The Mexican Grand Prix 2019 was the 18th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 27th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 4th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 26 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 14-15: 4 stops
- Laps 20-23: 5 stops
- Laps 35-37: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 21.862 seconds during his pit stop on lap 37, while the slowest one was was Antonio Giovinazzi's, who stopped the clock at 43.411 seconds, 21.549 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 21.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat, Alexander Albon, Kimi Räikkönen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Robert Kubica decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
2Max Verstappen
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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4Sergio Pérez
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1Antonio Giovinazzi
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3George Russell
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2Lewis Hamilton
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2Kevin Magnussen
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3Valtteri Bottas
-
-Sebastian Vettel
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1Romain Grosjean
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4Lance Stroll
-
5Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
-
1Pierre Gasly
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2Daniil Kvyat
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-Alexander Albon
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5Kimi Räikkönen
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6Carlos Sainz
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3Charles Leclerc
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2Robert Kubica
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.08 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1.33 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Kimi Räikkönen, who suffered from an overall car overhating on lap 58, and Lando Norris, who withdrew on lap 48.
Overheating
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 58
Withdrew
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Lando NorrisLap 48
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.266 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.758. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Charles Leclerc.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.