Lewis Hamilton is on the podium in Mexico after an underwhelming start to the race week. “I’m satisfied for the race” he commented.
Lewis Hamilton had an intense weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in Mexico City. On Friday, he started the Free Practice sessions with set-up problems on his Mercedes and didn’t have the best results. During FP1, he struggled a lot with the balance of the car and ended up in p11. The w14 number 44 finished behind Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri, in 7th position, during the FP2.
During the last Free Practice session, the set-up on the car was improved. Nonetheless, the whole session was still quite disappointing for the Mercedes driver who crossed the finish line in p10. And it didn’t stop there, because the Qualifying sessions weren’t better.
A rollercoaster of emotions
In Q1, Hamilton was able to reach Max Verstappen, placing himself in a provisional p2. However, his time was beaten by Bottas and the British driver finished in 7th place. The Q2 raised the hopes for every Mercedes fan. Both Hamilton and his teammate George Russell started the session with good laps and were 3rd and 4th. Not only that, but the 44 was able to reach, and beat, Max Verstappen’s time and ended in p1. But the two Mercedes weren’t able to repeat it in Q3. While the Ferraris have occupied the front row, Hamilton was 6th and the other Mercedes was 8th.
Lewis Hamilton started under the 3rd position in Mexico for the first time in his career.
Toto Wolff, the Team Principal for Mercedes, said that it was not what they expected. When asked about the race, he commented:
“Our goal will be to finish in a better position than the one we started with”
–Toto Wolff
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1718712509438259468
The comeback
Hamilton had a good start, but he wasn’t able to capitalize it due to the Safety Car after the contact between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. He gained one position and was 5th when he marked his first fastest lap (1:23.3). Then, he chased Daniel Ricciardo for 4th place. He was able to overtake the AlphaTauri on lap 11, after that he went after Carlos Sainz for p3.
The team called the seven time World Champion to pit for hard, the goal was to try an undercut on Ferrari number 55. He came back on the track behind the Spaniard in 5th place. But the Mercedes strategy went as expected, since at lap 26 the Ferrari pitted and ended behind the Mercedes.
After the SC and the red flag caused by Kevin Magnussen during lap 34, the race direction decided for a restart. Lewis Hamilton was third on the grid behind Verstappen and Leclerc. The German team opted for medium tyres for the restart with the intent to gain the position on Leclerc’s Ferrari on hard. After the restart, he chased the Monégasque and won the wheel-to-wheel, getting second place on lap 40. After that, the British started to mark great laps, getting a 22.o time, his fastest so far.
Total commitment from Hamilton with this pass on Leclerc 👌
Watch all the best action from the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix 🇲🇽#F1 #MexicoGP
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2023
However, reaching Max Verstappen was impossible. The Red Bull driver gained an advantage of 14.4 on the Mercedes at lap 69.
Hamilton crossed the finish line in p2 and with the fastest lap of 1:21.334. On the podium with him were Max Verstappen, naturally, and the other disqualified in Austin Charles Leclerc.
This was the 197th podium for Lewis Hamilton who broke his previous record of 196 podiums.
After the race
Lewis Hamilton, during the interviews after the race, thanked the fans and spoke highly of Mexico. He also commented about his weekend, saying that it was quite difficult compared to the last race, and they had to work a lot to have the best setup possible. He added:
“I think we did a good job. The Qualifications were a bit complicated. It looked like we were behind the Ferraris. We had to be ahead to keep the Constructor Championship Title”
“To have this progress in the first phase of the race and then being in the fight for the podium and the second place it’s amazing. I’m satisfied for the race”.
-Lewis Hamilton
