Follow us on Google Discover Max Verstappen kept his championship hopes intact with an important podium finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Red Bull have taken a step forward in recent races, allowing Max Verstappen to add three victories to his impressive CV in the last five Grand Prix.
However, Verstappen never looked like adding to his five previous wins at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.
Lando Norris was in imperious form, dominating qualifying before winning the race by more than 30 seconds.
Norris has now taken the lead in the drivers’ championship, one point ahead of Oscar Piastri, with Verstappen 35 points further back.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 357 2 356 3 321 4 258 5 210
Verstappen couldn’t find a way past Charles Leclerc in the closing stages of the race, denied by a late virtual safety car from taking advantage of his softer tyres.
There were question marks about whether the Dutchman should have been penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, although Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to earn a penalty.
Jacques Villeneuve was taking a closer look at Verstappen’s race weekend and noticed his build-up to Sunday’s Grand Prix played out differently from previous recent events.
Ultimately, that might have cost him the chance to further close the gap to Norris and Piastri.
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Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty ImagesJacques Villeneuve thinks Red Bull’s lack of progress in Mexico will be ‘frustrating’ for Max Verstappen
Villeneuve was debating with Jamie Chadwick on Sky Sports F1 (26/10 6:36 pm) about Verstappen’s chance after the Dutchman could only qualify fifth.
His bold decision to go to the outside of a four-way battle going into turn one eventually earned him a position before he got the better of Hamilton.
Chadwick explained: “Yeah, after FP1, he’s been struggling with that car.
“The long run pace on the medium tyre as well as qualifying. I was expecting him to maybe find a little bit more because, you know, with Max, he’ll always extract the most out of that car, but that probably shows that the Red Bull is going to be a bit of a handful for today.
“However, we do think that maybe they prioritised the race car over a qualifying car.”
RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Lando NorrisMcLaren252Charles LeclercFerrari183Max VerstappenRed Bull154Oliver BearmanHaas125Oscar PiastriMcLaren106Kimi AntonelliMercedes87George RussellMercedes68Lewis HamiltonFerrari49Esteban OconHaas210Gabriel BortoletoSauber12025 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix result
Villeneuve replied: “He always gets the car better, and he didn’t this time. It’s the first time we’ve seen him get out of the car and not be happy, not knowing what to do with the car.
“And for him, that will feel a bit frustrating, but all he cares about right now is maximising the points against Piastri.
“Even if Lando gets in the lead now, he will still have closed the gap up to the lead.”
Chadwick: “I completely agree, I think he’s all charge ahead and just needs to be winning and getting the big points.”
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Max Verstappen hails Red Bull’s ‘perfect strategy’ at the Mexican Grand Prix
Although victory was always out of reach for Verstappen in Mexico, adding another podium to his tally hasn’t done his championship hopes any harm.
Speaking in his official post-race media session, Verstappen explained: “I didn’t expect to be on the podium today. It was quite eventful at the beginning, and I had a good start. However, I went into the kerb, started bottoming out, avoided the wall by going on the grass and got back on to the track.
“It was quite hectic and the grip wasn’t there on the medium tyre, we quickly realised it wasn’t a great tyre and tried to extend on it as much as we could. As soon as I was on the soft tyre, it felt better and we were more competitive.
“We did the perfect strategy, really optimised the final stint, and I was enjoying it. At the end with the virtual safety car, it was unfortunate timing, but sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t, and that is just racing, but it would have been an exciting finish.”
Verstappen doesn’t believe winning the title would be his biggest achievement in Formula 1, but it would further cement his place among the sport’s greatest drivers.
Oliver Bearman believes Verstappen is F1’s best driver, and earning another title this season would give fans one more reason to believe he’s the greatest of all time.