In Mexico, Valtteri Bottas gives optimal slipstream. However, not his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but his World Cup rival Max Verstappen, who is expanding his lead. The Finnish Formula 1 driver has to take severe criticism. And now show that he means his words seriously.
Lewis Hamilton needed help. “They’re just too fast,” the seven-time world champion radioed into the pits during the Mexican Grand Prix. His Mercedes had no chance against Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, the Dutchman drove a lonely race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, celebrated an undisputed victory and extended his lead in the drivers’ world championship to 19 points. Hamilton had to acknowledge the superiority of his World Cup rival and have team boss Toto Wolff congratulate him on “damage control” after crossing the finish line in second.
Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas even provided help. Only unfortunately someone else, namely Verstappen, of all people. At the start, which Wolff summarized as follows: “Everything went wrong there that can go wrong.” The Mercedes drivers drove off from the front row, which was supposedly the best starting position. Presumably because the way to the first corner in Mexico is so long that the slipstream opens up the chance to turn into the right-hand bend while in the lead, even from third and fourth place.
“Something like that shouldn’t happen,” said Wolff after the race, not only referring to the fact that Verstappen had overtaken both Mercedes in this way. But also that Bottas had left the Red Bull driver the ideal line for braking before turn one. The Finn adhered to a directive of the race management, which had forbidden overly hard defensive maneuvers at the fastest point on the track. However, said Wolff, audibly dissatisfied, there is a difference “between ‘not closing’ and ‘keeping a bus lane free'” in Bottas’ choice of line, combined with the criticism: “He should have pulled over there.”
Bottas limits the damage minimally
Instead, however, Verstappen apparently passed without any problems, because he was the last of the trio to take the brakes in a risky but successful manner and was able to push past both Mercedes. After all, the Finn left enough space not only outside, but also inside. “The Valtteri made sure that nothing happened to the Lewis,” said Wolff. Hamilton took up the short acceleration to turn two in second place, while Bottas suddenly stood on the track against the direction of travel. Daniel Ricciardo had braked himself, the McLaren touched the rear wheel of the Mercedes so that it turned the Finn by 180 degrees. By the time Bottas was able to start again, he had long since fallen back to the end of the field.
From there, Bottas was only left with damage limitation, which, however, turned out to be very manageable. After opening the way to the top, winning and increasing the championship lead for Verstappen, he simply could no longer influence the race. With an alternative strategy for Bottas, Mercedes would ideally have been able to force Verstappen and Red Bull to react and force them into mistakes, but this way Hamilton was on his own.
The 36-year-old not only had to write off the victory soberly early on, but also had to fight off attacks by Sergio Pérez in the final laps, who showed a strong performance in third place. And at the same time forced Mercedes to consider the risk of falling behind Pérez and losing further points in the championship fight in the event of possible attacks against Verstappen.
For Hamilton it’s only about one thing
Not just in the driver standings – Verstappen got 312.5 points, Hamilton 293.5 – but also in the constructors’ championship. The Mercedes lead there has melted down to a single point. Because Red Bull scored 40 points with first and third places in Mexico, while Mercedes only recorded Hamilton’s 18 points for second place in the statistics. In the last lap, Bottas took the fastest race lap and the associated extra point from Verstappen, but that too falls under damage control. Especially since he himself does not receive the extra point for the fastest lap as 15th, because that is only awarded if the top ten is reached at the same time.
“It was pretty cursed today,” Bottas said after a Sunday afternoon to forget. Especially for himself, but also for Hamilton and the Mercedes racing team as a whole, given the demonstration of his own lack of chances. Regardless of the fact that Mexico, with its altitude, is a specialty on the Formula 1 calendar and that the series world champion had calculated a weakness at 2200 meters above sea level. Brazil, where it will continue next weekend, is also considered a Red Bull track. If Verstappen also wins in São Paulo, the World Cup will hardly be able to be taken away from him, and involuntary failures are ruled out.
“If there is an opportunity to help Lewis sensibly as a team-mate in his fight for the title, then I’ll do that too,” Bottas said before the Mexican Grand Prix. In which he was the world champion of 2007, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 a lot, just not the help he needs. That has to change in the last four Grands Prix of the season, otherwise Hamilton could lose his title before the final in Abu Dhabi. The Briton would have needed help for this in Mexico, but now he needs it all the more urgently. The question is whether Bottas can provide this support. Because damage control is no longer enough.