F1, 2019 Mexico GP: the report cards of Mexico City – Formula 1

Like the world of robotics born from the imagination of Asimov, F1 also has its own laws: the first of these says that what matters is Sunday (at least until we manage to stem certain of Liberty Media's crazy ideas …). And so once again we went from a first row all red to silver on the top step of the podium, where the silver in question is that of the suit of Lewis Hamilton, more alive than ever in an extraordinary year for the number and quality of young novices. So vote 10 to English, able to remedy even a first lap that is a bit too busy for him and to emerge on the distance, with a mix of speed but also tactics and tire management skills. A victory that would surely have been liked by the late Lauda, ​​with the perfect assistance of a team that does nothing wrong, even when their car is not the fastest in the lottery.

He loved it behind him Vettel, that perhaps without Bottas crashing he could have taken pole position and that he definitely wanted a good result in Mexico: ask Hamilton at the start for confirmation. The German led the team towards the right strategy (even if with imperfect times, as we will see), he managed the tires and was a hammer. Then a wrong choice in the tire change and two dubbed tires that make him lose a life deprived him of a victory that could easily have been within his reach. Rating 9 and now let's stop giving him boiled.

Bravo too Bottas, behind him: in some ways his race resembles that of Hamilton, but once again the lower overall incisiveness (especially in overtaking in the early laps, to recover after the bad start) makes the difference between the two. Rating 8: a solid shoulder.

It disappoints a (nice) bit instead Leclerc, and can not only be the fault of the wrong strategy: it is surprising in negative the difficulty to exploit the second set of yellow tires and commits some trimming here and there. Probably even without the pit stop problem his result would not have changed much. This time there was a bit of incisiveness. Rating 7, perhaps far too motivated.

In 5th place Albon, which would be a great result if it weren't for the fact that we now expect a podium from the Thai – which seemed to be within his reach due to the start of the race – and that Red Bull seemed particularly competitive on this track. On the distance, however, something is still missing from the car and also from him. In any case, well, rating 7.5.

And then there is Verstappen, with a virtual donkey hat on his head, like some drains who know very well that they are smarter than others and therefore believe they don't have to study, with the result then being wrong. For race pace he could aspire to victory, but the mistake in qualifying is very serious, all the more because of the arrogance with which he admitted to having deliberately kept his foot down even having seen Bottas's car in the barriers. Not to mention the overtaking on Magnussen completely off the track that we do not find has been sanctioned (and even this, if we have not missed something, is a nice mystery …). On closer inspection, even the punctured tire is the result of a maneuver that is a bit too risky (although spectacular). Once again too much enthusiasm. But hadn't he matured? Rating 4. Urchin.

Great Perez invece, which gave the home crowd a race at very high rates (for the Racing Point) and without ever the slightest mistake: in his house it is "first of the others", resisting a mica type as easy to handle as Ricciardo. Rating 9, exciting.

So you have to settle for 8th place Ricciardo, but his race is absolutely positive considering the means at his disposal: good at lengthening the first stint a lot, in the end it's a fury but against Perez and his Mercedes engine there's no way, despite a somewhat desperate attempt at the end of the main straight. Head and foot are always the same, unfortunately the car is what it is: grade 8, save it!

We have seen relatively little, but points again Gasly, with a very concrete race and without errors: the trouble is that by dint of saying that in Toro Rosso is fine, they will end up leaving us. Rating 7, concrete.

Closes in points, with the rear wing broken, Hulkenberg, and already just to be broken down and to have cut the finish line would deserve an extra vote, even if on closer inspection they were only 300 meters. But it is also true that Ricciardo made a better race (thanks also to the strategy). Rating 7 of encouragement.

Out of the points, vote 5 to Kvyat that until the last corner of the last lap he had a very nice race and was ahead of his teammate: then an inexplicable ass, because the one touched to Hulkenberg was not even an attempt to overtake. The impression is that the German caught him by surprise, slowing down more than normal, but throwing away the points for a collision, at that point and at that moment of the race, does not have many justifications. Distracted.

IS vote 5 to Stroll, which continues to run in circles with dad's money while Perez continues to point out an embarrassing difference after so many grand prizes and millions of euros spent to get the Canadian there. Let me be clear, compared to the debut season Stroll has improved a lot, but it simply has less than many others. Point.

A separate discussion deserves the Ferrari, which once again proves unable to exploit its speed potential. According to Binotto in Mercedes "have won a bet", we think they worked better. Point. What then was great uncertainty about the choice of strategy, with the track that has changed a lot compared to Friday, is a fact. But the feeling is that in Ferrari we have just the wrong approach, always chasing after what others did (first Albon, then Bottas) rather than anticipating the moves. But with two single-seaters in the lead, the most logical thing is just to dictate the strategy and leave to others the task of inventing something: the feeling is that in Ferrari they are still racing, as if they did not yet have the full awareness of their strength. And above all, they have not learned anything from Russia: because the super engine of Maranello is fine to defend itself from the attacks of others, but it was already seen that alone it is not enough to pass the Mercedes on the track, then set the strategy of both pilots knowing they must then overtake Hamilton and Bottas was a naïve ingenuity. So vote 6, because in any case it is not possible to give insufficient to a team capable of occupying the entire front row. But we need a snap of mentality, like the one that happened on a technical level.

Finally, vote 4 all 'Alfa Romeo: inexplicably slow in Mexico despite the Ferrari engine, capable of crippling Giovinazzi once again with a fantozziano pit stop. We criticized not just Giovinazzi at the beginning of the season, when his performance was not up to par, but it is a fact that today the Italian is driving at Raikkonen's level if not better: if only he had the car at the beginning of the year among the hands …

Finally, vote 5 a Fia because it is not tolerable that it is considered illegal what is permissible for the technical commissioners, or vice versa if you prefer: the reference is of course the Renault case, and even if we understand that the matter is very complex (both technical and legal) such episodes are not good for F1. A little coherence would not hurt.

2019 Mexico GP, report cards

Hamilton 10

Vettel 9

Perez 9

Bottas 8

Ricciardo 8

Albon 7.5

Leclerc 7

Hulkenberg 7

Ferrari 6

Kvyat 5

Stroll 5

FIA 5

Verstappen 4

Alfa Romeo 4