Max Verstappen once again increases his lead at the top of the standings, with his ninth win of the season.
Lewis Hamilton doesn’t give up and ensures he will do all he can to bring the title down to the wire, holding off home hero Sergio Perez for second.
Max Verstappen – 10
He was left quite disappointed with a third-place grid start for Sunday, with both Mercedes cars suddenly coming to life in Q3.Â
However, Verstappen had one thing in mind: winning. His turn one attack on the silver duo was spectacular and proved it all.Â
From then on it was pure domination: with his lead on Hamilton almost touching 20 seconds at times.Â
Lewis Hamilton – 8
It’s definitely not his finest season, losing pole to his teammate Valtteri Bottas and proving nowhere near as quick as Verstappen.Â
However, the Red Bull was probably much faster on Sunday and holding off Perez may prove crucial for the rest of the season.Â
Once again, not his finest drive, but he has more than 100 points on Bottas in the standings, so he is the only hope for Mercedes in almost every race.Â
Sergio Perez – 7.5
Coming into Mexico, he will surely have hoped to bring a challenge for the win.Â
His Saturday form, however, keeps penalising him, forcing him to start fourth and giving up any hope to win after the start.
He kept the pressure on Hamilton all the time, but was unable to pass him, which may prove costly in terms of points for Red Bull. Â
Pierre Gasly – 9.5
When you are never broadcasted, but you are fourth with an Alpha Tauri, it means you are doing a fabulous job to keep all your rivals behind.
Gasly was practically impeccable this weekend, qualifying within a few tenths of the Red Bull duo and establishing as the leader of the midfield pack.
A superb drive, which is not the first time he displays this season.
Charles Leclerc – 7
A heavy points scoring result for Charles Leclerc, even if he appeared less sharp than teammate Carlos Sainz.
He was outqualified by Sainz, but made use of the mayhem at the start to settle in fifth.
At the end, with Sainz proving faster, he was still gifted the place from the Spaniard, who was asked to move aside by the team.
Carlos Sainz – 7.5
Only an inexplicable Ferrari decision meant he finished behind Leclerc.
Qualifying in a strong sixth place, he didn’t have the best of starts, and lost a few places.
His pace proved faster than the Monegasque, but he was asked to move aside in the final laps to return a favour.
Sebastian Vettel – 8
A typical Sebastian Vettel performance from his early 2010s years and something we haven’t seen very often in 2021.
Vettel took eighth place after the start, moved past Antonio Giovinazzi and was leading his group of cars albeit never being under threat.
He was fine and error-free, to snatch a strong points-finish.
Kimi Raikkonen – 7.5
The Iceman was on a strong run of form and he is rewarded with points thanks to a good drive up to eighth place.
His first stint was particularly strong, making sure he could create a safety gap from the drivers behind.
After his stop, he had to manage the advantage on Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, clinching four precious points, as Alfa Romeo’s gap to Williams reduces to 12.
Fernando Alonso – 7
Alonso’s weekend wasn’t too perfect, getting eliminated in Q1 and only starting as high as 12th thanks to grid penalties.
However, this is Alonso: a driver capable of taking opportunities. He was cautious at the start, but eventually moved past George Russell and Nikita Mazepin, and overcut Antonio Giovinazzi.
This put him in ninth place, finishing miles ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon.
Lando Norris – 7
Starting from the back in a circuit where it isn’t too easy to overtake isn’t the best thing.
Norris had to make his way from the back and could only return to being as high as 10th.
Not amazing, but well ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who was starting 11 places higher and yet practically conceded 35 seconds to the Brit.
Antonio Giovinazzi – 5.5
The Italian was sixth after a scintillating start and was surely hoping to finish much higher than 11th at the end.
He was penalised by an early stop, which proved to be an awful strategy, as Giovinazzi’s pace with hard tyres was much slower.
It’s a mutual fault between him and the team, but yet another an incredibly wasted opportunity.
Daniel Ricciardo – 4
The championship is reaching a point in which every point matters. A driver of Ricciardo’s calibre and with his experience should probably be cautious in a starting contest when finding fourth ahead of all his championship rivals.
Instead, after being amazingly quick off the line, he was the latest to brake and tangled with Valtteri Bottas, losing his front wing and dropping at the back of the back.
He had damage, but finished well behind Norris, who, at one point, was next to him.
Esteban Ocon – 5
He had to start from the back due to a grid penalty and this put him in a dangerous position, in which, in fact, he was sandwiched by Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher.
He is likely to have sustained damage and was a desolate 13th at the flag, whilst Alonso was once again finishing in the points.
Lance Stroll – 4.5
He was condemned to start from last, but still took part in qualifying and crashed whilst opening his fast lap, sustaining permanent damage.
In the race, he found himself last after going off the track in turn four and then even endured a slow stop. It definitely wasn’t his weekend.
Valtteri Bottas – 4.5
He was probably the pole candidate with the least odds on, but on Saturday he beat both Red Bulls and Hamilton with a stunning lap to start from first.
However, his start was poor, attempting to cover off Hamilton and leaving a clear path for Max Verstappen to go and brake in the cleanest part of the track.
Being spun around isn’t his fault, but still he was behind Ricciardo, who certainly wasn’t proving to be any fast, for the whole race. Whenever he is stuck at the back in races, he can’t overtake.
George Russell – 5.5
Williams have by now lost the chance to compete for regular points and it’s hard to judge George Russell fairly.
He was 9th on the safety car restart, but was soon moved aside by multiple faster cars and had an anonymous run to the flag.
The only moment in which he was noticed was to tow Bottas on the final lap to allow the Finnish to get the fastest lap of the race.
Nicholas Latifi – 4.5
The Canadian had the chance to start from 13th, but didn’t make good use of it and never featured in the top 10 despite the start mayhem.
He was fighting with Lance Stroll and Mazepin, with the Russian being the only driver he could keep behind at the flag.
Nikita Mazepin – 5. 5
He had a very nice start, in which he climbed as high as 11th and finally endured a run in the midfield pack for some laps.
Eventually, he went back to last place, but at least there are some positives to take away this time.
Yuki Tsunoda – NA
It’s very hard to rate his race, as it only lasted a few hundred metres. It would have been interesting to see if he could make up any places.
He was quite fast on Saturday, although not as much as Gasly was. He still entered Q3 and helped his teammate with the tow in qualifying, doing a nice team work.
Mick Schumacher – 5.5
He was also involved in the first lap mayhem, tangling with Ocon and having to retire after few corners.
There was the opportunity to at least have some entertaining first laps, as he started 14th, but it wasn’t to be. At least he outqualified Mazepin, once again by a big margin.
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