Grand Prix 2016 Mexican Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Donald Trump wanted them to build a wall but instead they rebuilt the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, and I'm mightily pleased they did. The race last year was pretty top notch, the Formula E race here was pretty top notch and the fans were amazing at both. Why shouldn't they be? They have their own hero to cheer on in Sergio 'Checo' Perez (oh and Gutteriez for now) and he usually puts on a show. The track lends itself to good racing and I'm hoping we see a good one this coming weekend. We certainly need something to wash the taste of dull Austin from our mouths. The US Grand Prix was pretty much like ordering your favourite ale only to take a giant swig and find out it was off. It did see a home win for American driver Lewis Hamilton (Yes he's officially American now. Apparently they got him in a swap deal for Scherzinger and Will.I.Am. It was a bad deal and personally I blame David Cameron) which is good news for us because it put him back in a good mood and therefore up for getting back in the championship race. Monegasque driver Nico Rosberg though is still in smug face mode as all he has to do it finish 2nd at every race which doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. Having said that if he does win the title this way the talk will be he doesn't deserve the title (it started on Sky this Sunday) so maybe he needs to go all out to win. Having said that if he does he might crash out and not win the title. Oh its catch 22!

Hamilton's savior might be the ever rising Red Bulls. Max 'I'm not here to finish 4th' Verstappen has really been flying of late and, whilst my comedy side wants him to finish 4th, has a real shot at beating one of the Mercs. Another driver who equally has this chance is Danny Ric who has responded to the Verstappen challenge fantastically. If next year really is an aero formula, and Red Bull are at the front, I can't wait for Verstappen vs Ricciardo to get tasty. Having said that Ricciardo might be a bit distracted this weekend. Apparently he went to the clinic yesterday and discovered that he has a serious foot infection and now has to ring up everyone who has drank out of his shoe and tell them to get themselves tested.

What I think everyone is probably hoping for this weekend is Sergio Perez getting a podium. I think the place would go bonkers. Its not a complete impossibility because Sergio showed last year he gets Mansell type people power round this place and he is actually in good form. Expect some kind of smart 'go long' tyre strategy from Force India. I'd also love to see Carlos Sainz repeat his performance in Austin because it was pretty much like watching your mate out drag a flashy Merc in his mums Fiat Punto. To be honest the Punto might have more horsepower than that old Ferrari engine. As always I look forward to the Fernando Alonso radio comedy hour. He gave us a Texan 'yeehar!' at the end last time out, will we get a Mexican 'Areeber!' this time out? Probably not. We'll prob just get more moaning about the car being slow. Starting his own rival angry radio show is Jolyon Palmer, who is get increasingly frustrated of outpacing KMag in quali and ending up behind him in the race. Apparently being angry with the team you want to re-sign for will solve this.

I haven't mentioned Ferrari yet because I don't really know what to say. Both drivers seem to be on fairly good form and the car seems to perform at times but somehow they always end up with a 75 place gird penalty for Vettel and Kimi rolling backwards down a hill into the pit lane. Will all this bad luck and bad tactics disappear and everything comes together for a perfect Mexican race? Probably not, but it'll be fun to see how fate/the team conspire to throw away a decent result this time.

So thats Mexico served up with sourcream and salsa dressed up in a sombrero and every other slightly offence cliche that will be probably be said by Ted Kravitz in the pitlane this weekend. I feel kind of positive about it. At least the venue looks good.
 
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Some of these kerbs look pretty daunting, not just turn 7. And the track itself looks bumpier than it did last year, you can see the cars vibrate under braking in turn One.

The track was only recently re-surfaced, so I guess that's Mexico for you. The whole of Mexico City and surrounding areas was effectively built on one huge marshland lera, and with the ground underneath constantly rumbling with tectonic activity the bumps just keep re-appearing.
 
Best Laps and Best Sectors in the Practice 2:
Final timing screen for #FP2 at the #MexicoGP
Cv4c6saWYAAUuM7.jpg
 
P2 Ideal Lap (Sum best sectors)
Driver - Best P2 - Ideal P2 - Flaw
VET
- 01:19,790 - 01:19,790 - 00:00,000
HAM - 01:19,794 - 01:19,585 - 00:00,209
ROS - 01:20,225 - 01:19,886 - 00:00,339
RAI - 01:20,259 - 01:20,259 - 00:00,000
RIC - 01:20,448 - 01:20,401 - 00:00,047
HUL - 01:20,574 - 01:20,574 - 00:00,000
VER - 01:20,619 - 01:20,421 - 00:00,198
BOT - 01:20,629 - 01:20,629 - 00:00,000
SAI - 01:20,974 - 01:20,974 - 00:00,000
ALO - 01:21,003 - 01:21,003 - 00:00,000
 
A thought has just occurred. I would put money on it that a box of T-shirts exists somewhere in Mercedes that say 'Nico Rosberg World Champion' on them. Guessing they aren't being kept in Lewis's motor home.

Lets say hypothetically rosberg had bad luck & somehow loses this title in abu dhabi. What do you do with 200 nico rosberg 2016 world champion t-shirts
 
They could find the same landfill site as the Mark Webber: 2010 World Champion and A10nso campione collection. I doubt McLaren bothered.
 
The stadium section is great for the fans but it actually meant cars could not really slip stream and overtake down the straight which was 1.2km long or something like that which is how I remember the old races and it was great
 
P3 Ideal Lap (Sum best sectors)
Driver - Best P3 - Ideal P3 - Flaw
VER
- 01:19,137 - 01:19,004 - 00:00,133
HAM - 01:19,231 - 01:19,181 - 00:00,050
RIC - 01:19,370 - 01:19,186 - 00:00,184
ROS - 01:19,618 - 01:19,500 - 00:00,118
BOT - 01:19,811 - 01:19,742 - 00:00,069
VET - 01:19,937 - 01:19,534 - 00:00,403
RAI - 01:19,994 - 01:19,851 - 00:00,143
MAS - 01:19,997 - 01:19,993 - 00:00,004
HUL - 01:20,255 - 01:20,016 - 00:00,239
SAI - 01:20,325 - 01:20,232 - 00:00,093
 
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