Mexico City was the venue for round 19. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was known to offer the best chance for Red Bull to fight for pole position and victory. As the pink-walled hyper-soft compound was predicted to be an extremely unfavorable race tyre, all three top teams resorted to the purple-marked middle compound in Q2. It was thrilling to see, how evenly matched the top three teams were in terms of performance. Red Bull's Verstappen was the fastest man of the second session, but the Dutchman edged championship leader Hamilton by four thousandths of a second only. Sebastian was third, 0.075s off Max's benchmark. The high air of Mexico seemed to mix up the pecking order of the teams, as against the odds both Saubers and both Renaults made it among the top ten.
The shootout for pole was super exciting, as it was within any of the top six drivers' reach. Verstappen, who had been stamping his authority all over the place in the free practice sessions, took provisional pole. The gap to Sebastian was surprisingly big, 0.185s. Hamilton was third, already two tenths down on Max. Ricciardo was fourth, followed by the Finns of Bottas and Kimi. Before the final runs, the limelight was all on Max. Would he be able to rob the record of being the youngest-ever pole-setter of Sebastian? However, something very unexpected happened at the end of the session. Ricciardo's RB14 came magically alive on the Australian's last run, and the Honey Badger made it on pole by 0.026s to his teammate! This was Ricciardo's first non-Monaco pole. Verstappen made it the first front row lock-out for Red Bull since 2013. Hamilton was left third, 0.135 off the pace. Sebastian qualified fourth, Bottas fifth and Kimi sixth. Worth noting is the fact, that Kimi remains the only driver to start every race in top six in 2018.
Verstappen had been extremely disappointed and frustrated after qualifying for not clinching the eagerly-hunted pole. I knew he was going to do anything to win the race. And what a start the Dutchman took! Max attacked on full throttle and took the lead right away. Pole-setter Ricciardo's start left a lot to hope for, and the Australian lost a position to Hamilton as well. Hamilton came extremely close to challenge even Verstappen for the lead. Kimi, who had started to the race from P6, lost a place to Renault's Sainz, but the Iceman snatched his 6th place back on the following lap. There was a close call between Sebastian and Bottas on the opening lap. Sebastian's front-right tyre touched Bottas' front wing, but luckily there were no consequences this time.
It was very surprising to see, how much of a problem the tyre degradation turned out, especially for the Silver Arrows. Both Mercedes drivers pitted already on lap 12, both for a fresh set of the hardest compound. Both Red Bulls also pitted for a similar tyre choice to Mercedes. On the contrary, Kimi stayed out on his worn ultra-softs. Verstappen had re-joined the track behind Kimi, and the difference in the pace of these two was so significant, that Max had it easy to pass the Iceman. At this point Kimi's lap times were four seconds slower than Verstappen's! Also Hamilton and Ricciardo managed to pass Kimi, who had no chance to defend his position on his dying tyres. At this point it seemed like an extremely bad strategic call from Ferrari not to take Kimi in...
Both red-suited drivers pitted on lap 18, also for the hardest rubber. Sebastian re-joined the track in P4 and Kimi in P6. Verstappen in the lead was in a class of his own, as the gap to Hamilton was already nine seconds. Hamilton had no chance to match Verstappen's pace, because he was struggling a lot with his tyres and pace. On the other hand, Sebastian's pace was excellent, and on lap 29 he was right at Ricciardo's tail, with DRS enabled. This time Sebastian patiently waited for his chance to overtake his ex-teammate and executed a successful overtaking move in Turn 2. After that he rapidly closed the gap to Hamilton, and attacked his title rival on lap 39. Sebastian made another successful overtaking move, snatching P2 already. Sebastian showed strong performance, being half-a-second per lap faster than Verstappen in the lead.
The pit stop roulette started again on lap 47. Mercedes drivers had to opt for a used set of ultra-softs, as they had no fresh sets left. Verstappen had a varying tyre strategy, as the Dutchman switched to another set of super-softs, re-joining the track in the lead. Meanwhile, the Finns had an intense battle for P5. Kimi was right at his compatriot's tail, lurking for a chance to get past. Bottas locked up in Turn 1, and ended up going wide. Kimi thanked for the opportunity and passed his fellow countryman.
With 20 laps to go, Sebastian had chased down Ricciardo, who was on a one-stop strategy. Sebastian managed to get within DRS distance from the Australian, but he seemed to be stuck behind the Red Bull driver. Until something dramatic -but unfortunately not very surprising- happened on lap 62. There was smoke coming from the rear of Ricciardo's RB14! This meant another retirement for Ricciardo due to a technical failure. This was already the 8th DNF of the season for the Australian!
Bottas pitted for the third time on lap 67. The Finn had no choice but to opt for hyper-softs, as there were no other compounds left. Mercedes were having a bad day in the office, but luckily that wasn't the case for the Red Team. Kimi had proved, that it was possible to make the one-stop strategy work. So what had initially seemed like a bad strategic call from Ferrari, actually proved to be a genius one! Kimi showed excellent tyre management, and the Iceman was already third in the race, thanks to the genius pit stop strategy.
Nothing could threaten Verstappen's victory, and he crossed the finish line as the race winner for the second time this season. Sebastian finished the runner-up after a strong race, and teammate Kimi completed the podium. Hamilton was left fourth, but it was high enough for the Briton to clinch his fifth world championship, which was well-deserved after a flawless season. Teammate Bottas finished fifth and Renault's Hulkenberg sixth. Sebastian showed true sportsmanship, as he went to congratulate Hamilton right away. Sebastian even visited the Mercedes garage to say congratulations to the team.
There are two more rounds to go, and the constructors' championship is still open. The Red Team is 55 points down on the Silver Arrows, but it's not time to give up on the title yet. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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