The Mexico City Grand Prix 2023 was the 19th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, during the weekend of the 27th to the 29th of October.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 38 pit stops during the race, although only 20 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 34 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 21-31: 14 stops
The fastest pit stop was Carlos Sainz's, stopping the clock at 22.067 seconds during his pit stop on lap 30, while the slowest one was was Yuki Tsunoda's, who stopped the clock at 30.121 seconds, 8.054 seconds slower than Sainz, during his pit stop on lap 9.
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 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
3Kevin Magnussen
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5Esteban Ocon
2 stops
-
6Yuki Tsunoda
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4Guanyu Zhou
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3Logan Sargeant
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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4Lewis Hamilton
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1Oscar Piastri
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2George Russell
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3Daniel Ricciardo
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-Pierre Gasly
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5Fernando Alonso
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2Carlos Sainz
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17Lance Stroll
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6Valtteri Bottas
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2Charles Leclerc
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5Alexander Albon
3 stops
-
12Lando Norris
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2Max Verstappen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 5 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.17 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 7 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 34, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Logan Sargeant, who had to retire on lap 70, Lance Stroll, and Sergio Pérez, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Fernando Alonso, who withdrew on lap 47, and Kevin Magnussen, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 31.
Retired
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Logan SargeantLap 70
Collision damage
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Lance StrollLap 66
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Sergio PérezLap 1
Withdrew
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Fernando AlonsoLap 47
Accident
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Kevin MagnussenLap 31
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.067 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:17.166. Carlos Sainz was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
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 14 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.