It was 14 seconds, one corner and incalculable inches – the discrepancies that told the story of a one-horse season.
For Max Verstappen, starting third, it was a clinical case of threading his Red Bull through the eye of two Ferraris for the lead in the Mexican Grand Prix – en route to the 51st win of his career to go level with a French magician called Alain Prost.
For the world champion’s team-mate Sergio Perez, the first corner was his last. The home hero, cheered to the echo by a crowd of 140,000, zoomed up to the front of the pack chasing 200mph on the long, 900-yard drag into the opening bend from fifth on the grid – so far, so promising – only to turn in too early and catch the red-for-danger car of Charles Leclerc.
Perez’s Red Bull left the asphalt, all four wheels airborne at an angle of 45 degrees. Jolted driver and his wounded machinery limped back to the pits but no cure for his ailments could be found. He was out, thumping his steering wheel in frustration, aware he was letting down the faithful.
As for his career prospects, this was a severe and public humiliation on a day that meant so much to his team’s estimations of his capabilities, which have been blown to shreds by the megaton with whom he shares his garage.
Max Verstappen made Formula One history by winning his 16th race of the season
Verstappen eased to victory as he continued to assert his dominance of the sport
The three-time world champion stole the lead at the start and was never really troubled
The stats continue to salute that nuclear force, Verstappen, who beat Lewis Hamilton into second place. It took Prost 199 starts to reach 51 wins; it has taken Verstappen 182. The last of Prost’s victories came at Hockenheim in 1993, when he was aged 38; Verstappen turned 26 last month.
And since the Dutch master won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 12, 2021, he has accrued 32 victories – the same number Fernando Alonso has amassed in his entire career. This was a record 16th win of the season.
Perez’s plight, on the other hand, is not aided by the form of the man best-positioned to take his place, Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified a brilliant fourth here in an AlphaTauri that was probably no better than top-10 material.
Nor was Perez’s plan the most judicious. ‘I wanted more than a podium; I wanted the win,’ he said by way of explaining his gung-ho start. A podium would have done nicely, amigo. Just clear the first corner, and then assess.
Lewis Hamilton was delighted after his team’s gameplan paid off with a second-placed finish
Charles Leclerc (right) started on pole but once again failed to turn it into a race win
More drama came later, when Kevin Magnussen banged his Haas into the wall at Turn 8, lap 33. The Dane, who suffered suspected suspension failure, climbed out briskly, his engine catching fire moments later.
The safety car phase, which preceded a red-flag that allowed the fencing to be mended, allowed Verstappen in for a free stop. But the pause in racing of 22 minutes, actually, permitted everyone to be reshod. ‘A joke,’ exclaimed Verstappen. ‘A red flag, for what?’
At the resumption, Verstappen was leading, with Lelcerc second and Hamilton third. The man at the front took off, clean as a whistle.
The pulsating Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a crucible that invites pressure. A seething, dancing, hollering mass of humanity cram into the stadium, with 30,000 Perez partisans packed inside the Foro Sol, the old baseball stadium through which the track runs.
However much this hoopla played into Perez’s mind, Verstappen performs as if immune to pressure, or the booing he attracts in these parts.
Mexico City’s thin air, 7,400 ft with 22 per cent less oxygen, puts more strain on the engine and all air-dependent systems in the car – brakes and tyres, high among them. They run hotter here, cooling proving more difficult. The shrewd husbanding of a driver’s resources places a premium on nous, and this is where a racer of the experience and intelligence of Hamilton was always likely to come to the fore.
He started the race sixth, went up to fifth when Perez went into the sky and was well-placed throughout.
Mexico’s Sergio Perez crashed out on the very first corner after a collision with Leclerc
The Mexican crowd were left in horror as Perez’s race came to a very early end
It was always going to be interesting to see how effective his Mercedes would be when running legally. It was jolly fast in Austin last week after an upgrade to his floor. But that was exposed as effectively steroid-enhanced when post-race scrutineering revealed the bumpy tack had worn his plank below the required 9mm minimum depth.
No big deal, said Hamilton. Hang on a minute! This generation of cars places a premium on what is going on underneath the surface. Red Bull have ruled supreme – well Max has – because they mastered the vortices created around their floor, and have since refined their magic carpet by fractions of millimetres.
Hamilton’s Mercedes yesterday was not the potent force a la Austin, but still effective as he impressed by passing Leclerc for runners-up spot on lap 40 of 71.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s day in Mexico ended early after a wreck on Lap 34
Magnussen was unarmed and walked away from the crash before the car burst into flames
The Briton, who set the fastest lap, now stands just 2o points off second place in the championship, held by poor Perez, of all hunted people, with three rounds remaining.
A word for Lando Norris. He bungled qualifying badly, started 19th yet finished fifth after passing Mercedes’ George Russell towards the close.
