While drivers and teams have already been penalized in the World Championship Max Verstappen and RedBull, Formula 1 is looking for new incentives and trying to encourage other competitions on the grid. One of the most compelling is the one that pits the two oldest drivers with the best track record, although it is less balanced than it was months ago: Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Both are vying for third place in the championship in an emotional battle that continues in Mexico this weekend.
The British (3rd) and the Spanish (4th) are behind by 18 points in the rankings, leaving four major prizes left. Neither scored in Austin. Alonso He could have finished sixth and made a spectacular comeback starting from the pit lane, but five laps from the end he was forced to retire from the race due to a ‘destruction’ on the flatbed of his Aston Martin. Hamilton We finished closer than ever to the championship Verstappen (2 seconds away) and made it to the podium but was disqualified after the race. The stewards found that the wear on the Mercedes’ floor exceeded the permissible limit, in accordance with the rules.
To ‘heat up’ Hamilton-Alonso duelFormula 1 shared a video on its social networks reminiscent of the epic face-off that took place at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix: Alonso was driving a McLaren, which was the ninth car on the grid at the time, but still beat Hamilton, who had the fastest car of the Hybrid era, in the end eight teams He put himself on the ropes as a Mercedes that would win the championship.
The two pilots fear and respect each other in equal measure. The historical rivalry between them, While teammates at McLaren during the turbulent 2007 seasondiluted as Hamilton becomes invincible mercedes The Asturian has chained his frustrations with his chosen teams to the point of leaving Gran Circo for two seasons and returning with Alpine in 2021.
This year Alonso and Hamilton once again found themselves on more equal terms. especially at the beginning of the year Fernando He chained six podiums. Their fight on the track flared up once again with ‘impossible’ and high-level passes. However, while AMR23 has lost its strength since the summer break, W14 has come to the fore. It has been a long time since Mercedes took second place from Aston Martin in the teams’ standings. and in fact in Austin the Silverstone guys dropped to fifth in the constructors’ standings, overtaking McLaren, but Alonso still hopes to end the season with good feelings If Aston Martin can manage to make the update package it introduced in the United States working.
“When we made the changes the car handled much better and I think our race on Sunday showed that the improvements really worked. There was much more grip, especially in corners, and this allowed me to pass cars that had been difficult for us to overtake in the last few races.. There is still optimization work to be done and more training in Mexico will benefit us, but I believe: Are we going in the right direction?“, guesses his comrade Alonso, Lance Stroll finish seventh in Austin after leaving the pit lane with the new configuration.
Mercedes’ jump disrupts the balance of the fight
After an unstable start to the season, Mercedes managed to react and every The improvements made to the car since the Monaco Grand Prix represent a step forward from the W14. Despite being disqualified in Austin, Hamilton This year he was closer to victory than ever before. But the seven-time champion gave a positive reading despite the cold water that came with his disqualification: “This does not cast a shadow on our progress,” he stressed.
This weekend at Autódromo de los Hermanos Rodríguez, Lewis will have the perfect opportunity to try again. He finished second on the podium last year, with teammate George Russell finishing fourth in one of the best weekends for those at Brackley. If Mercedes finds the right way again in the vehicle’s settings, Hamilton It could break the almost two-year victory drought in Arabia that has been going on since December 2021.