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Hamilton received well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful advice during the race

A race engineer’s job is to advise the driver on how to get the most out of the car. During Sunday’s race, Lewis Hamilton received some well-intentioned advice that ultimately proved useless.

“You have overtake and boost on the main straight,” Hamilton’s race engineer Carlo Santi advised him, outlining the tools at his disposal to attack Verstappen.

The seven-time champion asked with a sigh: “How am I supposed to overtake a Red Bull engine?”

Even in Mexico’s thin air, Ferrari struggled with a lack of straight-line speed. Its smaller turbo helped at the start and on corner exits, but towards the end of the straights, its rivals’ larger turbos and more powerful power units overall came into their own. Hamilton, however, believes the Scuderia can overcome this disadvantage in 2027.

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Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton: 2018 vs. 2026

In 2018, Lewis Hamilton shook hands with Kimi Antonelli, who was among the children on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix as part of the Grid Kids programme.

Eight years later, it was Antonelli shaking hands with youngsters, himself soon to become the youngest world champion in history.

Who knows whether one of these boys will be a leading light in Mexican motorsport in eight years’ time?

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Nico Rosberg: It’s always Charles’ fault

Nico Rosberg points out where things are going wrong at Ferrari. “But interestingly it’s always Charles’ fault, isn’t it? It’s never Lewis’s fault. In the last couple of times, in Monza was Charles, here it was Charles…”

Williams shines in the pit stops after three years

Williams recorded the fastest pit stop for the first time in three years. All four tyres on Alex Albon’s car were changed in 2.11 seconds.

Excluding drivers serving a penalty, the slowest pit stops were those of Albon (5.67 seconds), Bottas (6.28 seconds) and home favourite Sergio Pérez (8.41 seconds).

Kimi Antonelli has no plans to race with the champion’s number one

Kimi Antonelli has no plans to exercise his right as world champion to race with the number 1. The Italian will therefore not follow in the footsteps of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who both took up that option.

‘I think I’ll stay with number 12,” Antonelli revealed. “Obviously it’s a very special number for me. It’s a way for me to stay grounded, to stay humble.”

Antonelli is the youngest world champion. When did his predecessors win the title?

Kimi Antonelli is 20 years and 68 days old today, making him the youngest world champion in F1 history.

Previous record-holder Sebastian Vettel was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his title,
before him, Hamilton was 23 years and 300 days old,
Alonso was 24 years and 57 days old,
Max Verstappen was 24 years and 73 days old.

F1 cars are faster in Mexico than last year

Did you know that Charles Leclerc’s time in first practice was a quarter of a second quicker than the fastest time in the same session last year? Although the drivers were slower than last year in second practice, that is still remarkable given that we are in the first year of the new regulations.

This is down to resurfacing at many points around the circuit, but above all to the concept of these cars, which are less sensitive to the loss of downforce at high altitude.

Audi to pay €12,500 in fines

Audi received two fines on Friday. The first, of €7,500, was for leaving an external cooling device attached to Freddie Slater’s car in first practice, and the second (€5,000) was for mechanics carrying a floor covered by a sheet during practice. The team also used another sheet to obscure the view of the car while mechanics worked on it.

Covering components or blocking the view into the garage is prohibited. Teams are only allowed to screen off areas of the garage “with their own bodies”.

Verstappen: Mexico’s demands play to Ferrari’s strengths

According to Max Verstappen, it is understandable that Ferrari are performing well in Mexico. “Well, they’ve been quick already in sessions the last few weeks. So this is a track where, you know, you need even more low-speed performance, so it should normally, of course, play into their hands.”

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