Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q pos. | Q gap to team mate | GP grid pos. | GP pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q3 | 3 | -0.160s | 3 | 1 |
| Sergio Perez | Q3 | 5 | +0.160s | 5 | Not classified |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 1 | -0.067s | 1 | 3 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Q3 | 2 | +0.067s | 2 | 4 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 6 | -0.220s | 6 | 2 |
| George Russell | Q3 | 8 | +0.220s | 8 | 6 |
| Esteban Ocon | Q1 | 16 | +0.135s | 15 | 10 |
| Pierre Gasly | Q2 | 11 | -0.135s | 11 | 11 |
| Lando Norris | Q1 | 19 | +3.313s | 17 | 5 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q3 | 7 | -3.313s | 7 | 8 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q3 | 9 | -0.018s | 9 | 14 |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q3 | 10 | +0.018s | 10 | 15 |
| Lance Stroll | Q1 | 18 | +0.379s | 20 | 17 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q2 | 13 | -0.379s | 13 | Not classified |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q1 | 17 | +0.194s | 16 | Not classified |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q2 | 12 | -0.194s | 12 | 13 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Q3 | 4 | -0.549s | 4 | 7 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q2 | 15 | +0.549s | 18 | 12 |
| Alexander Albon | Q2 | 14 | 14 | 9 | |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 20 | 19 | 16 |
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (0%)
- Logan Sargeant (1%)
- Alexander Albon (1%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (41%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (1%)
- Fernando Alonso (0%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (1%)
- Oscar Piastri (0%)
- Lando Norris (24%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (20%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Charles Leclerc (2%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (9%)
Total Voters: 128
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2023 Mexican Grand Prix
- ‘I’m so s*** in qualifying’: Norris berates himself despite pole-winning lap
- Ferrari reaping the benefits of having F1’s most closely-matched team mates
- Norris had “no chance” to beat Verstappen in Mexico even without Q1 exit
- Transcript: How Ricciardo’s race went awry soon after he was told to “bring it home”
- Mercedes see “very encouraging signs” from Austin floor update
Debates and polls
- Will Verstappen race on with Red Bull until the end of 2028?
- Will Alonso win a world championship title with Aston Martin?
- How long should Red Bull give Ricciardo to prove he’s not lost his touch?
- Were stewards right to penalise Alonso over his driving before Russell’s crash?
- Are Williams right to bench Sargeant so Albon can race after crash?
Prab
29th October 2023, 22:39
Has to be Lewis.
Great drives by him, Max, Daniel and Lando.
Fletcher LeGardy (@fsliv)
29th October 2023, 22:44
I definitely think it’s going to be a toss-up between Lewis and Norris. Both of them drove excellently today
BasCB (@bascb)
29th October 2023, 23:40
Norris might have been a great racer today Fletcher, but he did make that crucial mistake that put him back down the grid on saturday which clearly coloured his weekend. Without that, he might have been even on the front row if things went well and would have been a very strong bet for a podium.Now he gave us something excellent to look at and despite losing out at the restart (and the choice to pit under that SC lost him 2 spots before that) to finish and excellent 5th, but his weekend was not as good as it could and arguably should have been.
I gave it to Ricciardo because he really had great pace in qualifying, showing us the driver he was when he was at RBR and he had a very good race too, probably maxing out what the car could do even though he also lost out a bit from that red flag. I gave it to him because of enjoying him being back on form.
Max, what else can one say, I guess he was not perfect in qualifying? Although it seems not even Ferrari really know where their front row laps came from, so hard to really blame Max. Then again, at his level it should be held against him a bit, but that race was another faultless one (maybe to be perfect he should have just wrecked the lap record in the last lap?).
Hamilton had a really solid race, nice pass to get where he was solid management of the tyre and a solid qualifying too. Nice touch to nail that flap at the end too.
I must say Ocon finally shows us some decent racing too – no banging of wheels or overly agressive defences that end in tears for someone this time.
