A week makes all the difference in Formula 1, especially in a triple header. After F1’s Autumn hiatus – we are now two-thirds of the way through a triple bill in the Americas. Austin and Mexico City are behind us – with São Paulo drawing near. As a rookie journo in the F1 paddock, each GP visit has brought with it a brand new experience and Austin and Mexico City couldn’t be more different.
The first thing you notice in Austin is the sheer vastness of it all. The city itself is a sprawling concrete metropolis- stretching from the eclectic 6th Street to the more aged less culturally satisfying sectors. Being in the F1 paddock means you get a brief snapshot of a city, and save for a pleasant dining experience in the Domain shopping district, I couldn’t help but feel Austin is culinarily backward and after a week in the USA, I was missing decent coffee.
For the circuit itself, things were incredible. A massive complex, the Circuit of the Americas is truly impressive and puts many other GP venues to shame. It’s accessed with ease via multiple freeways and despite being one of the highest attended races, local authorities managed traffic in and out well (take note, Silverstone). The circuit layout needs no talking up, COTA is well-documented as one of the best tracks in the world. The racing in the United States Grand Prix did its best to live up to the hype – signed off with an impressive Ferrari one-two led by Charles Leclerc.
However, the headlines were dominated by Lando Norris’ five-second penalty for passing Max Verstappen off track on Lap 52. Yes, Verstappen forced Norris off track but the rules favour the Dutchman in their current guise. Is throwing it up the inside and owning the entire width of the track how we should go about racing? I’m not so sure.
COTA’s card was sadly marked by a track invasion which occurred before the cool down lap had finished and a hefty fine was issued to the race promoter. Save for that, it’s a hard facility to fault.
With a brief couple of day’s rest it was time to move on to Mexico City.
Immediately upon landing, the experience turned on a dime. A busy, congested swarm of constant traffic floods through streets bursting with colour, market stalls and to put it mildly, wealth disparity.
Often my F1 trips include hopping in a hire car to ensure travel goes smoothly to and from the circuits. In Mexico City, our Editor in Chief Graham Harris made a point of not providing one.
“Trust me, you don’t want to drive there,” he said.
He was right.
A heart-thumping Uber ride to the media accreditation centre was a chorus of car horns blaring as more cars squabbled over patches of tarmac that could conceivably fit.
Into the paddock and the differences from Austin continue. The event organisers ensured that the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez reflects the colour and vibrancy of the city in which it is based. Plus, the upcoming Day of the Dead festival bares its influence in all corners of the paddock. After Thursday’s media sessions – where Lando Norris’ penalty dominated headlines, the travelling journalists, photographers, team members and event organisers were treated to a party in the paddock.
Oh, and I finally had some decent coffee.
While a lot of things were quite different in Mexico, the atmosphere, the food, the colour and vibrancy, some things in F1 don’t change. McLaren found that out the hard way on Friday evening. Having submitted a right of review over Lando Norris’ USGP penalty a day prior, a stewards review threw out the team’s request to overturn the decision. For any right of review to be successful new evidence must be presented in the hearing. McLaren’s evidence was that the stewards were wrong in saying Norris was the overtaking car at COTA – believing he’d already passed Verstappen. Submitting the decision itself as evidence didn’t have the desired effect.
But what of the pecking order in Mexico – had Ferrari maintained its race pace advantage, were McLaren and Red Bull still the teams to beat over one lap and could Mercedes find itself out of trouble?
For Mercedes, it was a case of fourth best, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton locking out the third row – their saving grace being two major Q1 exits. A lap deletion proved costly for Oscar Piastri and brake issues heaped more misery on home hero Sergio Perez. The packed stadia around the circuit were in town for one man, and sadly, he let them down.
Time is surely ticking for the Mexican in F1.
At the front, Ferrari had one lap pace in the hands of Carlos Sainz, who put himself in pole position, two places better than at Austin a week before. Verstappen and Norris took second and third ahead of US GP winner Charles Leclerc.
Would the long run down to Turn 1 provide drama – could Ferrari go back to back?
Turn 1 proved to be utter chaos as Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda span out and Verstappen hustled Sainz to the Turn 1 run-off. Sainz reacted well, fighting his way back into a lead he would never relinquish, confirming back-to-back wins for Ferrari, but with a new face.
Whereas Verstappen received no penalties for running Norris off of the road twice, this time he received 20 seconds and wasn’t keen to give his take post-race after dropping to sixth. Second for Norris saw him claw some vital points back in the title race.
Some things in F1 never change, some do.
Mexico City and Austin couldn’t be any more different, the races had narratives of their own.
Both were equally heart-pounding.
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