2021 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Nov 05 - 07

[bonjon1979]

Red bull went backwards with increase of track temp. They only beat the alpha turi by a tenth so clearly this is the case. Merc stayed pretty much where they were relative to the rest of the grid. Just got to use a brain and look at the lap times to see what happened.

[BlueCheetah66]

These positions do make for a very interesting first corner if they all get similar starts. Can see a 3 wide moment happening into there

[ringo]

I knew Merc would have a shot at pole the moment HAM had the radio message in FP3.

Almost identical to Silverstone. Merc hiding pace.

So much for the high-altitude tracks being bogey circuits for Merc.

Merc not hiding pace. Redbull visually making a mess of Q3. Too many errors.
For some reason Max car wasnt up to temperature on the tyres. too much sliding and he is cracking under pressure. I think the ferrari and mclaren traffic was not good for Max. Maybe he couldnt focus on preparing the red tyres.

[BlueCheetah66]

What was Tsunoda even doing there at the end?

No idea how he thought going off track was a better option to get out of the way when there is literally a straight right after.

[Just_a_fan]

This is Mercs race to lose

It's a long run to T1 and Max can benefit from a double tow from the Mercs. Perez and Gasly won't attack him so he can concentrate on getting close the Lewis's gearbox on the straight.

Of course, if Lewis has a bad start from P2, Max could be P2 by T1.

All still to play for.

[mzivtins]

What was the incredible amount of booing and hissing for? Absolute scum doing that. This sport is quickly becoming filled with non race fans.

[Mattyw]

Also gasly plus that Honda engine- great drive for him

If merc hold red bull off at the start red bull will undercut and merc will be chasing with what seemed to be a 10kph advantage on the back straight - should hopefully get interesting !

[Hammerfist]

Yeah when it mattered in qualifying mercedes wasn't any worse than red bull, was better actually. In Q1 bottas sets fastest lap on his 3th fyling lap on same tyres. In Q2 hamilton had fastest lap on mediums, then in Q3 it was not even close. Clearly balance has gone away from red bull trough quali, and probably even already in FP3 towards the end when track temps went up and verstappen started to slide and shed car parts.

This is when i first realized they had the pace. They really had Redbull relax too much. Max only put in one lap in Q1. They only do that when they are super confident. In this case, overconfident.

[Shrieker]

Hamilton got beat by Bottas, Verstappen didn't get beat by Perez. I wonder what cracks are you on about, unless you mean literal cracks on rear wing.

With all due respect to the man, Perez isn't in Bottas' league.

[Marty_Y]

Who was Max cursing out on the radio after his last run? LOL

[Poleman]

Even without the TSU-PER incident i dont think VER was on a pole lap as he himself said in the interview...He was something like 0.270 off the first sector alone jumping on kerbs and sliding around.RB just didnt have the balance all of a sudden,but oh man what a turn of events.

[godlameroso]

Verstappen has a tow starting 3rd, the car has more pace than the Mercedes so the race can still be won on strategy.

[JPower]

Mercedes must have those engines cranked. What a lap by Bottas. Definitely wasn't expecting that.

Bottas did mention earlier this week that Mercedes "fixed" its high altitude issues. Maybe this was part of the plan.

[NathanOlder]

RedBull threw away pole!!
This was theirs. The car has the time in it.
Bottas engine mode paying dividends and putting on the pressure.

The cracks are showing.
All Bottas has to do is give Lewis a slip stream then block off the hondas.

Hamilton got beat by Bottas, Verstappen didn't get beat by Perez. I wonder what cracks are you on about, unless you mean literal cracks on rear wing.

Perez and Gasly will race Max for P-3. Perez needs to podium at home!! Vamos!

Not in a million years will they race him and they will surely let him trough if he somehow ends up behind them.

Not seen Lewis' lap yet, but I know for a fact Max made mistakes today in Q3. I think thats what he was referring to there.

[PlatinumZealot]

Isnt this more the red bulls not performing as expected, vs the mercs being better? The rear of the bulls looked very loose

This! Come one guys! Merc just made less mistakes. Look at the gaps to the other cars. Max had a scrappy first run and there was the Yuki issue on the second run. If the run was clean no doubt Max and Checo had the front row.

Anyway on to tomorrow. Eyes on the run to the frist corner, brakes and tyre wear. Expecting a lunge from Max up the inisde of Lewis. Hope they don't collide.