As so the F1 circus arrives in Mexico for the Day of the Dead weekend, which was apt as the weekend probably spelled the end of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull career. To rub it Max Verstappen further extended his lead in the championship and Lewis Hamilton closed in on second. Talking of dead, here is our 2023 Mexican F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2023 Mexican Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time. And you get it for both the main race on Sunday and the Sprint Race on Saturday. So read on.
READ MORE:
2023 Mexican Grand Prix Preview
2023 US Grand Prix Review
2023 Qatar Grand Prix Ratings and Driver of the Year
Our 2023 F1 Calendar & Results
2023 Mexican F1 Grand Prix Result Main Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – It was a strange qualifying session, with Ferrari taking a 1-2 and locking out the front row of the grid. Max Verstappen wasn’t far away in third, which wouldn’t ‘t be far enough back to probably stop him winning the race. That would 40th place on the grid. Daniel Ricciardo was the star of qualifying, ended up 4th on the grid and was around the top in all sessions. Sergio Perez was out-qualified his current and potential future usurper. Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso were the back of the grid surprises, Norris with car problems, and Alonso with a car speed problem.
GRID (Starting Order) – LEC SAI VER RIC PER HAM PIA RUS BOT
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen makes the best start from third and jumps to the inside line for the first corner, edging just in front of Charles Leclerc as they approach turn one, and then squeezing him towards the left. Sergio Perez makes a great start from fifth and is ready to swoop around the outside of Verstappen-Leclerc. But Verstappen squeezes Leclerc too far left and Perez is still trying around the outside and something has to give. The give is Sergio Perez whose car jumps in the air and flies off the road, his home race is officially ruined. Charles Leclerc has damage but continues and Verstappen leads. Again.
Further back Daniel Ricciardo holds onto fourth despite Hamilton being all over his rear end. Hulkenberg is a winner from the first lap going from 12th to 8th, the Valtteri Nottas less so. Lance Stroll started from pit lane so reduced his chances of not making it around the first lap.
ORDER – VER LEC SAI RIC HAM PIA RUS HUL GAS ZHO
Lap 2 – Red Bull pretend to make a pit stop, but alas it is the end for Sergio Perez, and he bashes his steering wheel in frustration. Poor guy, what a way to bow out of your home race. Can’t blame him for trying, but the punishment is severe. And not great while trying to hold onto second place in the Championship and the Red Bull drive.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 5 – Virtual Safety Car deployed to pick up some pieces of Charles Leclerc’s front wing after his clash with Sergio Perez. Hard to imagine there’s not more damage. Or that Ferrari haven’t stuffed his strategy yet. Give them time we say.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ENDED
Lap 6 – No change in position from lap one, which is good to allow us to catch up with writing this summary after the first corner crash. Not sure how Ricciardo is still ahead of Lewis Hamilton given the pressure. Under less pressure is Max Verstappen who is edging closer to two seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in second.
Lap 10 – Not a lot of overtaking as yet, and there’s a couple on nice queues forming. Yuki Tsunoda went straight on a turn one trying to stay ahead of Kevin Magnussen for 13th.
Lap 11 – Lewis Hamilton eventually gets past the Alpha Tauri of Daniel Ricciardo
Lap 12 – Lando Norris pits for new tyres, getting rid of his softs, which may give him a tyre strategy advantage later. For now, Norris comes out of the pits in front of Yuki Tsunoda in 18th, although the Japanese driver had just set fastest lap after pitting earlier.
Lap 15 – Ferrari confirm via radio that they are going with Plan A. Which stands for Absolutely no chance of beating Max Verstappen, so just try and finish second. Missed by the TV cameras or by our ignorant asses was Alex Albon sneaking into the top ten at the expense of Zhou’s Alfa. Albon is up from 14th on the grid.
ORDER – VER LEC SAI HAM RIC PIA RUS HUL GAS ALB
Lap 17 – A point of interest is just how slow the Aston Martins are this race. Currently circulating in 15th and 16th with Stroll ahead of Alonso. Both are behind Logan Sargeant for context.
Lap 20 – Max Verstappen pits from the lead and rejoins in 7th. Safety first as Hulkenberg in 8th was nearly half a minute behind 7th after 20 laps. Closer together are Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz, separated by less than a second battling for 2nd.
Lap 23 – Max Verstappen has already got past George Russell and Oscar Piastri. One wonders if he will re-take the lead on the road or will be helped by pit stops of rivals. Wouldn’t ‘t rule out the former.