And Hulk certainly deserves a mention both for his solid qualifying as well as keeping that Haas ahead of an ever growing train of cars until 2 laps (or was it3?) when those tyres finally gave up – I would also say that the Haas update seems to work, both cars had been running at fairly decent pace, not dropping like stones.
Sargeant also looked like the good solid race in Austin helped him feel more confidence, we saw some good racing from him, managing to stay out of trouble etc.
drmouse (@drmouse)
29th October 2023, 22:46
DOTD Norris.
DOTW Ricciardo.
Norris had an amazing race, especially with his team making things more difficult for him. But he did mess up a bit in qually.
Daniel qualified well ahead of where anyone expected in an AT, then drove a great race to keep as much of that as possible. He was even challenging a works Mercedes at the end, driven by a multiple world champion. To get that result in that car over the course of the weekend, not putting a foot wrong… I can’t give DOTW to anyone else.
Doggy
29th October 2023, 22:52
+1 …
On a separate note, I think that its as cringe and as it’s unfortunate that drivers were closely surrounded by bodyguards while giving interviews.
I don’t ever remember seeing this to that extent.
Nick T.
29th October 2023, 23:08
Especially as the fans all cheered Max who was the one we were all warned was in “mortal danger.”
Moi
30th October 2023, 6:03
He was in ‘mortal danger’ because of the crowd reaction in the US, who then promptly blamed it on the Mexicans there.
But then they do that with everything.
Michael (@dedischado)
29th October 2023, 23:40
I must have missed that, what was going on?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th October 2023, 6:38
That can’t be, he was challenging russell in the end, not hamilton, so don’t see where the multiple champion part came from.
David (@nvherman)
30th October 2023, 7:54
@esploratore1 there’s a lot of mental gymnastics going on for people trying to justify that Ricciardo had a great race.
How many people did he overtake?
drmouse (@drmouse)
30th October 2023, 11:15
Why does it matter how many people he overtook? He was in a much slower car than those around him, but managed not to lose too many positions. He didn’t need to overtake anyone, and could afford to be overtaken by a couple of drivers, because he qualified far ahead of where he needed/expected to be. His performance gained AT 2 positions in the WCC.
Remember, this is driver of the weekend, not driver of the day. He wasn’t the best driver in the race, but those who did better didn’t do as well in qually.
David (@nvherman)
30th October 2023, 11:53
@drmouse Then in that case: DOTW can only go to Verstappen. He led every practice session, missed out on pole by less than 0.1 seconds, had taken the lead by the braking zone for turn 1 and never lost the lead once pit stops were taken into account.
If you are determined not to vote for Verstappen, then again, it’s got to be Norris: 4th in P1, 2nd in P2, and finished 12 places higher than he started.
I don’t care how much anyone _wants_ to vote for Ricciardo: he does not justify it. Qualifying is the only time he did better than expected.
drmouse (@drmouse)
30th October 2023, 8:09
Sorry, you’re right, in all the excitement I got mixed up.
The rest is still enough for me to give DOTW to DR, though.
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
29th October 2023, 23:01
Easily Danny Ricciardo…
Considering he’s in the AT, P4 in Quali, with good practice and a decent race finish.
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
29th October 2023, 23:02
I will add that without the red flag, he could well have finished P5.
Nick T.
29th October 2023, 23:07
Agreed, the RF really hurt him. He got some help from Yuki battling Piastri so hard, but I was extremely impressed that Daniel, on old hards, was able to keep the gap to Oscar absolutely pegged even after Yuki spun off.
Moi
30th October 2023, 14:44
Iirc. Tsunoda actually had better pace for most of the race? Granted he screwed up with the overtake, but it goes to show that Ricciardo wasn’t outdriving his material, if anything he was underperforming.
It seems to me that, contrary to the rest of the season, the AT was actually a pretty good car this weekend. Ric did wel keeping it on track and in the points, but far from an exceptional performance.
Nick T.
30th October 2023, 15:26
You can also look at it like this: Yuki was never managing his tires because he’s impatient. It’s why he pitted off hards extremely early and then later couldn’t get past Logan Sargeant. But I agree that Yuki has very good natural pace. Just no race craft.
