
Photo by Regina Salinas
During the last weekend of October, the Mexico Grand Prix happened at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez! This event is significantly important for the city, Sergio Perez, the formula one driver contributes to a lot of this excitement being the only mexican driver in formula one and the reason why many mexicans watch the sport. The energy throughout the whole city is incredible with many people coming to Mexico for the race.

Checo is a Mexican driver for Red Bull Racing and a crowd favorite at the Mexican Grand Prix. He currently holds the second place in the championship but has been struggling a lot throughout the second half of the season. With his home race he was hoping to secure a victory for mexico. Over the past two years he has been on the
Photo by Regina Salinas podium in this race but the win has been out of reach. On Saturday he qualified in 5th place, a position that was not optimal. However, with the most competitive car on track the odds were in his favor of having the opportunity of winning the race. His biggest competition being his teammate, Max Verstappen.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is worldly known for its speed. The drivers reach the highest speed in the F1 calendar in one of the straights. The circuit has a total of 17 corners with two DRS (Drag Reduction System) zones. It measures 4.304 kilometers and the race is formed by 71 laps with the average lap time being around 1 minute and 18 seconds.Â

Unfortunately, Checo ruined his chance of getting his win in his home grand prix at the start of the race by ambitiously trying to get the lead of the race in the first corner. The race began with an exceptional start from Checo. The crowd was exhilarated with him being in third place coming into the first corner. He then tried to overtake both Charles Photo by Regina Salinas
Leclerc and Max Verstappen who were side by side fighting for the lead. This led him to have contact with Leclerc causing him to go off the track damaging his own tyre and suspension and Leclerc's front wing.Â
The whole track went silent. Everyone was anxiously waiting to see what would be Checos next move. He was able to get back on track but quickly noticed he had damage and had to retire his car once he got to the pits. The fans were trying to blame Charles Leclerc for what had happened but after all, Checo was on the outside and risked everything for the victory. Young Checo fans were crying and many people got up to leave. The exciting atmosphere went from 100% to 0% in just a matter of seconds. It was disappointing for every Mexican, not only Red Bull fans. After all, none of us would be against seeing Checo win. Checo’s crash in the first lap meant he finished the race with no points, giving Lewis Hamilton the opportunity to narrow the gap for second place in the championship standings.Â

By: Regina Salinas
Following the tragic start to the race, Max Verstappen got the lead after turn 1 and maintained this position almost the entire race. The interesting part were the ferrari, mercedes, mclaren and the one Alpha Tauri who were fighting for the positions behind Verstappen. During qualifying, on saturday, Daniel Ricciardo from Alpha Tauri made an impressive lap making him start the race in 5th and leading him to his best race this season.Â

The Ferrari drivers also had a great qualifying where they unexpectedly got pole position and second place for the race start. This did not last long but they kept fighting throughout the whole race. On lap 34 Kevin Magnussen crashed causing a red flag and a complete restart. This crash caused the gap between drivers to close again, giving a chance for other drivers to take the first place in the restart. The race started again and there was still half of the race left. After having a challenging start Fernando Alonso ended up retiring his car Photo by Regina Salinas
and a few laps later after spinning his teammate also retired the car giving Aston Martin a day they would want to forget.
The race ended with Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc on the podium. Lando Norris earned Driver of the Day after an exceptional performance having had a heartbreaking Saturday, qualifying 19th but making his way through the grid finishing in 5th.Â

Photo by Regina Salinas
Sadly, during the podium when Charles Leclerc received his trophy he was booed by the Mexican crowd accusing him of causing Checo’s crash. It was a similar situation as the previous year when Max Verstappen was booed for not helping Checo win the Grand Prix. Even though this was not respectful it showed the passion Mexican fans have toward the sport and how they were devastated from seeing their favorite driver crash on the first lap.Â

Photo by Regina Salinas
The race weekend came to an end with many disappointed faces caused by the crash at the beginning of the race. Other Mercedes fans were pleased about having Lewis Hamilton on the podium and Ferrari fans like myself were excited and satisfied to see Charles Leclerc on the podium for the third time this season. It was a complicated and long race but the excitement of the weekend concluded. The overall joy and atmosphere of the race moved into fans ready for next year hoping that Checos win in Mexico finally comes in 2024.
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