Lap 28 – Pitstops begin for most of the top ten with Daniel Ricciardo happy dropping from 5th to 6th, George Russell less happy as he lands in the middle of the mid pack squabble.
Lap 29 – Max Verstappen breezes past Carlos Sainz for second place. he is eight seconds behind the leader Leclerc. Not for long as Leclerc pits.
Lap 31- Lando Norris overtakes Alex Albon for 8th. Decent effort from towards the bad of the grid.
Lap 33 – BIG CRASH. It’s Kevin Magnussen who has binned it into the wall. Not sure how but he did run wide on the final corner for the lap preceding the crash which was a bumpy ride. Car is stuffed, barrier is stuffed, and now the car is on fire. Replays show that the Haas just snapped out of control and appears something broke. It happened at the beginning of the esses, which is apt as S stands for the Haas is now Stuffed, and Sh!t my car is on fire. Kevin Magnussen is fine by the way but does spend some time in the medical centre.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
RACE RED FLAGGED
The race is stopped on lap 35, conveniently at half distance. They have to sticky tape the barrier and mop up after the fire.
The break in the race means refresh in strategy and tyres for all. So Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ pit stops are no advantage.
ORDER – VER LEC HAM SAI RIC PIA RUS TSU HUL NOR
RACE TO RESTART VIA STANDING START
A good mix of Hard and Medium tyres among the top ten, which gives hope for a decent end to this race.
Race to restart with a standing start, gives the other teams their last chance of annoying Max Verstappen and taking the race win. Or the lead for a lap or two.
RACE RESTARTS
Lap 36 – Leader Max Verstappen smashes the restart and is untouchable in front going into the first corner. Behind the Red Bull there’s so much weaving and changing sides of the track but it is Leclerc who keeps second, but Lewis Hamilton still looks keen to steal it. George Russell gains a couple of places from 7th to 5th at the expense of Australia. No accidents further back in the grid.
ORDER – VER LEC HAM SAI RUS RIC PIA TSU ALB HUL
Lap 38 – Good battle between Hamilton and Leclerc as a secondary battle between Sainz and Russell wages for the next rung of positions. Hamilton gets past on the next lap down the pit straight, with a plume of dust flying into the air as Leclerc pushes Hamilton to the very limit of the track, and beyond.
Lap 42 – The Alpha Tauris are starting to come alive. Daniel Ricciardo is now within a second of George Russell in 6th, and Yuki Tsunoda is 8th and looking equally fast and harassing Oscar Piastri. A haul of points is coming to take them off the bottom of the Constructor standings.
Lap 46 – Lando Norris is making a few moves now as he recovers from dropping down the field due to a poorly timed pitstop. Up to 12th on Lap 45, steals 11th on Lap 46, and inside the top ten a lap later. We bet Red Bull wish he were available for 2024.
Lap 48 – Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda keep fighting for 7th. Tsunoda tags Piastri with his right front wheel, and have seen those end in car failure in the past as was the force.
Lap 49 – Yuki Tsunoda tries again into turn one and he gets it even more wrong, running into the side of Oscar Piastri and spinning off across the grass at turn one. He continues but drops to 16th and end of points for him today.
Lap 51 – Max Verstappen leads by eight seconds. Just in case anyone was wondering. Talking of eighth, Lando Norris doesn’t appear to be wanting to hang around in eighth. He’s catching his teammate for seventh quickly, and then there’s nearly 20 laps to go further.
ORDER – VER HAM LEC SAI RUS RIC PIA NOR ALB HUL
Lap 57 – Lando Norris gets by Oscar Piastri who doesn’t make life very difficult. And Norris can hurt Australia once more as he closes in on Daniel Ricciardo.
Lap 58 – A funny moment as the two worst drivers in the field battle for 14th and Logan Sargeant goes off on the radio about Lance Stroll’s driving. In fairness, Logan Sargeant is slowly improving and Lance Stroll was driving like a jerk.
Lap 60 – Lando Norris gets by Daniel Riccardo for 6th, and they come very close to touching but don’t. Nice move around the outside. George Russell is less than four seconds up the road and then who knows. This McLaren is flying.
Lap 67 – An amazing drive form Lando Norris sees him overtake George Russell for 5th after a couple of laps trying. Meanwhile in a less successful piece of overtaking Lance Stroll is punted into a spin by Valtteri Bottas in the stadium section. Bottas gets five second penalty.
Lap 70 – Good battle between Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell.
