Losers

Fernando Alonso

⛎It was another frustrating day for Fernando Alonso in Mexico after his latest retirement cost him seventh-place.

Alonso was running comfortably in🀅 the points on Sunday until he encountered another engine-related issue.

It was clear that he was struggling when teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Esteban Ocon powered past him a few laps before his eventual retiremenไt.

"Unbelievable. What a season, what a season," Alon🥀so said over team radio when retiring from the race on La🌱p 65.

Remarkably, it was Alonso’s fifth retirement of the year, six if you include an issue which 𝓡meant he couldn’t start the sprint in ꦦAustria.

Let’s not forget the mechanical issue th💮at cost him a top five position on the grid in Australia.

A cruel run of bad l🌺uck which according to Alonso has cost him around “60 points” this season.

Ferrari

Ferrari endured their worst weekend of the season in terms of outright performance as 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz finished over 40 seconds off the lead in fifth.

Ferrari have often perf🔥ormed best at high downforce cꦍircuits so it was surprising to see them struggle so much for pace.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc hinted&nb🦄sp;after the race that they went in the wrong direction setup wise, while there were murmurings that Ferrari were forced to turn their engine down due it struggling with the high altitude.

A poor weekend🌠 overall and one which would have left the w꧅hole team confused.

Alfa Romeo

After starring in qualifying, it was a missed opportunity for 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigu🐲ez.

A sluggish start dropped him behind Alonso, who he was unable to pass in the first🐼 ꦿstint despite being clearly quicker. 

Bottas🎃 was one of a handful of midfield drivers to switch to the hard tyre, and he struggled more than most to get them up to temperature.

He was overtaken by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon and Lando Norris, nearly losing out to Pierre Gasly on th﷽e final lap.

Bottas ended his own points drought, but it should have been a lot more for him and Alfa ෴Romeo.

Given that they had the fourth fastest car in Mexico, to come awa꧙y one point is incredibly disappointing.

Pierre Gasly 

Pierre Gas𝔉ly must be counting down thꦬe days before his Alpine switch.

It was another difficult afternoon for the Frenchman, 🧸who narrowly missed 🅘out on a points finish by just 0.6s.

Had it not been for his five-second time penalty, he probably would have beaten Bo🎀ttas to finish inside the top 10.

While the result wasn’t too bad on paper, the repercussions ofꦺ his latest penalty are more severe.

Gasly ಌis now just two penalty points away from a race ban, with none of his existing super licence points expiring until May 2023.

Winners 

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen continues to break records in F1 as he claimed his 14th victory of the year𝕴.

He was kept honest by Lewis Hamilton in the opening stint of the race but once Mercedes opted to 🐻switch to the hard tyre during the pit stop phase, the race was done and dusted.

Verstappen also broke the rec🌳ord for 𒅌the most points scored in a single season - 416 to Hamilton’s 413 in 2019.

Another incredible weekend for Verstappen - uns♚toppable. 

Mercedes 

🌃It was a strong day for Mercedes as Hamilton finished second, while George Russell picked up fourth-place with the fastest lap.

The main positive for Mercedes is that they wer🏅ꦛe clearly the second-fastest car in Mexico and had the pace to challenge Red Bull had they been on the correct strategy.

Mercedes simply got it wrong with strategy.

Tot🎀o Wolff told Sky Sports F1 ahead of the race that Mercedes plan to be “aggressive” with strategy.

Using ♛the two most durable compounds wasn’t particularly aggressive from Mercedes.

In performance t♋erms (and points scored), Mercedes are clear winners, however, they didn’t put up much of a fight when they should have based on the first stint of the race.

Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren

Welcome back Daniel Ricciardo!

It wasn’t a perfect race by any means for the Australian, colliding with Yuki Tsunoda and picking up a 10-second time penalty i🍷n the process.

However, Ricciardo💎 put in his best drive of the season as he made the most of the soft tyres in the second half of the race.

Granted, the Alpines, Botta🎃s and teammate Norris struggled on the hard tyre, but Ricciardo made it work.

Let’s not forget that just over one week ago, Ricciardo was battling Ni🎐cholas Latifi at COTA.

Strategy did play its part, but 💫that’s the nature of F1.