The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has to get to work and soon to try to put out a fire to which it is already late; an open case for a long time that remained latent and that now, when the tension between Red Bull and McLaren has skyrocketed Due to the fight that both maintain for the title, it has exploded. In Austin, the previous week, Lando Norris was an indirect victim of that gray area of the regulations that allowed Max Verstappen to defend himself against his overtaking attempts with a method that was, to say the least, questionable. Seven days later, in Mexico, history repeated itself, with the difference that, this time, the commissioners intervened. As happened in Texas, the scuffle between the current champion and the main contender put in the background a phenomenal Sunday for Ferrari, which signed its fifth victory of the season, a day that smelled like a double.
In America it was Charles Leclerc who led the caravan of red cars ahead of Carlos Sainzwho had a fabulous weekend at the Autódromo de los Hermanos Rodríguez to achieve his second victory of the course and the fourth of his record. This time, Leclerc was unable to catch up with his teammate or maintain a second position that blew him away with ten laps to go, when the Monegasque lost control of his prototype for a second and almost ended up against the barriers. Although Leclerc was able to return to the track, the excursion cleared the way for Norris, who won the game and left him closing the podium. Fernando Alonso, for his part, could not even finish his 400th grand prix and he was forced to retire due to a breakdown in his Aston Martin, shortly after starting to roll (lap 16).
There is nothing more peaceful for those who must referee the championship than a scenario in which there is a clear dominator who makes the air grow behind him. It happened in the brutal streak that Mercedes signed and that earned the star manufacturer seven career crowns (2014-2020). And also more recently, the last two exercises, in which Red Bull has ridden in Verstappen’s car, one of the most ruthless competitive animals the competition has seen. However, McLaren has done things very well, to the point of erasing the advantage of the red buffalo brand and its flagship. Since that has happened and the brawl has gained in intensity, so have the scuffles on the track, a circumstance that has led to incidents that have made FIA executives jump out of their seats, forced to intervene.
In Austin, ‘Mad Max’ and Lando Norris served the first course with an incident that was not completely resolved. The Dutchman stayed ahead of the Briton with a tactic that consisted of braking beyond the limit, with the sole purpose of demonstrating his positional advantage over his rival. As history repeated itself, Norris’s patience reached its limit, and the McLaren driver overtook his opponent outside the limits of the asphalt, a maneuver that earned him a penalty that placed him behind the Red Bull driver, after to pass under the checkered flag.
That same staging occurred again in Mexico, with the three-time champion even more exposed to the voracity of the boy from Somerset, in the most balanced car of the moment, although not always the fastest. Once he had overcome the rush of the start, Verstappen began to feel the hugs of Norris, who threw the car at him and invited his ‘colleague’ to do his thing again. On this occasion, the defense of the Hasselt corridor went a little further, to the point of going beyond the curbs, almost without meaning to and taking advantage of it. This time, the referees did not take long to sanction him with two penalties of ten seconds each, which surely set a precedent that will be discussed soon, probably in a few days, when the World Cup caravan settles in Qatar. Having served the two penalties during the visit to the workshops, Verstappen managed to wriggle through the peloton and climb from the 15th place he occupied when he rejoined, to sixth.
