Formula 1 takes place this week in Mexico. In Mexico, home of Sergio Perez, Red Bull is the more favorite as a team than Mercedes. Red Bull and Verstappen, who cannot tolerate losing points in the championship race, are expected to return from Mexico with a double.
Before qualifying, McLaren driver Lando Norris, AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon also decided to switch to the new power unit. Pilots who switch to the new power unit receive a penalty to start from the last row, as is known. Williams driver George Russell was penalized five places on the grid for changing the gearbox.
training degrees
In the first practice session, the Mercedes team took the top two places with Bottas and Hamilton, while in the second practice session, Red Bull’s Verstappen took the first place. In the last training session, Red Bull; He achieved the first two places with Perez and Verstappen.
Red Bull’s team order rumor
All week long, it was debated whether Red Bull would give Sergio Perez a team order for Max Verstappen, who is in the title race with Lewis Hamilton. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that the Mexican pilot Perez wants to win at his own home, but Red Bull will want to bring Verstappen forward with the team order, who can not bear to lose points for the championship.
Qualifying session 1 (Q1): Stroll’s crash and Alonso’s disappointment
In the first episode, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashed in the 10th minute and it was decided to stop the session. Although the Canadian pilot survived the accident unscathed, his vehicle became unusable and said goodbye to the first session early. It was seen that Stroll lost control with two counterattacks in a row as he started accelerating from the crash position. After a 25-minute break with the cleaning of the track, the first session continued.
Valtteri Bottas finished the first session in the first place; Bottas was followed by Leclerc and Verstappen. While Alonso, Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin and Stroll were eliminated in the first session; Alpine driver Fernando Alonso was eliminated from the disappointment of the first session. While the first session lasted 50 minutes due to Stroll’s accident; Another remarkable detail was that all pilots preferred soft tires.
Qualifying session 2 (Q2): Hamilton and Tsunoda surprise
In the second session, 13 of the 15 drivers preferred medium-compound tyres, while only Tsunoda and Ocon used soft tyres. In this session, Hamilton made the best lap of the track, while Verstappen and Tsunoda followed Hamilton.
Vettel, Raikkonen, Russell, Giovinazzi and Ocon bid farewell to qualifying in this episode. Four-time world champion Vettel and Saturday’s successful name Russel were eliminated, while Tsunoda took the 3rd place as a surprise.
Qualifying session 3 (Q3): Mercedes outstrips Red Bulls
In Q3, the scene of a breathtaking final episode, Mercedes; He showed a performance that no one expected and took the first two places, gaining a great advantage for Sunday’s race. The final moments of Q3 were marked by Perez’s overflow and Verstappen’s blockade. Finnish pilot Bottas took the pole position by a wide margin; Hamilton, Verstappen and host Perez de Bottas followed suit.
Now the eyes are turned to the race that will be held on Sunday at 22:00 CEST. In Mexico, where Red Bull is the favourite, he is expected to try to hunt down Mercedes using the air corridor effect on Sunday.
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