Haas in two and which, fortunately, did not have worse physical consequences; although, as a precaution, the son of the ‘Kaiser’ did not start the race. The mishap of the German relegated to the background what would have been the news of the day: the elimination, in the first round of qualifying (Q1), of the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). Something that the Englishman – who two years ago matched the seven titles of Michael, Mick’s father – had not happened to him since 2017, in Brazil.
And Sunday began with a scare, from the Hispanic point of view, because an hour before the race, Ferrari informed the media, including Efe, that there were wiring problems in Sainz’s car, which were finally resolved. Worse luck befell the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, who left the engine of his Alpha Tauri ‘thrown away’ on the installation lap. So the race was faced from the start by only 18 pilots, instead of the usual twenty.
‘Checo’, who on Saturday had achieved the first ‘pole’ for Mexico in the entire history of F1, started first, ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos, third in qualifying; with Verstappen -the poleman’s partner- starting from fourth position on the grid and the other Spaniard, the double Asturian world champion Fernando Alonso, from seventh. All of them with the medium compound tire. Hamilton, from behind, did it with the hard one.
Pérez started well and ‘Mad Max’ overtook Sainz at the start, in which the rest of the leaders maintained their position, with Fernando in seventh place; before discussing sixth with Ocon -fifth on the grid- shortly after, whom he overtook on lap seven, not without the Frenchman selling the overtaking dearly, which benefited Englishman George Russell (Mercedes), who was fifth – the square where it ended. And Bottas, who was riding behind the two Alpines, who, due to the Frenchman’s stubbornness, were about to touch a couple of times and lost a golden time. Also taken advantage of by Magnussen (Haas) -another of the few who started hard-, who joined the ‘little train’, while Hamilton’s new partner distanced himself from the Asturian star.
The Dane couldn’t keep up the pace, but Ocon -who finally recovered and finished sixth- ended up paying for it, being overtaken by Bottas; when, on the fourteenth of the 50 laps, when Hamilton was already running tenth, in the points zone: the position in which he finished.
Ferrari provoked -by simulating a possible stop with the Monegasque- the entry into the box, in the 16th, of ‘Checo’, who put hard and was totally damaged by the accident, immediately after, of the Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams), which motivated the entry into the track of the safety car and the subsequent stop in the garages of the rest of the cars -all with the stiffest compound-.
When reorganizing, Leclerc commanded in front of the Red Bull of Verstappen and the Mexican, with Sainz fourth, Russell fifth; and Alonso – who had been passed by Hamilton and Magnussen, who did not stop, with hard from the beginning – eighth.
The ‘safety’ left on lap 20 and Leclerc masterfully maintained his position on Verstappen, but Carlos overtook Sergio, due to the Mexican’s infraction at the ‘pit stop’ for third place; with Russell fifth; and Magnussen and Hamilton, who still had to stop – ahead of the double Spanish world champion, who was running eighth; when crossing the equator of the test.
In the absence of 15, Leclerc controlled well, although the first three rolled in a margin of four seconds -and the four headed, in seven-. But the career of ‘Checo’, crushed by Latifi’s accident, was beyond repair. And even less so when the Mexican went too far in one of the corners, giving Carlos some air, who kept third place until the end.
In a race played on a circuit with long straights and 27 curves – most of them fast – that was always a Red Bull or Ferrari thing. With the fastest cars of the Austrian team on the straights, and the fastest red cars in the curves.
Behind, Alonso, who was riding at a very good pace, made his Alpine shine as much as possible, passing Magnussen, one lap before the car from Oviedo ran out of power, forcing his retirement. The Australian Daniel Ricciardo suffered the same problem, which ended with his McLaren stopped just at the entrance to the ‘pit lane’, forcing yellow flags; shortly before Bottas also retired.
A virtual safety car was decreed, but the entrance to the ‘pit lane’ was also closed, since the damaged cars of Ricciardo and Alonso blocked the entrance to it. Hamilton didn’t get past tenth place because he couldn’t stop to put up his resources until the ‘virtual safety’ was withdrawn, with ten to go; when ‘Mad Max’ launched himself, knife in mouth, at Leclerc. Repeating the scenes of Bahrain, with the Monegasque returning overtakes to the Dutch; a few moments of authentic madness.
With three remaining, Verstappen took command, with Checo setting the fastest lap and closing in on Carlos’ podium. A podium that the Mexican could no longer take away from the Spaniard, who minimized damage compared to his teammate and is still second in the World Championship, waiting to continue the process of adapting to the new car.
