F1’s trip through the Americas continues with the Mexican Grand Prix one of the most colourful of the season. Our 2022 Mexican Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap Review & Summary is pretty colourful too, or at least some of the language might be.
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to with our laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The 2022 Mexican Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a small serving of cynicism. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
And why not check out our latest Grand Prix Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far and the last race.
2022 Mexican Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – It is hot and noisy in Mexico City before the race, and hopefully with both the championships decided we’ll have a cracking race. Mercedes look quicker than most of the season qualifying in 2nd and 3rd. Valtteri Bottas was the star though, hauling his Alfa Romeo up to sixth and ahead of Charles Leclerc. Talking of Leclerc, he nearly lost it on his lap out of the pits which would have been embarrassing.
With Max Verstappen on pole it will probably mean a borefest as he clears out, but who knows.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER RUS HAM PER SAI BOT LEC NOR ALO OCO
Lap 1 – Pole sitter Max Verstappen gets away well and leads into the first corner, the two Mercedes challenge the Red Bull and swap positions from the grid, Lewis Hamilton in a neat move around the outside of George Russell in the first chicane. Sergio Perez lights up the crowd by taking third from Russell a corner later. Ferraris race side by side without crashing and further back there was no trouble and a clean first lap was had.
ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS SAI LEC ALO BOT OCO NOR
Lap 4 – You know this race is going to be boring when the TV coverage leaves for a full two laps to show replays of the start. At the front Max Verstappen is 1.5 seconds in front, which has been pretty static, with a similar gap between the cars as you file backwards until Alosno. Fernando Alonso in 7th is holding up a train of cars including Bottas (who rarely gains positions on the first lap and dropped two here), Ocon, Norris and Tsunoda.
Lap 8 – Highlight at the moment is the battle for 12th between Guanyu Zhou and Daniel Ricciardo. They and Lance Stroll behind them are joining the previously mentioned Alonso train, which is heading towards freight train status. Ricciardo gets a brief moment of joy for the season recently by taking Zhou for 12th a lap later.
Lap 12 – Just a quick update to say that not much has changed. If anything, even less than last time as the cars spread out a bit to overcome potential overheating. Sadly the DRS seems useless here, and we’re waiting on the tyre stops.
Lap 13 – Some great TV Coverage as they ride inside Pierre Gasly’s helmet as he tries to overtake Lance Stroll, he outbrakes himself and forces Stroll off the road with him. Both continue to battle some more.
Lap 15 – The front two are clearing out a bit, with Max Verstappen stealing the fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton needing to stay within a semi-botched pitstop of the lead.
ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS SAI LEC ALO BOT OCO NOR
Lap 19 – Leclerc is on the radio asking if they should consider “Plan C”. The Ferraris seem a little off the pace this race, but Plan C suggests they’ll join the Alonso train for maximum waste of time.
Lap 24 – Now the pit stops begin. It is Perez first. It’s a “slow” five second pit stop and he comes out 6th, thanks for Alonso’s fine work in 7th.
Lap 26 – Max Verstappen pits from the lead, as his is a 2.5 second pit stop. Can Verstappen stay ahead of Carlos Sainz in fourth? The answer is yes. Now Lewis Hamilton leads and he has to try and get a gap big enough to hold onto first. This is about as interesting as we’re going to get.
Lap 27 – Charles Leclerc dares to earn the ire of the massive Mexican crowd by holding Sergio Perez up for a lap. But a lap later, fueled by DRS and the roar of the crowd, Perez takes Leclerc for fourth.
Lap 29 – Lots of radio comms of various drivers complaining about various things going wrong with their cars – tyres, engines, gears. At least they aren’t watching the race. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz pit within a lap of each other. And they end up behind Alonso/Bottas.
Lap 30 – Lewis Hamilton pits and comes out just over a second in front of Sergio Perez. George Russell leads for the moment and is talking of a different strategy that would require a long stint on the current tyres. Perez sets fastest lap to give Hamilton a hurry up.
Lap 35 – George Russell pits, and that’s the last of the front runners.
ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS ALO BOT SAI LEC RIC ZHO
Lap 37 – Sergio Perez is hounding Lewis Hamilton for second much to the roaring delight of the crowd. Perez is just outside the one second gap he needs to activate DRS. For now.
Lap 40 – Sainz overtakes Alonso for 5th. The Alpine appears to be going for a one stop strategy. Well, we will see as he pits on the same lap.