Last lap – Max Verstappen wins by enough to secure a 16th win of the season in a predictable outcome for F1. Lewis Hamilton’s second is a good reward and she’s him edge closer to Perez’s second place in the Championships. Pole Sitter Charles Leclerc completes the podium. Lando Norris is the star driver of the day, and Daniel Ricciardo having the best weekend.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER HAM LEC SAI NOR RUS RIC PIA ALB OCO
| Pos | Driver | Car | Result | Grid |
| 1 | Max VERSTAPPEN | Red Bull | 1:40.028 | 3 |
| 2 | Lewis HAMILTON | Mercedes | + 13.875 behind | 6 |
| 3 | Charles LECLERC | Ferrari | + 23.124 behind | 1 |
| 4 | Carlos SAINZ | Ferrari | + 27.154 behind | 2 |
| 5 | Lando NORRIS | McLaren | + 33.266 behind | 17 |
| 6 | George RUSSELL | Mercedes | + 41.020 behind | 8 |
| 7 | Daniel RICCIARDO | AlphaTauri | + 41.570 behind | 4 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 43.104 behind | 7 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Williams | + 48.573 behind | 14 |
| 10 | Esteban OCON | Alpine | + 1:02.879 behind | 15 |
| 11 | Pierre GASLY | Alpine | + 1:06.208 behind | 11 |
| 12 | Yuki TSUNODA | AlphaTauri | + 1:18.982 behind | 18 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1:20.309 behind | 12 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1:21.676 behind | 10 |
| 15 | Valtteri BOTTAS | Alfa Romeo | + 1:25.597 behind | 9 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + DNF (70) | 19 |
| 17 | Lance STROLL | Aston Martin | + DNF (66) | 20 |
| 18 | Fernando ALONSO | Aston Martin | + DNF (47) | 13 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + DNF (31) | 15 |
| 20 | Sergio PEREZ | Red Bull | + DNF (1) | 5 |
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO
It may only have ended up in a P7 race result, but the overall theme is Daniel Ricciardo is back, and timely too, and almost rude to do it at the Mexican Grand Prix at the expense of Sergio Perez. Genuinely fast in qualifying, fourth on the grid could almost have been higher., and he scored his first points of the season.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Driver of the day really, but his fantastic day doesn’t have the future implications that Daniel Ricciardo’s weekend had. But what a drive from Norris from the further reaches of the grid to fifth and seeing off his teammate in the process.
CHARLES LECLERC – A surprise pole position wasn’t exactly turned into a stellar race result, but the pole works, and any result was a good thing after colliding with Sergio Perez at the first corner.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Another relatively easy win. Has won as many Grands Prix this season as the entire number of races in most seasons in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
LEWIS HAMILTON – A second consecutive race where he is second across the line. We presume he will keep this one, and he closes the gap on Sergio Perez for second in the Championship.
ALEX ALBON – Albon continues to shine in the Williams. Two more points and from 14th on the grid
THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ
Possibly the worst weekend for a driver for any team in 2023. Maybe not the weekend as a whole, but the end result. It wasn’t bad enough to be out-qualified by Daniel Ricciardo in the junior Red Bull car, but then to be wiped out at the first corner was crushing. And he looked so sad. We feel for him, but not enough to not give him the Grape-est at the Mexican Grand Prix.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Turned an anonymous lower midfield race into a must include in 6pm TV News Sports highlights with a show/race stopping prang into the wall. Car failure was the cause of spinning into the barriers.
FERNANDO ALONSO – The Aston Martin was ordinary all weekend and his race was ended early with a DNF.
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
Note: this is for the combined races.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 10
The battle for second opens up for Lewis Hamilton, and he closes within 20 points. But it is still only second, and who cares. We are more the vultures for who gets Perez’s 2024 drive.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10
A first corner clash was super interesting and a little sad for Sergio Perez. Another crash mid race from Kevin Magnussen stops the race too. But otherwise, the race had some good battles, with the halfway red flag lighting things up a bit. A good amount of racing behind the top three, but not enough to stop a few sleepy nods.
ENDING 5 / 10
Lando Norris made the ending mildly interesting as he climbed through the field. Daniel Ricciardo annoying George Russell at the end was also amusing.
OVERALL RATING 15 / 30
Same result, and the result didn’t really matter, but some great action in patches (including a first corner prang which saw Sergio Perez out) and a decent track to follow.
2023 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Who not check out last race which includes the season ratings so far: US Grand Prix and 2023 Driver Ratings.
