# 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix

The 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de la Ciudad de México 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on 7 November 2021 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The race was the 18th round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship and marked the 21st edition of the Mexican Grand Prix, which was run under the name Mexico City Grand Prix for the first time, acknowledging the sponsorship support of the government of Mexico City.
The race was won by Max Verstappen followed by Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Pérez. Kimi Räikkönen scored his final F1 career points in this race when he finished in 8th place whilst driving for Alfa Romeo.

## Background

The race marked its debut in the Formula One Championship calendar under the name Mexico City Grand Prix. On 8 August 2019, it was announced that the Mexican Grand Prix would remain on the calendar until 2022, though it would be renamed to Mexico City Grand Prix starting in 2020, in order to emphasize the support from the government of Mexico City. The edition was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 race was originally to take place on 31 October, but was moved a week later due to the reduction of the overall number of Grands Prix in the calendar, from 23 to 22. This was the twenty-first World Championship Grand Prix held in Mexico.

### Championship standings before the race

After winning in the preceding United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship by 12 points: Verstappen with 287.5 and Lewis Hamilton with 275.5. Behind them, Valtteri Bottas was in third place with 185 points. Sergio Pérez trailed him by 35 points, and Lando Norris trailed Pérez by 1 point. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Red Bull Racing by 23 points. Behind them, third-placed McLaren led fourth-placed Ferrari by 4.5 points with 254 points, with Alpine a distant fifth with 104 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### Tyre choices

Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used in the race.

## Practice

The weekend featured three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC−06:00) on 5 November, and ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest for Mercedes, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. The second practice session started at 15:00 local time, also on 5 November, and ended with Verstappen fastest ahead of Bottas and Hamilton. The third and final practice session started at 11:00 on 6 November with the Red Bulls of Sergio Pérez and Verstappen fastest, followed by the two Mercedes.

## Qualifying

Qualifying started at 14:00 local time on 6 November.

### Qualifying classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Final grid |
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Final grid |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:16.727 | 1:16.864 | 1:15.875 | 1 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:17.207 | 1:16.474 | 1:16.020 | 2 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:16.788 | 1:16.483 | 1:16.225 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:17.003 | 1:17.055 | 1:16.343 | 4 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:16.908 | 1:16.955 | 1:16.456 | 5 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1:17.517 | 1:17.248 | 1:16.761 | 6 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:17.719 | 1:17.092 | 1:16.763 | 7 |
| 8 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:16.748 | 1:17.034 | 1:16.837 | 8 |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:17.330 | 1:16.701 | 1:17.158 | 17 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:17.569 | 1:17.473 | 1:36.830 | 18 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:17.502 | 1:17.746 | N/A | 9 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:17.606 | 1:17.958 | N/A | 10 |
| 13 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1:17.958 | 1:18.172 | N/A | 16 |
| 14 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:17.897 | 1:18.290 | N/A | 11 |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1:18.126 | 1:18.405 | N/A | 19 |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1:18.452 | N/A | N/A | 12 |
| 17 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1:18.756 | N/A | N/A | 13 |
| 18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1:18.858 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 19 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1:19.303 | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 20 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:20.873 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| 107% time: 1:22.097 ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||
Notes
* ^1 – Yuki Tsunoda was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
* ^2 – Lando Norris was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
* ^3 – George Russell received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
* ^4 – Esteban Ocon was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
* ^5 – Lance Stroll was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. The penalty made no difference as he was already due to start from the last position.

## Race

The race started at 13:00 local time on 7 November. Valtteri Bottas started the race from pole position but was overtaken at the first corner by Max Verstappen. Bottas was then hit by Daniel Ricciardo from behind at the next corner with the stewards deciding neither driver was to blame for the incident. This put both drivers at the back of the field with neither scoring any points at this race.
Max Verstappen was leading for most of the race with Sergio Perez taking the lead for a short while, during the period that Verstappen had pitted and he had not. Perez became the first Mexican driver to lead his home Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was in second with Verstappen having a clear lead over him. Hamilton and Perez were close towards the end with Perez not far from trying to get past him. Hamilton managed to keep second place and Perez came home to finish third. By finishing 3rd, Pérez became the first Mexican driver to get a podium at home.
Valtteri Bottas took the fastest lap of the race, but did not receive the point for it as he finished outside the top ten. In line with the regulations, the fastest lap point was not redistributed.

### Race classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 71 | 1:38:39.086 | 3 | 25 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 71 | +16.555 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 71 | +17.752 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 71 | +1:03.845 | 5 | 12 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 71 | +1:21.037 | 8 | 10 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 70 | +1 lap | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 70 | +1 lap | 9 | 6 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 70 | +1 lap | 10 | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 70 | +1 lap | 12 | 2 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 70 | +1 lap | 18 | 1 |
| 11 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 70 | +1 lap | 11 | |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 70 | +1 lap | 7 | |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 70 | +1 lap | 19 | |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 69 | +2 laps | 20 | |
| 15 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 69 | +2 laps | 1 | |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 69 | +2 laps | 16 | |
| 17 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 69 | +2 laps | 13 | |
| 18 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 68 | +3 laps | 15 | |
| Ret | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 0 | Collision | 14 | |
| Ret | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 0 | Collision | 17 | |
| Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 1:17.774 (lap 69) ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Max Verstappen* | 312.5 |
| | 2 | Lewis Hamilton* | 293.5 |
| | 3 | Valtteri Bottas | 185 |
| | 4 | Sergio Pérez | 165 |
| | 5 | Lando Norris | 150 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| | 1 | Mercedes* | 478.5 |
| | 2 | Red Bull Racing-Honda* | 477.5 |
| 1 | 3 | Ferrari | 268.5 |
| 1 | 4 | McLaren-Mercedes | 255 |
| | 5 | Alpine-Renault | 106 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
* Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.