The Mexican Grand Prix has never had a home winner, but Carlos Sainz Jnr became the first native speaker of the local language to triumph in the 24th edition of the event last weekend.
It’s the first time in his career Sainz has won more than one race in a season. Five other drivers have already done the same this year, making this the first season since 1981 to feature six multiple winners.That feat was never previously achieved before 1981. In order to break the record this year, George Russell needs to win one more race or any other non-winner needs to win twice.
However it is worth noting the 1981 record was set in a 15-round season. The Mexican Grand Prix was the 20th of 24 events this year.
| Multiple winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 2024* | ||
| Driver | Wins | Driver | Wins |
| Nelson Piquet | 3 | Max Verstappen | 7 |
| Alain Prost | 3 | Lando Norris | 3 |
| Alan Jones | 2 | Charles Leclerc | 3 |
| Jacques Laffite | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 2 |
| Carlos Reutemann | 2 | Oscar Piastri | 2 |
| Gilles Villeneuve | 2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 2 |
*Season in progress
Sainz’s win was the fourth of his career, putting him level with Eddie Irvine (who, like Sainz, scored all his wins for Ferrari), Bruce McLaren (who founded the team Sainz previously drove for) and Dan Gurney. The Ferrari driver also took his sixth pole position, putting him level with Phil Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Alan Jones, Carlos Reutemann and Ralf Schumacher.
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Norris claimed second place from Charles Leclerc late in the race. However for the first time since the Monaco Grand Prix neither he nor McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri led a lap.
First, third and fastest lap for Ferrari meant they overtook Red Bull for second place in the constructors’ championship. They are only 29 points behind leaders McLaren and could easily overhaul them this weekend, where twice as many points are available.
Max Verstappen saw his run of three consecutive Mexican Grand Prix wins come to an end. However he did lead a lap for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen scored his best result of the season so far with seventh place. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth, and now has 31 points, the highest score by a Haas driver since the 2018 season.
Haas pulled out a 10-point lead over closest rivals RB in the fight for sixth place. Alpine picked up their first point since the Dutch Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly in 10th place.
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Lance Stroll finished one place outside the points. He has now gone seven rounds without scoring, which is his longest point-less streak since he joined the team owned by his father. He went nine races without scoring a point at Williams in 2018.
Finally, Fernando Alonso marked his 400th appearance in a grand prix, but retired early on due to overheating brakes. He will make his 400th start in three races’ time: Alonso officially did not start the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix (crash), 2005 United States Grand Prix (withdrew) or 2017 Russian Grand Prix (pre-race technical failure).
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Mexican Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2024 Mexican Grand Prix
- McLaren have no regrets over pitting Norris shortly before red flag came out
- Leclerc fined, avoids same penalty as Verstappen after apologising for swearing
- Leclerc not in the clear over swearing as Verstappen claims he went unpunished
- Majority of drivers wanted racing rules to change “straight away” – Russell
- Verstappen was “over the limit” with Norris but others would do same – Leclerc
Mayrton
30th October 2024, 7:27
Well done by FIA/Liberty and way more subtle than ’21.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 8:29
Literally nothing to do with them.
Mayrton
30th October 2024, 9:58
The subtlety is not wasted I see.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
30th October 2024, 19:02
you mean Pirelli are not working with Liberty to make the show more interesting to watch ?
Steve (@scbriml)
30th October 2024, 12:44
Lolz
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
30th October 2024, 7:32
“They are only 29 points behind leaders McLaren and could easily overhaul them this weekend, where twice as many points are available.”
That is a bit optimistic but yes there are more points available 59 for a team versus 44 in a normal race weekend, for drivers it is 34 versus 25.
“easily overhaul” is also questionable as the max gap between best team score and 2nd best team score all season has been 26 points (Austin) and on average 13 points. So yes it is possible but unlikely the gap will be bridged in just 1 race.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 8:29
I think you mean 34 versus 26, with 33 versus 25 from next season onwards.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 8:28
Ferrari became the first team to have both drivers qualify for pole position at least once each this season.
Oscar Piastri failed to reach Q3 (Q2 as well) for the first time this season, having been the only one to do so until the Mexico City GP.
Sergio Perez failed to proceed from Q1 in Mexico for the first time in his Red Bull Racing stint.
He was also both the first & last to pit in the race.
Max Verstappen forced someone off at T1 on the opening lap for the second consecutive race.
Carlos Sainz became the sixth different driver to win more than one race this season & consequently, Ferrari won in Mexico for the third time.
Fernando Alonso lost his chance for a full 2024 finishing record, making Oscar Piastri the only one who can complete this season by reaching the chequered flag in every race.
Jonathan Parkin
30th October 2024, 8:41
Only Michael, Lewis and Max have all done this is that correct? Has Oscar been lapped this season at any point
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 9:19
No, but that aspect is irrelevant now that Alonso isn’t in the mix anymore, given he’s of course been lapped in a few races.
Carlos has also reached the chequered flag in all races (2021) as did Danny Ric in 2016 & Kimi in 2012, albeit the latter two didn’t finish on the lead lap in every single one & neither did the former, iirc.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 9:21
Regarding my original post, I forgot to add the first neutralized opening lap since the Monaco GP red-flagging & the first fully SC-neutralized one since last season’s Qatar GP.
