After a ‘tough weekend’ in Austin, the Aston Martin Formula 1 team headed off to the dizzy heights of Mexico City and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit, which is situated 2,300m above sea level. Or rather, the team didn’t initially. Due to the (poor) performance in Texas their stay was extended & a number of meetings were convened to try & establish exactly which of the upgrades put on the AMR24 had improved in which areas & where it had not improved. There was also the small matter of acknowledging & celebrating Fernando Alonso’s 400th Grand Prix race, the first driver ever to have achieved that milestone, which the entire Formula 1 community took to with deep respect for the Spanish driver. Would it be a race weekend to remember?
It didn’t start too well. Alonso was feeling unwell on Thursday, the media day & didn’t attend that. Furthermore, he didn’t take any part in FP1, as it was always planned that test and reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich, would drive the AMR24 in FP1. Even before either of the AM drivers had managed to go out on track the session was red-flagged as there was debris on the track, but it wasn’t established from where. The session got back underway shortly, but not for long. After 10 minutes of running, Albon’s Williams hit the barriers, bringing yellow flags out initially. But the Ferrari of Oliver Bearman had also been hit and it stopped on track, so out came the red flags again. Once that incident had been cleared up the 2 Aston Martin’s came out to run through their practice routine on the hard and soft tyre compounds. There were no further interruptions & Stroll finished in P16, Drugovich P18. FP2 followed a slightly different format – it was extended from 60 to 90 minutes to allow for testing of Pirelli’s 2025 prototype tyres. Each team was given a run plan by Pirelli to enable them to make comparisons across different compounds. Those drivers who sat out FP1 were also granted an extra 30 minutes of practice time to gain representative running on the standard medium tyres. Once again though, just like in Austin, Russell had a big crash which brought out red flags. And once again the Aston Martin DBX 707 Medical Car was deployed to take him to the medical centre. After the restart Fernando returned to his cockpit & at the end of the session he had slotted his AMR24 into a respectable P11. Stroll was 14th. The final practice session on Saturday was altogether much calmer & uninterrupted. After 14 mins the AMs had set the 3rd (for Stroll) & 4th (for Alonso) fastest times. However, by the halfway stage Stroll had toppled down the order, to 12th & Alonso to 14th. At the end of the 60-minute session the Aston Martin duo were only 15th (Alonso) and 17th (Stroll).
A few hours later & well into the evening in Britain, Qualifying got underway, with the AMs setting the 3rd (Alonso) & 4th (Stroll) fastest times, on their 1st runs, with both on soft tyres. However, that didn’t last long as when they next came out Alonso was only able to set the 9th fastest time, Stroll just behind him in 10th. With 8 mins left & the track ramping up Alonso had moved up to 3rd & Stroll was 5th. Once again though, as the drivers took to setting their final laps Alonso was P9, Stroll P11 – seemingly safe. Both survived the cut, with Stroll being right on the cusp, in 15th & Alonso finishing in 12th. It also claimed some major scalps, including home hero, Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri, who had lap times deleted for exceeding track limits. In the next round of Qualifying the AMs came out with 9 mins left & first of all Stroll went P7 & then then so did Alonso. By the time all the drivers had finished their first runs Alonso had been pushed down to 10th & Stroll to 12th. Out came all the cars for their final runs and just when both AMs were on their hot laps & setting top 10 qualifying times, Tsunoda hit the barriers & red flags brought the session to halt, meaning both AMs would be eliminated at this stage and would start the race alongside each other, P13 for Alonso & P14 for Stroll. In the final round of Qualifying it was Sainz who ended up on pole, with Verstappen behind him on the front row & Norris 3rd.
