Ferrari in Mexico almost came close to secure its third 1-2 of 2024 following the Australian and American rounds, but ultimately the duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had to settle for a 1-3 as Lando Norris managed to overtake the Monegasque driver as traffic came into play.
For the most part of the race the Scuderia drovers appeared to be in control, until the final stages that saw Leclerc’s three-second gap to Norris slowly erode.
At first, the three-time race winner in 2024 got stuck behind the drivers which he needed to lap, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto in order, losing the first half of his advantage by clearing them.
Afterwards, Leclerc ran wide at Lap 62 at Peraltada, managing not to spin out due to the excessive oversteer, but he still needing time to recollect, thus allowing the young Briton to get past him.
Ferrari’s Team Principal Fred Vasseur does not blame his driver for the mistake, mentioning what he went through in order to clear all the backmarkers he had encountered a few laps earlier:
“It’s your analysis [Norris was faster] but I’m not really aligned. I think that Charles had good pace, but we lost three seconds with the guys who were blue-flagged. We also lost a lot of temperature in the tyres at this stage and he made a mistake, but I think from the beginning, the race was under control.”
The Frenchman went on to praise his driver’s performance of the day and his talent, in spite of Leclerc himself being left unsatisfied by his final result after coming so close to a higher step on the podium.
“Charles was not happy yesterday with P3 or P4, but still today he did a good race.
“I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag, it cost us P2. But at the end of the day, it is like it is, but we have to be focused now on the next one and forget this one.
“When you do five corners when the guy has a solid blue, it’s not unfortunate. It’s a mistake of the guy.”
Vasseur returned to discuss the matter on Sky Sports F1, expanding on the direct factors concerning Leclerc’s race which were impacted by the extra time he had spent in the dirty air of the lapped drivers.
“He lost three or four seconds into the traffic with some idiots. Norris came back, Charles pushed a bit too much. Perhaps he lost also a little bit of temperature in the tyres when he was with these guys.
“Honestly, they have to respect the blue flag and I don’t understand why the FIA didn’t give them a penalty. We had four seconds on Norris. And after the three guys, we were 1.2 or 1.3 ahead,” he added, expressing his disagreement and displeasure with no penalties getting handed out.
