I have gotten a little behind in my write-ups of the Formula One season, so I’m doing them both in one post – particularly as this weekend sees the title-deciding season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Mexico first.
Lewis Hamilton won the race which was thrilling for around ten laps – 5 at the start and 5 at the end… the middle part was simply dull.
He needed to win in order to keep his Championship hopes alive, chipping away at Nico Rosberg’s lead – but Rosberg held all the card heading into this race. Hamilton’s only error really was a trip across the grass at the first corner. There was a good fight for third though between Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
The podium ceremony was unique too – Verstappen joined the Mercedes pair for his third place, but he was given a penalty and demoted in position. Vettel jogged to the ceremony instead – only to subsequently lose that and be replaced by Ricciardo after everyone had gone home.
To clear that up, Ricciardo moved to third, Verstappen to fourth, and Vettel to fifth, three hours after the race.
Onto Brazil then…
Max Verstappen once again starred, delighting the crowd in Brazil with plenty of activity. This crowd had earlier booed as two red flags and a total of five safety cars made for a broken up afternoon.
Verstappen’s magnificent drive through the field to take third place was one of the great performances in F1 – it must rank alongside the best we have seen from Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Lewis Hamilton was magnificent, making no mistakes whatsoever – it is easier to do so with no spray from other cars to look through…
Other than that, nothing really happened!
Abu Dhabi comes next, this weekend, rounding off a rather predictable season. The Mercedes team have won 18 of the races so far – and 50 of the 58 since 2014. I really hope that the 2017 rules shake things up a bit.