In the build up to the race and as the drivers assembled on the grid in warm and sunny conditions there were numerous tributes & acknowledgements to Alonso as he prepared to start his 400th Grand Prix. He even quipped that he felt fit and well enough to do another 50! Back to the 71-lap race and when the 5 starting lights went out Verstappen surged ahead of Sainz down the long straight and snatched the lead from him. Further back though Albon got squeezed by Gasly going into the first corner & he clipped Tsunoda, spun him round, into the barriers & out of the race. The Aston Martin Vantage safety car was deployed immediately, so that Tsunoda’s stricken RB car could be removed & the debris cleared up. Albon limped back to the garage in his Williams and retired the car. Both Aston Martin’s had good starts, Stroll having the slightly better one & he moved up to P11, with Alonso just behind, in P12. Perez, in a Red Bull was ominously in 13th though, but under investigation for having his car too far forward in the starting box (for which he would get a penalty later). The track was cleared & the race got back underway on lap 7, with Alonso within a second of Stroll and Perez within a second of Alonso. At the front there was a titanic battle among the race leaders. On lap 9 Sainz passed Verstappen for the lead, who then had to defend from the attacking Norris. He just edged past Verstappen and, just like they did in Austin, they both went off track, allowing Leclerc to nip past both of them to make it a Ferrari 1-2. A few corners later though, Norris made another attempt on Verstappen, but again Verstappen forced Norris off the track and gained an advantage, without giving the place back. Race Control immediately indicated that the 2 incidents were under investigation. Perez meanwhile had made the move to pass Alonso & on lap 12 he overtook Stroll as well, meaning that Stroll was now P12, Alonso P13. Just at that moment the Stewards announced that Verstappen had been handed a 10 second penalty for forcing Norris off track in the first incident. At the end of lap 15, Alonso pulled into the pit lane, seemingly to come in for an early tyre stop, but it turned out that it was to retire the car! Later, it was explained that debris (from the Tsunoda/Albon incident) had caught in his front brake duct which caused the brake temperature to "go through the roof". Not the way that he would have wanted to finish his 400th race. Perez now, putting aside the penalty he had been handed, tried & failed to take Lawson on lap 19, allowing Stroll to get within a second and to launch an attack. They went head-to-head, battling for the place & after going off the track, Stroll had to rejoin behind the Red Bull. It appeared that Perez had defended rather clumsily, which was noted by Race Control but they decided that no further investigation would be required. In any case, Perez then came in for a tyre stop & to serve his penalty. On the next lap, 20, it was confirmed that Verstappen had been given another 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage – that meant he would serve 20-seconds stationary when he would have to come in for his mandatory pit-stop, which he did on lap 27. Stroll, who had been passed by Piastri, came in for his tyre change a lap later & came out 17th (i.e. last of the cars still running). At the halfway stage of the race it was Sainz, Leclerc, Norris in positions 1-2-3, Stroll still 17th. On lap 40 Stroll started to benefit from drivers ahead making late pitstops & was up to 15th. Similarly, on lap 43, when Zhou came in for new tyres, Stroll moved up to 14th. On lap 49, Colapinto peeled off into the pits and then Stroll managed to pass Ocon, moving himself up to 12th. With less than 20 laps to go, Stroll moved up another place, to P11, when Bottas came into the pits and that would be where Stroll would finish the race. He was lapped by Sainz on lap 55 but that would be the last sight of the Aston Martin until the chequered flag. At the front, Norris had reeled in & caught Leclerc, who flew off the track at the final turn, trying to fend off Norris, but he didn't crash, just lost 2nd place. The end result was that Sainz sealed the victory, Norris was 2nd & Leclerc 3rd. That finish meant that Ferrari had overtaken Red Bull in the Constructor’s Championship.
After the race, Alonso confessed “it hurt” having to retire the car on this milestone outing. Otherwise, he was far more positive. "We took advantage of a chaotic start and everything was under control from our side as we battled just outside the top ten. I felt a lot of love this weekend with lots of nice messages and respect from people. Despite the result, I have a positive feeling from the weekend and I'm confident we can have better performance in Brazil." Stroll’s comments were, "It was a hard-fought race today. We did everything we could while managing some cooling issues, but we are still just lacking the pace to fight for points. It's been a tough couple of weeks, but hopefully in Brazil we can be a little more competitive."
As they both reminded us, F1 is off to Sao Paulo in Brazil next weekend, 1st – 3rd November, which will include a Sprint Race as well. More news after the race.