The podium celebrations (F1i.com)
At one of the most well-attended events of this sporting year, an extensive audience witnessed one of the most predictable results of this entire sporting year. Max Verstappen, of Red Bull Racing, continued his historic season with his 14th victory of the campaign, a new F1 record.
Frankly, though competition is starting to become more varied, as Mercedes are finding their groove, the two-time world champion is in unstoppable form and the races have gradually become formalities. Nevertheless, as a Max fan, I can hardly complain, though I do believe that I'd enjoy a more competitive grid.
Even the midfield battle wasn't very eventful, though Verstappen's former teammate Daniel Ricciardo did put forth a masterclass in what was arguably his peak race performance of the 2022 season. The altitude at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez often affects the teams towards the bottom of the grid significantly more than the frontrunners, so that may explain the lack of competition to Red Bull and Mercedes.
As usual, I added all the drivers' scores together to find the top 10 drivers for this particular race and on a season-long basis.
If you've forgotten, we take machinery entirely out of the equation and simply judge the drivers based on how well they did with the equipment they possessed.
Let's begin!
THE SCORES FOR MEXICO
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Race Position: 1st
Score: 9.1
A 9.1 is almost certainly too low for a driver that achieved pole position and then took victory by a fairly comfortable margin, but the Max Verstappen phenomenon has changed my perspective on a perfect weekend. For Verstappen to score a perfect 10, he's going to need to do something incredibly special, since he has set some impossibly high standards this season.
Despite being the first driver in 6 years to take the victory and pole position around Mexico, Verstappen didn't face too much resistance, in part due to a favourable strategy call from his Red Bull team. Still, it was a world-class drive from the world-class Dutchman.
2. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
Race Position: 7th
Score: 8.2
This was a good race for one reason: Daniel Ricciardo's unexpected surge through the midfield to take an impressive P7. Though his admittedly harsh 10-second time penalty for an incident involving Yuki Tsunoda should have taken Ricciardo out of contention for points, the Aussie found legitimate pace in his final stint on the soft tire.
He sliced through the field, getting past his teammate and both Alpines with relative ease, at least compared to the McLaren driver's struggles in 2022. By the end of his mad dash, the penalty didn't even affect his final race position.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Race Position: 2nd
Score: 8.0
Yet again, Lewis Hamilton was Max Verstappen's closest competitor for victory. Yet again, he came up short. This time, an ill-advised strategy played a part in his downfall; though, in truth, it would have been a monumental task for the 7-time champion to hold off Verstappen in the closing stages of the GP.
Every F1 fan wants to see Sir Lewis take one victory in the 2022 season to continue his remarkable streak. Unfortunately, as long as the ultra-competitive Verstappen is driving at this level, Hamilton will have to drive more impeccably than his simply solid race performance in Mexico. Perhaps his favoured stomping grounds of Brazil will provide Hamilton with the required motivation to usurp his rival.
4. George Russell, Mercedes
Race Position: 4th
Score: 7.8
Russell's trip to Mexico summarized his season as a whole. Never at risk of falling out of some rewarding positions, but generally disappointing at the end of the weekend for flashes of promise never developed into anything more. I Tweeted that I thought this was a George Russell pole position weekend and my prediction came up just short, as Russell failed to string together his best sectors and wound up coming second to Verstappen.
A tangle with Perez on the opening lap dropped Russell to P4 and he stayed there for every lap, too fast for the Ferraris and too slow for Hamilton and the Red Bulls.
5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Race Position: 3rd
Score: 7.7
Though Perez keeps driving fairly well and he has continued his quest for P2 in the Drivers' Championship, I always feel disappointed by his overall weekends, since they typically pale in comparison to what his teammate can achieve in the same machinery. As I have stated on every power rankings article, we take machinery out of the equation on Sincere Sports, so even when Checo achieves a famous podium in front of his adoring Mexican fans, his superior machinery drops his score quite significantly.
Still, Checo demonstrated some good racecraft, but he found it tough to follow Hamilton and thus couldn't compete for P2.
6. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Race Position: 10th
Score: 7.6
Bottas found his mojo around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. His one-lap pace was shocking, as he picked up P6 amidst the competitive grid. As expected, the Alfa couldn't keep up its potential, as Bottas suffered from a poor launch and rather diminished race pace to come home in a mildly dispiriting P10.
Nevertheless, in Alfa Romeo's quest for P6 in the standings, outscoring Aston Martin, even by 1 point, will be seen as a very positive result.
7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
Race Position: DNF
Score: 7.5
Yet again, Alonso's preference of performance over reliability came back to bite him. Strong pace in his Alpine should have been enough to seal a respectable P7 or P8 for the Enstone team. Unfortunately, another engine failure down the main straight robbed the Spaniard of a handful of points, as Alonso was visibly enraged.
It's hard to judge the wily veteran when he continuously does everything right, but gets let down by his vehicle. Somehow, Alonso is behind teammate Ocon in the standings, despite his clearly superior race pace and racecraft,
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