Ferrari, Carlos Sainz beaming, Charles Leclerc content

Here are the words of Carlos Sainz and Charles at the end of the Mexico City Grand Prix that saw a new triumph for Ferrari with the Spaniard winning and the Monegasque third, with the additional point of the fastest lap made on the last lap.

“È it was special to win here to soì many fans. Since Friday, I had good feelings driving the single-seater and I carried them for the rest of the weekend – said Sainz in interviews immediately after the race -. It wasn’t a good start mine, but I then managed to get in Verstappen’s slipstream and to overtake him you had to take risks. I managed to surprise him under braking and from there; my race è was of great consistency“.

“The car è proved to be fast and we confirmed ourselves in the fight for the constructors’ championship. I want to enjoy this final part of the season to the fullest and contribute to the success of the Maranello stable“, continued the Spaniard.

“The race è was difficult. In the first stint I suffered in terms of temperatures so I had to do a lot of management to avoid worse trouble – added Leclerc -. Anyway along the whole course of the weekend I always remained a little bit’ behind and I think today I could not have done better than third. Congratulations to Carlos author of a fantastic race and congratulations also to the team that completes a very good weekend”.

“We are working really well in the last few weeks and managed to get back to the level we all wanted. The fast lap in the finish? Even one more point can make a difference in the race for the constructors’ title. We are -29 from McLaren and we keep getting closer. We want to continue in this way in the next outings”, concluded the Monegasque.

At Città of Mexico triumph of Carlos Sainz and Ferrari

Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari triumphs in the Mexico City Grand Prix preceding the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who è third. Fourth and fifth Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the Mercedes, sixth world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

As always Verstappen è the best at the start and at the end of the very long straight Sainz, who è already; behind the Dutchman, cuts the first corner remains in front but obviously has to let the world champion pass, but in the middle of the group Albon crashes into Tsunoda who ends up against the wall and then the safety car enters the track. Meanwhile, Perez is penalized 5 seconds for false start, actually è è because heé was clearly ahead of the starting pitch.

When we restart, on the ninth lap Sainz surprises Verstappen with a very long braking move and overtakes him, the next lap Norris also tries but once again fails to pass, or rather, he passes by cutting the corner after Verstappen has thrown him off, the Dutchman repasses him in front, the two touch, they both go out of the track limits and Leclerc takes the opportunity to pass them both and get behind Sainz! Moral of the story, Verstappen is penalized 20 seconds and not 5 for the second maneuver, and he will have to serve them at the pit stop!”

Max stops at the end of lap 26°, Norris at the end of lap 30° and in the next two laps è the turn of the two Ferraris, first Leclerc and then Sainz. Verstappen loses a dozen positions com the prolonged stop but in a few laps he regains the points zone and climbs up to sixth position behind the Mercedes of Russell who è fourth and Hamilton who è fifth and battling each other.

The first three positions seem to be crystallized with Sainz ahead of Leclerc and Norris but the Briton slowly gets closer to the Monegasque and when he è on him, with nine laps to go, Leclerc goes long and miraculously avoids the wall of the last corner but Norris passes him. With six laps to go Hamilton takes fourth place from teammate Russell.

Sainz crosses the finish line victorious, for him è his fourth Formula 1 win and second of the season after the one in Melbourne, Australia, for Ferrari è his fifth win of 2024 and third in the last five races. Norris and Leclerc move closer to Verstappen in the world standings at 47 and 71 points behind respectively but the margin è still reassuring for the Dutchman with four races and two sprints to go.

Leclerc gained an extra point with the fastest lap made on the last lap because the team made him stop as his lead over the Mercedes was very wide. In the constructors’ standings, the Maranello marque bypasses Red Bull by 25 lengths and moves to 29 from McLaren. Closing out the top ten, in the order from seventh to 10th, are Kevin Magnussen in Haas, Oscar Piastri in McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in Haas and Pierre Gasly in Alpine.

LBA, Trent remains alone in the lead

Three Sunday games of the fifth day of LBA. Leading Trento returns alone to the top by detaching Milan, Bologna, Trieste and Brescia, which had been flanking it.

Dolomiti Energia Trentino beat Banco di Sardegna Sassari 84-81 on the road and thus remains on the score ieno with 10 points. Also in full score è is Virtus but with a game to make up.

In the other two games, Umana Reyer Venezia defeated Scafati 75-69, while Openjobmetis Varese beat Estra Pistoia 102-95.