Fiesta de la Siesta.

A Mexican Slumber Party

As a racing fan, I find it annoying that the weekend highlights for Mexico are:

1. Alonso’s comments about Hamilton

2. Zombie paddock fans who want to eat the driver’s brain

3. Watching RBR standing up for the media bias they get at times.

Anywho, Let’s unpack the race day. This has to be the most boring race that has occurred in 2022. Here are my highlights:

1. Zhou vs Vettel

2. Ricciardo going mental

3. Anthony kissing Antonio

Lights out and Max just fucked off. Tire strategy was somewhere key at the elevation this race takes place given thinner air creates a challenge for all cars.

Merc mania

Second race for the new upgraded Merc which are collecting data on the changes they think they wanna bring in to 2023. This helped us see the same results as 2021 - Max - Ham - Per.

Master class from Ham as usual. At the race start ducking right behind Russell’s slip stream and taking full advantage of the glide to take the lunge into P2.

Perfect drive on the Mediums from both Mercs but a constant complain once they were shifted to Hards.

Alpine troubles

Checkout this post on reddit to see how much Alonso’s been troubled this entire season. It was a bit funny to see him say (and I paraphrase) - this year is about to end, onto a better chapter next year. I think he saw the ghost of GP2 engine again this year.

Had Alonso’s engine not decided to Nope out, it would have been a great point finish for the Alpines.

Ocon continued to defend like a Lion (or maybe Bottas was being a noob in that Sauber). A great drive nonetheless from both the Alpine drivers.

Aston Martin shines

The best part was see the initial lunges that both the cars got. Gaining 5 positions and driving brilliantly, its amazing to see the growth in Aston Martin over the season. Stroll was again brilliant this weekend and the team got a good backing from Vettel. Although out of points, it was decent drive from both the drivers.

McDaniel goes crazy

If yeeting someone off and a 10 sec penalty is what it takes for Daniel to find his pace and mojo in that car, I vote we yeet 2 people off!

Ted tries to stir up something with Lando by telling him its bad to be dropping down to 10th to which Lando replied - You should try driving the car mate.

Other mentions

Tire madness taken to the next level. Vettel went a mental 38 laps on those softs. Seeing him take those softs so far and others being able to massage their Mediums so well as well, in hindsight, Hards were clearly not the right choice. Except Ham’s experience, everyone else struggled with those Hards.

I am falling in love with Zhou. Some clean and brilliant battle with Ricciardo and then later in the race with Vettel. Poised, respectful and entertaining.

Notice how we no longer talk about Ferrari. It is sad. What could have been the comeback year for Ferrari seems like has turned out to be the biggest disaster in history. Should be made into a HBR case study, I feel.

Latifi is the most consistent driver on the track! Again, if you feel it’s anyone else, duck off. Consistently finishing P20 requires some skill, or not. This time around being almost a full min off of P19.

Perez waving a finger to stop any booing towards Hamilton puts a smile to your face for what otherwise was - Fiesta de la Siesta.

See you soon as at the next race at Brazilian GP!