The Mexico City Grand Prix 2021 was the 18th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, during the weekend of the 5th to the 7th of November.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Pérez completing the podium.
Valtteri Bottas started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 15th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 11-16: 6 stops
- Laps 29-34: 7 stops
- Laps 38-40: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 21.908 seconds during his pit stop on lap 33, while the slowest one was was Daniel Ricciardo's, who stopped the clock at 38.128 seconds, 16.220 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 4 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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6Esteban Ocon
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-George Russell
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-Antonio Giovinazzi
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-Lewis Hamilton
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3Charles Leclerc
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1Pierre Gasly
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2Kimi Räikkönen
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2Sebastian Vettel
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2Max Verstappen
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3Fernando Alonso
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1Sergio Pérez
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-Carlos Sainz
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8Lando Norris
2 stops
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5Daniel Ricciardo
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4Nicholas Latifi
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6Lance Stroll
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3Nikita Mazepin
4 stops
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14Valtteri Bottas
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.15 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1.5 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 14 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, .
Collision
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Mick SchumacherLap 0
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Yuki TsunodaLap 0
Qualifying
Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.145 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:15.875. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Red Bull, with Max Verstappen in third position, and Sergio Pérez in fourth.
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 6 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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.