Lap 43 – Both Mercedes complaining about tyres being terrible.
Lap 49 – Now Hamilton is saying he is having power drop outs. Meanwhile the gap between him and Perez is maintaining at 1.5 seconds. And Max Verstappen is ten second up the road. Further back the order is almost the same as lap one. Except Ocon > Bottas. Just this race, not in general.
ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS SAI LEC ALO OCO BOT NOR
Lap 51 – Daniel Ricciardo is racing Yuki Tsunoda for 11th. They coliide, Tsunoda looks in a bad way and Ricciardo continues for now. Awaiting a better replay before throwing around the blame. We’d say Ricciardo, wasn’t far enough up the inside. But almost 50-50. More than Ricciardo’s chances of finding a drive for F1 in 2024. For the record, Ricciardo got a ten second penalty.
Lap 55 – Just a check up on the front few. Nothing much has changed.
Lap 61 – Daniel Ricciardo is going on an old school charge through the field. The ten second penalty has lit a fire under his rear end.
Lap 66 – VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR comes out as Alonso retires his Alpine at the end of the main straight.
ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS SAI LEC RIC OCO NOR BOT
Last lap – The TV camera ride with Max Verstappen for the last lap of a race he dominated to the point you forgot he was in it. It was a season record for Verstappen, but that doesn’t means as much with so many more races these days. Lewis Hamilton secures himself a little joy with second and Perez gives the Mexican crowd something to cheer for with third and fastest lap.
FINAL ORDER – VER HAM PER RUS SAI LEC RIC OCO NOT BOT
2022 Mexican Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 10
With both Championships over, this is probably an unfair category, but there’s still the battle for second (Ferrari v Mercedes) and fourth (Alpine v McLaren). With Mercedes looking the second fastest car here, at least that could be interesting for the final race. And there are way too many variable for both Alpine and McLaren to ignore.
ON TRACK ACTION – 3 / 10
Bugger all happening on track as the cars seemed to not want to get too close for heat or tyres. A few overtakes here and there, and the Perez v Hamilton battle was interesting enough in the middle of the race. But the racing was surprisingly dull for a track with some nice long straights and close walls.
ENDING 3 / 10
Daniel Ricciardo headlines a few midfield overtakes, and a Virtual Safety Car came out after Fernando Alonso retired, but not much more happened in the last few laps than the preceding many more.
OVERALL RATING 9 / 30
Bring on Brazil, not Abu Dhabi.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 Bahrain Grand Prix 26/30
R2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 21/30
R3 Australian Grand Prix 16/30
R4 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 17/30
R5 Miami Grand Prix 19/30
R6 Spanish Grand Prix 17/30
R7 Monaco Grand Prix 24/30
R8 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 22/30
R9 Canadian Grand Prix 21/30
R10 British Grand Prix 26.5/30
R11 Austrian Grand Prix 24/30
R12 French Grand Prix 17/30
R13 Hungarian Grand Prix 23/30
R14 Belgian Grand Prix 17/30
R15 Dutch Grand Prix 21/30
R16 Italian Grand Prix 11/30
R17 Singapore Grand Prix 15/30
R18 Japanese Grand Prix 22/50
R19 US Grand Prix 23/30
2022 Mexican Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Just simply too fast, too fast, too Max. Another driver may never win another race. In 2023. Whatever Red Bull overspent by, they probably shouldn’t have.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LEWIS HAMILTON – Racing at the sharp end of the field again, with hopes Mercedes can build a faster car for next season and we can have a title challenge.
SERGIO PEREZ – A podium in his home race that sent the crowd wild.
VALTTERI BOTTAS – The race may have turned out like crap, but Bottas’ sixth on the grid in the Alfa was mighty. Fast in all three session of qualifying.
DANIEL RICCIARDO – He may have received a ten second penalty for his clumsy attempt to overtake on Yuki Tsunoda, but then went on an overtaking blitz showing us a little of the old skills we loved.
THE GRAPE-EST – FERRARI
A bit harsh considering they were 5th and 6th, but they were miles off the front running pace, and slipped well behind Mercedes, for this race anyway. But in the absence of anything to crap elsewhere we may as well go with disappointing.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
FERNANDO ALONSO – Another failure ruins a great weekend. We guess Aston Martin is worth the risk.
NICHOLAS LATIFI – Not mentioned him until now, because there was nothing to mention. He was a full 52 seconds behind second last. Not sure if he had car problems outside the fact that he drives a Williams. Sort of don’t care either.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
