MEXICAN GRAND PRIX

I was all geared up for MAXico.

And then this happened.

By the end of this string of disappointments, I was pretty checked out. The last thirty laps of the race, I couldn't even feel anything anymore. Once Ferrari inexplicably messed up Leclerc's second pit stop, adding four seconds to his pit stop time, it was all over for me. I'd already had to sit through he trauma of watching Max Verstappen drive around the circuit with only three wheels after that contact with Bottas, and then the pit stop madness this weekend sealed the deal.

Watching the race went something like this:

The worst part of this weekend was that Max had such an appalling time in Mexico after winning there for the last two years in a row. I dreamed that he would make it three years, but I guess we just aren't there yet.

The nicest thing that happened this weekend was that, for some reason, Perez didn't actually suffer from the home race curse, which is always puzzling and pleasant for anyone that escapes it.

As far as I'm concerned, I can't wait to get to Austin. I am really hoping that, by some miracle, Hamilton doesn't win the championship on American soil. It would just feel too awful. I wish he has just got it over this last weekend so we could all move on with our lives.

Here are my notes from this weekend:

Free Practice 1

- if Hamilton outscores Bot by 14 points, Hamilton wins the championship which is a tall order because he’s only done that a few times before and plus Max is so good here so it looks like Hamilton will win the championship the race after this and that’s the USA and I do NOT want him winning here on American soil

- HAHAHahahahah Renault was disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix after using illegal driver aids which Force India taddled on them for. HiLARious

- Latifi in Williams instead of Kubica but only speculation that he’s in the seat next year but he’s the prime candidate because Hulk is too expensive 

- Seb locked up and rejoined the track quickly 

- Ugh Toro Rosso is going to be confirmed as Alfa Tauri next year 

- Pierre Gasly shoots off but no crash 

- Max had a little lockup and off but he didn’t crash or anything 

- « Ooooo Stroll is in the wall » at 32 min left and it was a 65 mph corner? 

Free Practice 2 

- Charles spins but keeps it out of the wall

- Alex Albon has a hard crash into the wall and red flag 

- People are flying off all over the place 

Free Practice 3

- the track is damp and there’s standing water

- Pierre Gasly is feeling sick and might not come out

- Daniels car had a hydraulic leak and they had to change the gearbox so all in all things at Renault are terrible 

- Now Hulk’s car is broken and they don’t know if it’s the same issue as Daniel but the point is that everything at Renault is broken 

Qualifying 

- out in Q1: Stroll, Kmags, Grosjean, Russell and Kubica 

- Stewards investigating a pit lane squabble between Riccardo and Kvyat 

- At the LAST second in Q3, Bottas has a scary crash in the wall 

- Max on pole, Charles in second, Seb in third

(In the time between Qualifying and the Race)

- IN AN OUTRAGEOUSLY DRAMATIC TURN THE STEWARDS GAVE MAX A 3 PLACE GRID PENALTY FOR IGNORING YELLOW FLAGS OF BOTTAS CRASH AND STRIPPED HIM OF HIS SECOND EVER POLE POSITION so now Charles starts 1, Seb 2nd, Hamilton 3 and Max 4th 

Race 

- Charles stays out front, Seb in second and keeps Hamilton behind, then Hamilton drives Max RIGHT off the track and Ham and Max end up both on the grass 

- A CHAOTIC first lap 

- Max started fourth after the first couple laps is running in 8th 

- Max goes back to pass Bottas in a great move but then there’s contact and Max had a puncture and loses his back right tire which just disintegrated until he’s running only with three tires til he gets back to the pits and then has to come out plumb last

- 12/71 Lando pits and got a green release but his front left tire wasn’t on and he stopped before the end of the pit lane and they rolled him back to the McLaren pit lane and redid the tire but he did come out last after that 

- Ferrari did pit Charles first this time in the first fifteen laps but then left Seb out even though Charles is leading 

- They radio Seb to check in with him and he says « everything is peachy »

- The SECOND fumbled pit stop this race is Gio and they dropped him off the jack with a wheel off still and it takes forever for him to get away and his first attempt at a getaway tears off the yellow tape on the ground on the Alpha Romeo pit 

- It’s shocking every race how terrible Hamilton’s whining is especially this weekend without his usual race engineer talking to him cause he’s out for a medical procedure 

- Lap 44/71 they pit Charles again and they couldn’t figure out if the back tire was on all the way even though it was and the stop ended up being 6.2 seconds instead of around 2 seconds and it’s basically all over for me now

- They retire Lando on lap 50ish/71 after the wheel mishap early on

- Charles was trying to catch Bottas in 3rd but he went too far off and it ruined his tires and chances of getting on the podium. Also if Charles had gotten Bottas out of third then it would have gotten Hamilton to win the championship in Mexico instead of in the US 

- Kimi has to DNF on 60/71 

- Hamilton "wins", then Seb, then Bottas

- This is the most OUTRAGEOUS and TERRIBLE podium ceremony I've ever seen, including confetti, a hydraulic lift which lifts Hamilton and the car onto the stage, a GIANT picture of his face over everything and a guy in a matador outfit and driver's helmet trying to take a selfie with all the drivers, which Seb said he hated later. And the trophies are shaped like Heineken. So. Overall, the most terrible podium I've ever seen.