Nick T.
29th October 2023, 23:05
I am going to give a three-way tie to Daniel, Lando and Lewis. Leclerc deserves honorable mention for utterly shading his teammate during the first stint despite a damaged front wing.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
29th October 2023, 23:17
Pretty sure Carlos was playing backup driver today, he never really tried to pass Charles, but he managed to keep a quicker car behind him for most of the second stint, while Charles drove uncontested to the finish line. Ferrari were the best team today, Russell was too impatient to collect 3rd place today, but to be honest, Mercedes need to pull their thumb out and address why their car sucks in a straight line.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th October 2023, 23:42
It’s 2 races in a row where Carlos really showed his mettle as defensive driver, yeah. I think he just settled for having been a tad off the pace of Leclerc and just going with that and focussing on getting to the finish in the best way possible.
Nick T.
29th October 2023, 23:53
He was playing backup eight seconds behind Leclerc after just 15 or so laps? And after Leclerc was passed by Hamilton, what was the point of playing rearguard?
David BR (@david-br)
29th October 2023, 23:15
Hamilton. Maximized the car’s potential in qualifying and today a smartly driven race to second on the medium tyres, including a tricky pass on Leclerc (compare to Russell failing to pass Sainz at the restart and dropping back after).
slowmo (@slowmo)
29th October 2023, 23:39
Ricciardo, mainly as he maximised every element of the weekend given his package. Norris and Hamilton were fantastic today but neither maximised qualifying.
Robert Henning
30th October 2023, 0:20
Ver or Ric.
Ric priority because he drove the best S2 and S3 combined and didn’t rely on efficiency of the car to get P4.
Ver had another perfect weekend. Only driver to improve in the second runs among the top 3 and had a brilliantly execute start and restart.
Other drivers had more blemishes.
drmouse (@drmouse)
30th October 2023, 0:23
IIRC Verstappen himself admitted he didn’t do as well as he could in qualifying.
Robert Henning
30th October 2023, 0:40
Not exactly what he says. Doesn’t say he left some margin on the table like he does usually. Just says evolution was not the perfect for them. And that much was clear given Ferrari surprised themselves with a P1 and P2 randomly in Q3 and failed to improve again. Probably got their rear Temps spot on for that one lap.
Doggy
30th October 2023, 0:31
Not that I disagree with you, but the “maximize car potential in quali and race” applies equally to:
Max, Leclerc, Sainz, and Riccardo.
The pace difference between RBR and Mercs, is the same Mercs have over Ferrari.
I think that people are underestimating Lecrerc and Sainz performance ( you briefly alluded to that with Russel’S…)
MadMax (@madmax)
30th October 2023, 0:35
Merc didnt have much of an advantage to Ferrari, if any at all. They went for softer tyres at the restart, but even so Russell was unable to overtake Sainz.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th October 2023, 6:44
Yes, I agree merc and ferrari were much closer here than merc were to red bull.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
30th October 2023, 1:19
Riccardo, Hamilton, Leclerc.
I’d accept any order.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th October 2023, 6:47
I went for hamilton as he maximised the car’s performance, managed to make medium tyres last in the end against all cars on hards, got the fastest lap in the last lap and got the overtakes done early on for a good recovery.
Obviously ricciardo is an obvious choice as well, impressive weekend, didn’t expect at all to see him, or an alpha tauri so far ahead and he managed to stay with the 2nd mercedes till the end, and verstappen has consistently the fastest car but he also consistently drives it to the max performance, he’s the reason why only 1 race has been won by a non-red bull car this year and with 3 races left that might stay unchanged till the end.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2023, 6:55
Easily RIC for both nominations.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
30th October 2023, 7:21
Ricciardo was the weekend standout. So good to see. Norris was great in the race but well and truly butchered qualifying.
Moi
30th October 2023, 7:40
Norris. Yes he messed up quali, but to come back from that the way he did (and the red flag didn’t come at a good time for him either iirc) more than makes up for that.
David (@nvherman)
30th October 2023, 7:55
Yep, this.