Mercedes’ rivals were quick to highlight the strategic error which might have cost them victory in the Mexican Grand Prix.
Both Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and his opposite number at Ferrari, Mattia Binotto, said Mercedes had slipped up for the second race in a row. The Mercedes drivers started the race on the medium tyre compound and switched to hards, while their nearest rivals used softer tyres for both stints.Although Lewis Hamilton stayed in touch with Max Verstappen during the opening stint, once Mercedes fitted the hard tyres he began to drop back. “You could hear their drivers were not very happy about the hard tyre and that’s the second weekend in a row that they put that tyre on and it’s cost them a victory,” said Horner. “So I was quite surprised at that.”
Red Bull drew the conclusion during practice that the hard tyre wasn’t well suited for the race. “For us, the soft-medium this morning looked like a quicker race. The medium-hard, the hard, there’s just not as much grip with the tyre. So we were quite surprised that Mercedes went as conservative as they did with a medium-hard strategy.”
“He controlled the race from the very beginning on those soft tyres, not warming them up too quickly, making sure that there was longevity to them,” said Horner. “Actually, when they came off the car, there was still a lot of life left in them.
“That gave us even more confidence that the medium tyre would be fine for a one-stop. It was again a question not abusing that tyre, which is something that he’s just been masterful at this year.”
Mercedes weren’t the only team who thought a medium was the best tyre to start on. “I think that some of the others were maybe also surprised that a one-stop suddenly was on the books with a soft and medium,” said team principal Toto Wolff.
But after switching Hamilton to hards on lap 29, they did the same for George Russell five laps later. There were still several other drivers on their original sets of medium tyres at this stage, and Russell was keen to stay out and try to switch to a soft for the final stint. The likes of Daniel Ricciardo made that strategy work, but Mercedes were unwilling to deviate from their original plan.
Russell finally fitted soft tyres after a second pit stop to claim the bonus point for fastest lap, with a time over one-and-a-half seconds quicker than anyone else. That must have left him wondering what he could have achieved had he been given that rubber 35 laps earlier.
Ricciardo used his soft tyres to climb to seventh place. He was aided by the fastest stationary pit stop time of the race, McLaren servicing his car in 1.95 seconds. However Charles Leclerc’s pit stop was slightly quicker in terms of the total time from pit entrance to exit.
That meant Ricciardo was the first driver home who finished in a higher place than he started. The top six all came home in the same order they were in at the end of lap one.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Mexican 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:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Mexican 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:
2022 Mexican 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:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Mexican Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | No. | Driver | Car | Lap time | Gap | Average speed (kph) | Lap no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’20.153 | 193.31 | 71 | |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1’21.775 | 1.622 | 189.48 | 30 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’22.022 | 1.869 | 188.91 | 48 |
| 4 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’22.046 | 1.893 | 188.85 | 36 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’22.062 | 1.909 | 188.81 | 32 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’22.199 | 2.046 | 188.5 | 32 |
| 7 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’22.260 | 2.107 | 188.36 | 47 |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1’22.277 | 2.124 | 188.32 | 42 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’22.463 | 2.310 | 187.9 | 42 |
| 10 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’22.603 | 2.450 | 187.58 | 48 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’22.866 | 2.713 | 186.98 | 48 |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.914 | 2.761 | 186.87 | 48 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’23.086 | 2.933 | 186.49 | 45 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’23.279 | 3.126 | 186.05 | 48 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’23.300 | 3.147 | 186.01 | 49 |
| 16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’23.363 | 3.210 | 185.87 | 43 |
| 17 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.402 | 3.249 | 185.78 | 48 |
| 18 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1’23.403 | 3.250 | 185.78 | 48 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’23.641 | 3.488 | 185.25 | 30 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’23.709 | 3.556 | 185.1 | 56 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Mexican Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Mexican Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Rank | No. | Driver | Team | Complete stop time (s) | Gap to best (s) | Stop no. | Lap no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 22.193 | 1 | 28 | |
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 22.28 | 0.087 | 1 | 44 |
| 3 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 22.343 | 0.15 | 1 | 33 |
| 4 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 22.468 | 0.275 | 1 | 29 |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 22.487 | 0.294 | 1 | 25 |
| 6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 22.534 | 0.341 | 1 | 38 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 22.585 | 0.392 | 1 | 31 |
| 8 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 22.795 | 0.602 | 1 | 34 |
| 9 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 23.118 | 0.925 | 2 | 69 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23.119 | 0.926 | 2 | 40 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 23.159 | 0.966 | 1 | 40 |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 23.182 | 0.989 | 1 | 38 |
| 13 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 23.194 | 1.001 | 1 | 29 |
| 14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 23.469 | 1.276 | 1 | 29 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23.509 | 1.316 | 1 | 17 |
| 16 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 23.679 | 1.486 | 1 | 24 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 23.722 | 1.529 | 1 | 38 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 23.826 | 1.633 | 1 | 23 |
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 23.863 | 1.67 | 1 | 39 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 24.039 | 1.846 | 2 | 52 |
| 21 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 24.218 | 2.025 | 1 | 45 |
| 22 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 24.892 | 2.699 | 1 | 23 |
| 23 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 29.168 | 6.975 | 1 | 40 |
grapmg
31st October 2022, 17:47
Ricciardo made up 20s compared to Norris with that medium-soft strategy. If only MB allowed Russell to do the same.
hyoko
31st October 2022, 21:06
Still not enough for a win… but would have done for an easy second… and opened a huge can of worms at Merc.
hyoko
31st October 2022, 21:11
Still not enough for a win but good enough for a second, would have opened a huge can of w0rms at Merc. No wonder they refused to do it.
hyoko
31st October 2022, 21:02
Isn’t this a bit silly? Like the soft tyre could withstand for 35 laps the kind of punishment it got in a late f-lap attempt.
someone or something
1st November 2022, 17:59
Indeed. It wasn’t even an impressive lap by any means. 1.6 seconds faster than Pérez, 1.9 seconds faster than Verstappen – but 40 laps later than Pérez. With a time penalty per lap of fuel of 0.054 seconds, that’s about 2.1 seconds in Russell’s favour just looking at the car’s weight. Then there’s the fact that Pérez’s fastest lap was set on 13 laps old tyres (Russell: 2), compound: medium (Russell: soft, which should be worth another 0.5 seconds without even looking at the tyre age). And there’s the fact that Pérez’s fastest lap was merely a byproduct of his pace in the middle of the race, merely the fastest lap by a tiny margin of a series of lap times in the high 1:21s to low 1:22s. Russel’s lap, by constrast, was a single push lap with the sole purpose of lapping quicker than anyone else.
The fact that Russell had so many favourable factors on his side, yet only managed to set a comparatively underwhelming lap time does not lend itself to the conclusion that the Mercedes had much more pace in it than the tyre strategy allowed it to show.
It is, however, quite possible that Russell knew that he only had to drive a clean lap without taking any risks, and therefore deliberately under-drove the car. But that, too, is mere speculation.
frood19 (@frood19)
1st November 2022, 8:24
I like the colour coded tyre chart, much easier to read than the old one.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd November 2022, 16:32
@frood19 Thanks!
Alsi Nam
1st November 2022, 15:50
From his pitstop till finish line Max drove 43 (= all laps except 2 VSC laps and pitstop lap) in the 1:22 despite aging tires and traffic.
That is mighty impressive consistency and tire management.