Max Verstappen celebrates his victory in Mexico. /
Mexican GP
One of the most bland races of the season left the Dutchman as the driver with the most victories in a year and Alonso with a huge disappointment, abandoning six laps from the finish line
Those who wanted to see a show at the Mexican Grand Prix, undoubtedly one of the liveliest of the season, were seriously disappointed after it was possibly one of the most boring races of the course. Max Verstappen barely struggled to claim his 14th victory of the year, making him the driver who has finished on top of the podium the most times in a single campaign. Behind, two legends like Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher who managed to win thirteen races in their best years of competition.
The Dutchman prevailed in a test in which he did not even need to press, but rather to manage. Pirelli was in charge of turning this Grand Prix of Mexico into a torpor that only for a few moments allowed the fans not to fall asleep. Not even the bustling Foro Sol was what it was on other occasions, because Sergio Pérez, who finished third behind two champions like his partner and Lewis Hamilton, had his day: Red Bull failed in a pit stop and prevented him from fighting for something else .
It was a test loaded with fictitious tension, to the point that a fight for the thirteenth or fourteenth attracted more eyes than those above. There, at least, it was seen how a touch between Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda left the Japanese KO. Meanwhile, ahead, not even the Ferraris were in the fight, since Carlos Sainz was soon in a comfortable fifth position in which he finished. Little or nothing to tell there, since at least this time the umpteenth failure in the pits of those in red was not too serious.
While for him it was a bad result to finish fifth, Fernando Alonso would have signed it well. And it is that the Spaniard became, again, a suitable victim for the insulting lack of reliability of Alpine.
“What a season!”
The summary of Alonso’s participation in the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome was “again”. Once again, Alpine’s lack of reliability affected the Spaniard in a race in which, without making one of his best performances, a reasonably serious race was taking shape. Without getting into trouble, temporizing with the strategy (he tried to go to a stop, since he was clear that it was a more than feasible bet), with six laps to go his car broke down.
Once again, the Alpine A522 was primed with car 14, something that Alonso had already complained about a long time ago in the umpteenth blunder of the blue cars. He was resisting in a decent seventh place that would allow him to tighten the classification even more and his fight with Esteban Ocon, when the car began to fail. It couldn’t be, he told himself, as Ricciardo was passed to him first and then the rest. When he was facing the stadium area, Alonso let go of the car and stopped it. He fisted in the air, desperate to throw himself on the tires… What he feared happened again.
It has not been a good weekend for Alpine, far from it, and these problems could be seen coming. Since Saturday they detected that the car was getting too hot and they had to put some extra holes, it was not good news. Alonso and Ocon did not qualify as high as they could, and it showed in the race. Without speed, without the possibility of overtaking, they only had to endure 71 laps… and not even that. Alonso’s radio moments before closing his participation was an obvious “what a season!” that sums up the desperation of the Spanish. He couldn’t even finish the race, which is the worst thing that could happen to him, and which becomes his 74th retirement in Formula 1.
The best news for the Asturian, and for the rest, is that in fifteen days the wounds will heal. The Brazilian Grand Prix arrives, which will soon be more fun than what was seen in Mexico, and which will also have a double opportunity to score, since there is a sprint format.