Simon
30th October 2024, 18:17
Thank you so much for the completion. I can sleep properly tonight, now
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
30th October 2024, 8:42
The only other winner in the 1981 season with just the 1 win was John Watson who won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I was there :)
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
30th October 2024, 8:59
Sainz’s first four wins were in four different continents – that must be a first!
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2024, 9:53
At the very least the first such feat in a long time.
MichaelN
30th October 2024, 10:39
Had a quick look, and there are a surprisingly high number who get to 3 out of 4, or 4 out of 5. Usually Europe is the double.
Berger and Andretti also had four out of their first four.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
31st October 2024, 6:46
Thanks very interesting
InterPaul (@interpaul)
30th October 2024, 10:09
Well, there were 15 races in 1981 vs 24 in 2024.
So, having multiple race winners will become a common feature once we reach 100 GP per season anytime soon…
Riccard
30th October 2024, 13:35
A fairer comparison is 15 races in 1981 vs 20 races needed this year to match that record. There are more races to come, but we’ve only had 20 so far.
The winners for the last 15 races this year have been
Verstappen – 3
Norris – 3
Leclerc – 3
Hamilton – 2
Piastri – 2
Russell – 1
Sainz – 1
That’s directly comparable with older, shorter seasons, and would probably be the 2nd-most competitive single-season 15-race sequence ever behind 1981.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
30th October 2024, 16:13
I would throw the 1982 season into the mix, as a 16-race season that saw 11 different winners, with no one winning more than twice.
gogathejedi
31st October 2024, 21:55
I find competitiveness and 30sec driveaways after last stop to be a tiny bit contradicting. Maybe it’s just me.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th October 2024, 13:42
When was the last time the drivers championship was awarded to a driver that raced for the 3rd rankest team in the constructors?
JOA20
30th October 2024, 13:52
I think it was 1983, Piquet WDC with Brabham 3rd in WCC.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th October 2024, 15:04
@fer-no65 yeah but this year would be different as something clearly changed Red Bull’s pace this year and they seem to have disproportionately shared the wealth between Max and Checo in an effort to allow Max to compete in the WDC. I’m guessing the WCC was out of the question and perhaps their WCC position was pre-determined.
They just seem so out of sorts. One car is sorta okay a la Ferrari and the other one is almost at the brink of failing in order to meet some quota. Maybe the original deal did not take into account McLaren’s pace and Red Bull are now scrambling to keep the WDC and abide by the agreement.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th October 2024, 14:04
Wow, Max would have been on 14 wins this season already had Red Bull been allowed to run the same car as in the first 10 races and last year’s rocket. I still think they let them run a faster car than they should have. He could have been languishing slightly ahead of Perez if the car was 100% legal. But I guess Perez’s struggles make the car legal.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
30th October 2024, 16:30
I think PER’s car didn’t have the “upgrade” to keep the “upgrade” less detectable. It was part of the driver is just so much better BS that was being said at the time.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th October 2024, 17:19
Sorry, I replied in a separate comment :-)
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th October 2024, 17:18
Checo is not as fast as Verstappen but it seems like he can barely drive for Uber at this point :-)
He’s ending his career at an all time low and I do wonder what percentage of that can really be attributed to his driving. He may not be as fast as Verstappen but this is almost ridiculous. Like I said, it looks like Red Bull are only allowed a certain number of points like Ferrari in 2018+ and since Max needs them for the WDC and they hadn’t accounted for McLaren’s resurgence and Norris’ threat when the deal was struck, Perez has to score minimal points.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
30th October 2024, 19:07
look at what happened to Yamaha and HRC when their bikes in MotoGP did not have the favour of Bridgestone and Michelin shifted too far away from their setups. The number twos always get almost no consideration and end up as serial backmarkers. Its pro racing, that said, Checo needs to realize whose game hes playing, and whether or not its worth it.
When the car worked well with the tires, and the traction was there, the car was easy to setup, and Perez was a contender, when RBR are scratching their heads and behind the curve, Checo has not a prayer. Checo is probably the biggest victim of Pirelli’s tyre ‘programme’.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th October 2024, 21:03
@pcxmac did Pirelli change their tyres after the Spanish GP? That was Max’s last win after which Red Bull hit a cliff or slammed into a wall of sorts with someone in F1.
Perez seems to have been affected sooner and I wonder if he was forced on a “low points” diet. At the start of the season, he had scored 4 podiums in 5 races and after that he suddenly couldn’t find the accelerator while Max was still winning until he was also put on a diet.
MichaelN
30th October 2024, 23:56
No, the tyres have been the same all season.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
30th October 2024, 22:13
Sainz keeps alive his record of always qualifying higher than in the previous Mexico GP (this streak is of course guaranteed to come to an end).
First season since 2010 in which 3 different teams have taken 5+ victories.
This race featured the longest Safety Car period of the season so far.
None of Sainz’s 3 most recent victories have seen anyone other than him or Verstappen lead a lap.
Sainz and Norris both scored the same number of points in Mexico City as they did over the whole Austin weekend.
5th time this year that Albon has started 9th – he has not started higher this year.
First time since Canada that fewer than 18 cars have been classified.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.