Crushing others is not enough for him. Not content with being the fastest driver on the F1 field, Max Verstappen is therefore capable of fighting himself. The Dutchman, already Formula 1 world champion for the third time in three weeks, won the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday October 29, and thus broke his record for the number of victories in a season. The Red Bull driver, who beat the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and the Monegasque Charles Ferrari (Ferrari), thus achieved his sixteenth success in nineteen races in 2023 and exceeded his previous mark established last season.
Verstappen also signed the 51st success of his career, joining Frenchman Alain Prost in fourth place among the most victorious drivers in F1 history. He also got closer to third, the German Sebastian Vettel (53 victories). However, he is still far from the 103 victories of Hamilton, still active, and the 91 of the German Michael Schumacher.
“We are having an incredible season. We only started third but today the pace in the race was very, very good. The next goal will be a seventeenth victory this year,” said the 26-year-old driver.
Sunday, starting in third position behind the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, he took control from the first corner of the race and then managed the events to perfection, including a second start on the grid after a flag. red following a violent exit from the track by Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas), whose car saw its left rear suspension break.
“After everything I had done before, I had to start from scratch,” said Verstappen, not particularly perturbed by this kind of incident. At the same time, he won his third Mexican Grand Prix in a row, his fifth overall in the country.
Hamilton chasing Perez for second place
Hamilton, who had not scored a single point in the last two races after going off the track in Qatar and being disqualified in the United States last weekend, did the right thing of the day by finishing second. “It’s a great result because I started in sixth position. The last two Grands Prix were difficult, so I want to say a big congratulations to the team for being able to bounce back,” underlined the Briton.
The seven-time world champion thus took 18 points from the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), who is still ahead of him by 20 points in the match for second place in the championship. The local hero’s race lasted only a few seconds on Sunday, as he collided with Leclerc at the first corner and was forced to retire, much to the dismay of his tens of thousands of fans.
“I took a risk, it didn’t work out unfortunately. I am very sad that my Grand Prix ended like this. It was the worst thing that could have happened to me. I was in front of Charles [Leclerc], I didn’t expect him to brake so late because he had little room to maneuver,” Pérez told Canal . “It’s his home Grand Prix. If it had worked, it would have been great,” commented Max Verstappen, his teammate.
Leclerc, who started from pole position for the fourth time this season, was unable to resist the elusive Verstappen at the first corner, and, despite the collision with Pérez which damaged his front wing, managed to grab a new podium. “I had nowhere to go, I was stuck between the two Red Bulls and unfortunately I hit “Checo” [Perez] and my car was damaged. I’m sorry his race ended like that,” explained the Monegasque to whistles from the public.
Ocon s’en sort bien
Carlos Sainz finished fourth with the second Ferrari, ahead of the whirlwind Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), author of a superb comeback from 17th to 5th place. His compatriot George Russell (Mercedes) finished in sixth place, ahead of two Australians, the brave Daniel Ricciardo, who had a great race at the wheel of his AlphaTauri, and Oscar Piastri (McLaren).
Aston Martin, in difficulties for several weeks, once again experienced a nightmare Sunday with the retirement of the Spaniard Fernando Alonso and the Canadian Lance Stroll, hit by the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa-Romeo) at the end of the race, on the day of his 25th birthday.
The Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), last time after a failed start, finally collected a good tenth place, just ahead of his teammate and compatriot Pierre Gasly, who, however, did not pocket any points in the drivers’ world championship.
