2023 Mexico City Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 Mexico City Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Gran Premio de la Ciudad de México 2023**) was the nineteenth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on the weekend of October 27 to October 29, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen (having secured the title at the Qatar Grand Prix) leads the World Drivers' Championship with 466 points, 226 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 265 from Lewis Hamilton in third. Red Bull Racing, with 706 points, lead the Constructors' Championship (having secured the title at the Japanese Grand Prix) from Mercedes by 362 points and Ferrari by 384 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception of the returning Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri starting at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Ricciardo's seat was filled by Liam Lawson in the previous five Grands Prix after Ricciardo was forced to withdraw due to a broken metacarpal bone in a crash during the second practice of the Dutch Grand Prix.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event. Pirelli also provided two sets per driver of an experimental C4 compound that was trialed during the first two free practice sessions.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 28 October 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC−6).

Charles Leclerc took pole position ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen. Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell were all investigated for impeding, but no penalties were given to them.

Fernando Alonso spun in Q1, bringing out a yellow flag in the first sector. Logan Sargeant could not set a lap time; he joined Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, and Esteban Ocon in exiting after the first part of the session. Pierre Gasly, Nico Hülkenberg, Alonso, Albon, and Yuki Tsunoda were knocked out of the second session. Alexander Albon had lap times deleted due to track limits, so Zhou Guanyu appeared in Q3.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fourth place, the AlphaTauri team's highest qualification of the season. The Ferrari drivers took a front row lockout, with Leclerc claiming pole position.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 29 October 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC−6), and was run for 71 laps.

Max Verstappen won the race, his record-setting sixteenth win in a season, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second and polesitter Charles Leclerc in third. Five retirements occurred during the race. On the first turn of the first lap, Sergio Pérez turned into Leclerc, resulting in Pérez's retirement and damage to Leclerc's endplate. On lap 5 Leclerc's endplate came off at turn 1 which led to a short virtual safety car (VSC) period in order to allow for the marshals to remove the debris from the circuit safely. On lap 33, Kevin Magnussen had a left rear suspension failure, leading to a heavy crash at turn 9 which left his car a smoldering wreck and initially brought out the safety car. One lap later, the red flag was brought out to allow marshals to repair a section of the barrier. Fernando Alonso withdrew due to damage in lap 47, with his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll later also being forced to retire after a collision with Valtteri Bottas. Logan Sargeant had an issue with his fuel pump, forcing him to retire on the final lap.

Starting seventeenth, Lando Norris gained twelve places to finish in fifth. Daniel Ricciardo finished in seventh, marking the AlphaTauri team's highest finish for the season.
After the lap-one crash between Pérez and Leclerc, a fan started an altercation between other fans. The instigator was ejected from the venue and given a lifetime ban.

## Notes

1. ↑ Yuki Tsunoda was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power units elements and gearbox components.
2. ↑ Lance Stroll qualified 18th, but he was required to start the race from the pit lane as elements of different specifications from the ones originally used were installed on his car during parc fermé conditions.
3. ↑ Logan Sargeant failed to set a time during qualifying. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He also received a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions in Q1. He gained a position following Lance Stroll's penalty.
4. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
5. ↑ Valtteri Bottas finished 14th on track, but he received a post-race five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lance Stroll.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Logan Sargeant and Lance Stroll were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Already have won the 2023 World Championship.