Max Verstappen again showed a flawless performance driving from pole to victory at the 2022 Mexican GP.
Formula 1 has wrapped up round 20 of the 2022 F1 season. The story of the race was similar to what it has been all season – Max Verstappen’s dominance.
Starting from the pole the race already looked pretty much in the favor of the Dutchman. However, the long straight from the start posed serious threats to the red bull as Russell was right behind him followed by Lewis Hamilton. Nevertheless, even after a rather late reaction, Verstappen managed to keep both the Mercedes at bay.
From there it was smooth sailing for the now two-time world champion. Verstappen also became the first driver to win from the pole in Mexico in the last 5 years.
Further, Verstappen broke the record for most wins in a season – this being his 14th win of the season. The record was earlier held tied together by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher – both having 13 wins.
Lewis Hamilton chased Verstappen the whole race waiting for the mediums on Verstappen’s car to start degrading. However, much to the dismay of Hamilton and Mercedes, that never happened. The Briton came home in a P2 – his 4th this season after starting P3.
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez completed the last step on the podium after starting P4. An early mistake by Russell cost him his 2nd position and even the last step on the podium. He tried to close the gap on Checo but ultimately fell short.
Ricciardo magic in Mexico
The Mexican GP was somewhat not that interesting race for most of the laps. However, coming in the second half of the race was Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo is struggling and having one of his worst seasons. The Aussie also seemed to have another disappointing outing in Mexico until he crashed with Yuki Tsunoda on lap 51. The incident didn’t help Ricciardo as it ended with Tsunoda retiring and Ricciardo getting a 10-second time penalty.
However, from there we saw an amazing recovery drive from the Australian. Daniel Ricciardo drove like the Ricciardo we knew overtaking one after another car.
He was 11th after the collision with Tsunoda on lap 51. From there, he went on to overtake cars as he reached P7 by lap 62 taking advantage of the soft Tyres.
Now, to get the full 6 points, he had to make a lead greater than 10 seconds to Esteban Ocon behind him in P8. And the 8-time race winner did just that.
By the end of the race, Ricciardo had more than 11 seconds of advantage over Ocon negating his 10-second penalty.
Ricciardo finished P7 starting in P11 securing the Driver of the day award. This served as a perfect reminder to the people that Ricciardo still has what it takes to be in Formula 1.
For full race results of the Mexican GP, click here.
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