Ferrari experienced a horror weekend with a double retirement of their drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. In return, the second Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg came a little closer to the runner-up title.
from B.Fleckenstein
In 1992, the last time a Formula 1 race was held in Mexico City.The track has been somewhat modernized for Formula 1 and the remodeling of the new pit lane and grandstands were inspected by drivers such as Nico Hülkenberg during a visit in January this year. But what hasn't changed is the thin air at 2,300 meters above sea level. This is the altitude at which the city of Mexico is located. This led to Nico Rosberg's wheels starting to burn in free practice, and they were on fire. The brakes got too hot because the thin air is too weak to cool them sufficiently. In Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari, on the other hand, an engine failure caused worry lines before qualifying. And that's when Räikkönen thanked the crew over the radio shortly before the start because they had managed to get his car ready again in the short time available.
Qualifying itself was a thing for Mercedes. Front row for the 13th time, with Nico Rosberg securing pole. Vettel in third close behind drew attention with the remark "maybe we can unpack the Speedy Gonzales!" and wanted Mercedes to know they could count on him. Behind Vettel, Red Bull drivers Kvyat placed ahead of Ricciardo, Williams with Bottas and Massa, Verstappen as the lone Toro Rosso representative and then the Force India duet Perez was set for the race ahead of Hülkenberg. Second Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen was also dogged by bad luck in qualifying and had to retire in Q2 due to brake problems. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was additionally penalized to last place due to an engine change.
The race marked by Rosberg's will to win and Vettel's slips
The anger over what happened in the last race in Austin gave Nico Rosberg an unconditional will to win. He left no stone unturned at the start and retained the lead. Vettel (Ferrari), on the other hand, did not get off to the best possible start and was overtaken by Kvyat (Red Bull). In the scrum of the next corner there was contact with Ricciardo's (Red Bull) front wing and he had to pit with a flat tire. After the tire change he fell back to last place.
Meanwhile, Rosberg (Mercedes) was striving to increase his lead and not let Hamilton (Mercedes) into the DRS window. Every time Hamilton tried to get close to him, Rosberg again gave more gas in a next sector and kept Hamilton at a distance.
After 10 laps, Raikkonen had fought his way up to ninth place, gaining 10 places. His teammate Sebastian Vettel was also on the move again, was back in 11th intermediate place on lap 18 when he unexpectedly spun in a right-hand corner and lost five places again. It just seemed not to be his day. But Kimi Räikkönen also simply didn't have the necessary racing luck this race weekend. In the battle for sixth place on lap 23, he didn't give Valtteri Bottas any room, trying to pull in on the right-hand bend. Bottas was unable to avoid him and Raikkonen rolled over Bottas' wheels and took off. The retirement for Raikkonen was unnecessary, the maneuver a bit too risky, especially since he was doing so well. But Vettel didn't really want to succeed either. On lap 29, he tried to get past Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), but he had problems with grip, as he had also already completed 28 laps on the tires. His maneuvers didn't get any better after changing tires on lap 36, culminating with a spin out in a left turn. He drove straight into the track barrier on lap 52, which was the end for the second Ferrari. That hadn't happened in a long time, neither Ferrari finishing, despite actually having good pace. So Vettel almost certainly lost the vice world championship title as well, unless Rosberg retired in the next races.
Nico Rosberg triumphed this weekend with his start-finish victory and that helped to improve the mood in the Mercedes team. Behind the Silver Arrows, the Williams and Red Bulls ranked next. It was a not too spectacular race on an attractive restyled circuit in Mexico with a good outcome for Mercedes and an unfortunate Sunday for Ferrari.
Ranking GP of Mexico
1st Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 laps 1:42:35.038 hrs.
2nd Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 1.954 sec.
3rd Valtteri Bottas Williams + 14.592 sec.
4th Daniil Kvyat Red Bull + 16.572 sec.
5th Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull + 19.682 sec.
6th Felipe Massa Williams + 21.493 sec.
7th Nico Hülkenberg Force India + 25.86 sec.
8th Sergio Perez Force India + 34.343 sec.
9th Max Verstappen Toro Rosso + 35.229 sec.
10th Romain Grosjean Lotus + 37.934 sec.
11th Pastor Maldonado Lotus + 38.538 sec.
12th Marcu Ericsson Sauber + 40.18 sec.
13th Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso + 48.772 sec.
14th Jenson Button McLaren Honda + 49.214 sec.
15th Alexander Rossi Manor Marussia + 2 laps
16th Will Stevens Manor Marussia + 2 laps
17th Felipe Nasr Sauber 57 laps driven
18th Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 50 laps driven
19th Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 21 laps driven
20th Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1 lap driven
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