Having secured their first front-row lockout of the season, Mercedes could have been forgiven for feeling good about their chances of taking the fight to Max Verstappen and Red Bull at a circuit they did not expect to suit their car.
However, after just one corner, Mercedes found themselves the pursuers rather than the pursued – with Verstappen’s rapid start and a spin for Valtteri Bottas leaving Lewis Hamilton behind his rival and with Sergio Perez breathing down his neck.Verstappen’s superior raw speed that afternoon was evident in how steadily he pulled away from Hamilton after the Safety Car. And as Perez began to get close, Mercedes called their driver in for a switch to hard tyres to try and avoid the threat of Red Bull undercutting them.
Perez himself would pit 12 laps later and use the advantage of his fresher tyres to quickly eat away the gap to Hamilton until breaking the Mercedes’s DRS range with 11 laps remaining. But that would prove as close as Perez would get to second place, with Hamilton able to keep the local crowd favourite at bay until the chequered flag.
Behind them, Ferrari split their strategy between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr, swapping their cars around in a fruitless bid to challenge Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri up the road. When it became clear Sainz would never reach him, Ferrari ordered Sainz to back off and give the position back to Leclerc.
Further back, Antonio Giovinazzi’s early promise from running seventh in the opening phase of the race failed to materialise into points as he faded with a long second stint. George Russell also slid backwards through the field after he had navigated through the mess of the opening few corners to move up to ninth – the management required to pull off a long final stint very much not playing to the strengths of the Williams.
Bottas had an afternoon to forget as he was forced to fight from the rear of the field after the opening lap contact with Daniel Ricciardo and was then delayed by a very lengthy pit stop after his crew struggled to fit a replacement left-front. However, by pitting in the final laps, Bottas was at least able to snatch away the bonus point for a fastest lap from his team’s Red Bull rivals.
With team mate Mick Schumacher eliminated at the second turn, it was another lonely race for Nikita Mazepin in the Haas at the rear of the field – ultimately over a minute behind Nicholas Latifi in the next placed car by the time Verstappen had claimed his victory.
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2021 Mexico City Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2021 Mexico City Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2021 Mexico City Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2021 Mexico City Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’17.774 | 69 | |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’18.999 | 1.225 | 52 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.468 | 1.694 | 49 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’19.820 | 2.046 | 66 |
5 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’20.081 | 2.307 | 63 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’20.460 | 2.686 | 70 |
7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.510 | 2.736 | 66 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’20.617 | 2.843 | 67 |
9 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’20.665 | 2.891 | 63 |
10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’20.711 | 2.937 | 54 |
11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’20.713 | 2.939 | 63 |
12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’20.930 | 3.156 | 61 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’21.069 | 3.295 | 40 |
14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’21.348 | 3.574 | 67 |
15 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’21.402 | 3.628 | 61 |
16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’21.523 | 3.749 | 68 |
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.546 | 3.772 | 66 |
18 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.016 | 4.242 | 61 |
19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | |||
20 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari |
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2021 Mexico City Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | Stint 5 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Max Verstappen | C3 (33) | C2 (38) | |||
Lewis Hamilton | C3 (29) | C2 (42) | |||
Sergio Perez | C3 (40) | C2 (31) | |||
Pierre Gasly | C3 (31) | C2 (40) | |||
Charles Leclerc | C3 (30) | C2 (41) | |||
Carlos Sainz Jnr | C3 (42) | C2 (28) | |||
Sebastian Vettel | C3 (33) | C2 (37) | |||
Kimi Raikkonen | C3 (32) | C2 (38) | |||
Fernando Alonso | C3 (39) | C2 (31) | |||
Lando Norris | C3 (44) | C2 (26) | |||
Antonio Giovinazzi | C3 (16) | C2 (54) | |||
Daniel Ricciardo | C3 (1) | C2 (37) | C3 (32) | ||
Esteban Ocon | C4 (14) | C2 (56) | |||
Lance Stroll | C3 (12) | C2 (22) | C3 (35) | ||
Valtteri Bottas | C3 (1) | C2 (39) | C3 (23) | C4 (4) | C4 (2) |
George Russell | C3 (15) | C2 (54) | |||
Nicholas Latifi | C3 (11) | C2 (38) | C3 (20) | ||
Nikita Mazepin | C3 (13) | C2 (45) | C3 (10) |
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2021 Mexico City Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 21.908 | 33 | |
2 | George Russell | Williams | 21.984 | 0.076 | 15 |
3 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 22.031 | 0.123 | 42 |
4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 22.085 | 0.177 | 30 |
5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 22.114 | 0.206 | 40 |
6 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 22.205 | 0.297 | 16 |
7 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 22.277 | 0.369 | 33 |
8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.373 | 0.465 | 29 |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 22.424 | 0.516 | 32 |
10 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 22.463 | 0.555 | 1 |
11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 22.534 | 0.626 | 44 |
12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 22.549 | 0.641 | 31 |
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 22.680 | 0.772 | 63 |
14 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 22.739 | 0.831 | 49 |
15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 22.813 | 0.905 | 38 |
16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 23.100 | 1.192 | 14 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23.586 | 1.678 | 12 |
18 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 23.637 | 1.729 | 58 |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 23.681 | 1.773 | 11 |
20 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 23.985 | 2.077 | 39 |
21 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 25.094 | 3.186 | 13 |
22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 26.056 | 4.148 | 34 |
23 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 26.443 | 4.535 | 67 |
24 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 31.664 | 9.756 | 40 |
25 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 38.128 | 16.220 | 1 |
Ki Chi (@kichi-leung)
8th November 2021, 2:56
I wonder if Bottas has broken the record for most stops in a dry race at this track…
Ki Chi (@kichi-leung)
8th November 2021, 3:42
I can confirm that it’s the most number of pit stops by any driver in Mexico at least since 2015.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th November 2021, 9:28
I am sure Bottas has the fastest time in round 71 not 69 or that is because he was lapped twice?
KC
8th November 2021, 9:48
Yeah because he was lapped twice.