Poll: Official 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix Race Thread - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez - Race 20/24

Rate the XE race out of ten

  • One

  • Two

  • Three

  • Four

  • Five

  • Six

  • Seven

  • Eight

  • Nine

  • Ten


Results are only viewable after voting.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Yeah, he couldn't make the turn, bypassed the next two corners entirely (as did several others) and rejoined into third place without issue, so the idea that Leclerc is the only one who 'took advantage' of the Lap 1 Leniency is just abject nonsense.

The leniency is becoming a farce really, too many drivers just not even making half an effort to even vaguely follow the track.
And then let Lewis through after 2 corners...so he gained nothing. It's not like he could've hit the brakes after being squeezed onto the grass.

Maybe they should do rolling starts under the safety car.
 
His entire car was ahead of George, he was alongside the Ferraris and fully on track, then got squeezed wide, took the grass and ended up between Lewis and George.

Far from a rare lap 1 situation. Charles, on the other hand, gained a place off track and kept it.
He was never going to make that corner...ever.
 
Gained 'nothing' apart from not losing about 12 positions had he (the same as others) even attempted to rejoin the track before the next 2 turns.

The leniency is absurd when it's letting 4 or 5 cars bypass 2 entire turns and keep the places they rejoin in without any issue.

Maybe they should do rolling starts under the safety car.
They might as well if they're employing a level of leniency that says you're ok to skip a few turns as long as you don't rejoin any further in front that when you left the track, because lap 1 is currently becoming a bit of a farce in terms of actually racing.

Don't want to lose position because you couldn't make a corner? Just cut the next two and you're golden.
 
Last edited:
A genuine tactic now could be to get a data log of braking into a turn on lap 1 (so slightly pressing the pedal just enough to evidence an "attempt" to brake) and then deliberately cutting and clearing off with a 5 or 10 seconds penalty.
I remember when George Russell did this at Monaco at the chicane but I think he got a 20 second or stop go due to deliberately doing it in a live race and not lap 1.

The stewarding as always is consistently inconsistent.
 
It's a shame Sao Paolo has a barrier blocking the cut across past turn 2, would be funny to see someone go off the outside of T1 and rejoin straight into T3 and see just how lenient the stewards are with the lap 1 nonsense :p
 
In reality it was a good exciting race completely ruined for me by the ridiculous stewards,

They just don’t seem to have common sense or understand the sport. I think they’re all just scared little bunnies tbh.

TBF the crazy tyres messed it up as well, can’t help wondering why they bothered bringing the hard.
 
In reality it was a good exciting race completely ruined for me by the ridiculous stewards,

They just don’t seem to have common sense or understand the sport. I think they’re all just scared little bunnies tbh.

TBF the crazy tyres messed it up as well, can’t help wondering why they bothered bringing the hard.

Thought tyre choice was good.
It was borderline 1 or 2 stop race. That's exactly what I want. Where some people try 1 and others try 2. And you don't exactly know what is the right call in the moment.
 
His entire car was ahead of George, he was alongside the Ferraris and fully on track, then got squeezed wide, took the grass and ended up between Lewis and George.
He was on the outside of 3 other cars going into turn one. He had no business doing anything apart from conceding the corner to them and staying on track. But Max does Max things and gets away with it.
He was never going to make that corner...ever.
Indeed.
 
Reasonably entertaining race, but ruined by the Stewards' continuing leniency on Max's antics.

How did he get away with divebombing Lewis and using Lewis' front wing as a bumper to slow himself down??

The 10 sec penalty on Lewis was harsh too considering Max didn't make the corner either, using his usual "style" of driving...

The tyres are annoying and make little sense as well. I know Leclercs tyres were slightly older, but aren't the mediums supposed to have more longevity...? Why is someone on 30 lap old shifts able to chase someone down on 35ish old lap mediums at a second a lap?? Bizarre work by Pirelli.


Great weekend for Norris. It really is his to lose now.
 
It's funny because Lewis was actually at risk of a penalty there, which is based on the updated rule that drivers voted for.
Yeah I didn't realise 19/20 drivers all voted in favour of the rule (only Russell voted against).

I really want them to just scrap it entirely and just revert to a more simple 'must always leave racing room' approach. I think it was Qatar last season where we had Hamilton vs. Leclerc all through T1/T2/T3 and just leaving each the right amount of space, not forcing that 'get to the apex and just park it' approach.

Looking forward to Brazil in a few weeks, I always hate 'controversy' during a GP because it's all that ends up being spoken about for the next 2 weeks..!
 
What rule are you on about? The nose in front at the apex? I don't think Max was ahead enough to warrant forcing Lewis off track on T1.

Replay;

Basically Max forced Lewis off track on T1, Lewis almost did the same at T2 but left a wheels space for Max, but Max decided to cut the corner and got away with it. Then Lewis locks up round the outside (probably knowing Max will force him off anyway) and takes the escape road. So through all of that, Lewis gets a 10sec penalty? Laughable.

On another note (what I actually loaded YT for), I thought this was interesting about Sainz's pit limiter. Not really sure what else the stewards could do. They can't not penalise him because of a malfunction, otherwise people would blame malfunctions for it all the time.


I really want them to just scrap it entirely and just revert to a more simple 'must always leave racing room' approach.
I agree. They wouldn't even have to revert to gravel traps if done properly.
 
Last edited:
Thought tyre choice was good.
It was borderline 1 or 2 stop race. That's exactly what I want. Where some people try 1 and others try 2. And you don't exactly know what is the right call in the moment.
The red should have been a lot further away from the yellow either in wear rate or speed or both. As it was it had faster speed and similar wear rate.
 
The tyres are annoying and make little sense as well. I know Leclercs tyres were slightly older, but aren't the mediums supposed to have more longevity...? Why is someone on 30 lap old shifts able to chase someone down on 35ish old lap mediums at a second a lap?? Bizarre work by Pirelli.

Think that's more down to car/ driver tbh. I don't think Ferrari is great at preserving the tires and Max basically had advantage of clear air throughout the whole stint since those ahead of him all decided to pit just as he was closing in on them.
 
Think that's more down to car/ driver tbh. I don't think Ferrari is great at preserving the tires and Max basically had advantage of clear air throughout the whole stint since those ahead of him all decided to pit just as he was closing in on them.
This is true but imo the softs should have been shot by about 15 laps.
 
What rule are you on about? The nose in front at the apex? I don't think Max was ahead enough to warrant forcing Lewis off track on T1.
Not surprised that you're complaining about it but don't even know the rules.

If the attackers front axel is ahead of the defenders mirror then it's the attackers corner and is entitled to the racing line.
 
Also have to mention how long the stewards take to make a decision. I swear the Sainz pit limiter one should take - with no exageration - seconds to sort out and announce. Check the data. Yes he's sped. Penalty. I swear it took them 10 laps nearly?
So much money in the sport and we can't sort out proper stewards and race direction.
 
Also have to mention how long the stewards take to make a decision. I swear the Sainz pit limiter one should take - with no exageration - seconds to sort out and announce. Check the data. Yes he's sped. Penalty. I swear it took them 10 laps nearly?
So much money in the sport and we can't sort out proper stewards and race direction.
Yeah, you're right! He was under investigation for speeding in the pit lane for almost 10 laps - and then the same thing again on the second incident. 'Under investigation' on lap 51 - then lap 61 he gets told he has a drive through!
 
He was on the outside of 3 other cars going into turn one. He had no business doing anything apart from conceding the corner to them and staying on track. But Max does Max things and gets away with it.

Max was only pushed off because Leclerc and Hamilton moved left. Before then he had space to be where he was. No reason for a car fully alongside to yield.

A genuine tactic now could be to get a data log of braking into a turn on lap 1 (so slightly pressing the pedal just enough to evidence an "attempt" to brake) and then deliberately cutting and clearing off with a 5 or 10 seconds penalty.
I remember when George Russell did this at Monaco at the chicane but I think he got a 20 second or stop go due to deliberately doing it in a live race and not lap 1.

I'm pretty sure the Steward's are going to treat drivers making a genuine attempt to avoid contact and a driver blatantly abusing the rules differently. Especially if it happens more than once. On the other hand, I'm sure the drivers are already taking the leniency into account when deciding what to do and which places to give back. Max was probably one of the more outrageous examples we've seen but he was also onto the grass because of Leclerc moving and had clearly avoided a collision by taking the action he did. F1 would rather drivers make the odd dodgy place up than have them crash out in the first corner and cause a red flag or SC at the start of the race -- and that seems a sensible choice to me.

On another note (what I actually loaded YT for), I thought this was interesting about Sainz's pit limiter. Not really sure what else the stewards could do. They can't not penalise him because of a malfunction, otherwise people would blame malfunctions for it all the time.

Exactly and an F1 driver should be able to drive under the limit within relying on the limiter. It will cost him time but, hey, that's the price paid for having your equipment fail.
 
I swear tracks of old just had more gravel traps etc..if someone goes off they are basically out of the race. I don't know why most tracks now have ridiculous run off areas.
There were so many meme moments last night of many drivers just making a new circuit for themselves, not saying any deserved a penalty as id rather see that style of racing than a single file procession any day and perhaps this is just a problem with the Autódromo construction.
Tracks that also have Moto GP could easily do what RB Ring does and have small trap pockets at key corners that get added/removed based on the vehicle type.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom