
Lewis Hamilton doesn't want to leave anything to his rivals. Like a true cannibal, the Mercedes driver, who clinched the World Championship in Austin, is determined to finish on the top step of the podium in the final three races of the season.
"I am very happy to be here in Mexico. The last few days have been quite relaxing, I have been partying a bit. I couldn't do much because there are other races. At the end of the season I want to let loose with the celebrations. Since yesterday I've only been thinking about the race. As always, I will attack as hard as I can. The race in Mexico will be exciting not only for the Mexicans, but for all of us riders; winning this race on our return is the main goal for everyone".
Asked about the difference between his first and third world titles, the Anglo-Caribbean rider replied:
"It's changed a lot. F1 has grown a lot. It's been really challenging for me because before I came to F1 I didn't have much preparation, even for dealing with the media. I was thrown into the arena. In F1 you have to get comfortable and get out of your shell and get better and better. At the moment I think I am a better driver than I used to be".
On his goals for the final three races, he adds:
"I don't think anything needs to change. I will enjoy the races more, but I have to keep the pressure on".
With both titles secured, Mercedes may prefer to see Nico Rosberg in second place and the challenge of Sebastian Vettel:
"The team hasn't asked me to help him. The team has already won the constructors' title, let's see if Toto (Wolff, ed.) asks me".
On the incident at the end of the race in Austin, when he threw his cap to his team-mate on the podium, who threw it back, Hamilton adds:
"I am a very calm person and I have never had any problems from that point of view. If Toto needs to understand how Nico feels psychologically, I think he will talk to him. They will sit down together and try to understand what he is going through. The cap? It was a very funny, amusing episode. There's not much to add".
If you're not rich, it's better to be well-off than poor. In fact, as Sebastian Vettel says, half rich. This image is indicative of his state of mind on the eve of F1's return to Mexico (last visited in 1992, Ferrari's last joy in 1990 with Alain Prost, who went from thirteenth to first) and his desire to maintain second place in the championship and fend off Nico Rosberg's attacks. To recharge his batteries, the German visited the monumental Azteca Stadium, the only stadium to have hosted two World Cup finals, with the triumphs of Pele and Maradona, but also the match of the century, when Germany beat Italy 4-3 on 17 June 1970. Vettel, like any tourist, admires and believes that there are no national conflicts of interest now, because Nico Rosberg is of Finnish descent, and by finishing ahead he can swell the Teutonic chest and satisfy Italian pride with Ferrari. He wants to come out on top.
"On this track, we could be very close to Mercedes, considering how much our power unit has improved on the long straights".
He is eager to see if the unprecedented track is a mixture of Monza and Hockenheim, but enough of the pleasantries:

"We have grown, the atmosphere in the team is excellent, everything is ready for 2016. I want the championship".
The first session on Friday, 30th October 2015, starts on a damp track, described by Sebastian Vettel as "ridiculously slippery", with the first half of the session run on intermediate tyres. Valtteri Bottas sets the fastest time on these tyres before all the teams switch to the medium compound. Even with the dry tyres, many drivers are fooled by the conditions, especially in turns 8 and 10. Nico Rosberg's Mercedes suffers from overheating rear brakes, forcing him back to the pit lane while he holds the fastest time. Carlos Sainz Jr records the most timed laps with 37 and finishes eighth fastest, ahead of local favourite Sergio Pérez and Felipe Massa. Jolyon Palmer replaces Romain Grosjean at the wheel of the Lotus, as he will for the rest of the season, and finishes fifteenth fastest, 0.2 seconds slower than team-mate Pastor Maldonado. The fastest time of the session is set by Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso, with a 1'25"990, despite leaving the track in the second sector. He was followed by Daniil Kvyat and the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. With Rosberg relegated to sixth, newly crowned world champion Lewis Hamilton is only eleventh fastest. In the second session on Friday afternoon, Nico Rosberg was fastest with a time of 1:21.531. With the track still very new, the surface is slippery and it is another session where a lot of drivers get caught out. The biggest accident of the session came after just five minutes when Max Verstappen crashed at the exit of the stadium, bringing out the red flags. When the session resumed, Valtteri Bottas lost the rear of his Williams FW37 due to a fault with his DRS flap and crashed in the first corner. He was not the only one to have problems in the first corner as Sergio Pérez, Carlos Sainz Jr and Pastor Maldonado also went off there. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has an off-track moment in turn four. Romain Grosjean had to end his first practice of the weekend early when a clutch problem forced him to park his car 28 minutes into the session. Jenson Button completed 25 laps and was ninth fastest, despite spending half the session in the pit lane while the team fitted a new power unit to his car. Behind Rosberg, the two Red Bull drivers are second and third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
The party has its drawbacks. Mexico City was going crazy for the return of Formula One after 23 years, with a jovial atmosphere on every street corner in this megacity of 28,000,000 people and traffic to scream about. The fans were already in race mode with T-shirts and official caps from the first free practice sessions. Mexico was happy, and so were the teams, who received a triumphant welcome, as evidenced by the Thursday night party in the paddock, with Mexican food, music and dancing galore. However, the first taste of the new track caused some alarm. Racing at an altitude of 2,260 metres, it was known that the engine would lose some power, the aerodynamic load would decrease, but the real nightmare (a tough task for Brembo) concerns the brakes, which overheat excessively. They have to be kept under control, otherwise you either stop (goodbye Grand Prix) or crash. Add to that a slippery track, which caused the first damage in the final free practice sessions, with the fall of Max Verstappen (who was fastest in the first practice session with Toro Rosso), a wrecked car and a 7-minute red flag. This was followed by Valtteri Bottas' frontal crash into the barriers (no damage and the driver amazingly resumed the race) and Romain Grosjean's forced parking (another red flag), as well as mistakes by veterans like Lewis Hamilton (several spins) and emerging talents like Carlos Sainz Jr. The stopwatch showed that Nico Rosberg was fastest, followed by the Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, with Lewis Hamilton fourth, Sebastian Vettel fifth and Kimi Raikkonen sixth. Meanwhile, there are rumours that Aston Martin could enter F1 from 2016, possibly in partnership with Force India. Mercedes, who supply the engines, have already given the go-ahead, while Bernie Ecclestone's permission to change the name is a formality. Perhaps that's why Felipe Massa was driving the Jaguar of Mr Hinx, the villain from Spectre, a sworn enemy of 007. Better prepare early for the duel. Nico Rosberg was again fastest in the final practice session on Saturday morning with a time of 1:21.083, 0.014 seconds ahead of team-mate Hamilton. The track is slippery at the start of the session following overnight rain. It was not until half an hour into the session that the grip improved, with many teams opting for the faster soft compound tyres.

Rosberg sets the fastest times early on and while Hamilton gradually closes the gap, he ends the session slightly slower than Rosberg. Behind the two Mercedes, Daniel Ricciardo is 0.118 seconds down, followed by Vettel, another tenth of a second behind. Jenson Button spent a lot of time in the garage again, reporting engine vibration, and ended the session with the slowest time, more than eight seconds behind Rosberg. The long main straight of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez offers the fastest speeds of the 2015 season. With their lack of pure power, McLaren expect to struggle for the rest of the weekend. A few hours later, during the first part of qualifying, Kimi Raikkonen is able to take part after the Ferrari crew changed his gearbox in time for the session. Jenson Button will not be running after his team decided not to go out, as a 55 place grid penalty would have put him at the back of the grid anyway. Marcus Ericsson is more than half a second quicker than his team-mate Felipe Nasr, who joins the two Manor Marussia drivers out of Q2. Button's retirement leaves just one driver out of the running, and it turns out to be his McLaren team-mate Alonso, who narrowly misses out on the cut. At the front, Rosberg is fastest ahead of Vettel, while Hamilton is the only driver not to use the soft compound. Lewis Hamilton goes out on the softer tyres in Q2 and sets the fastest time of the session, the first to go in under 1'20.0, with Vettel second ahead of Rosberg. Raikkonen goes out on the harder compound, but retires after spinning in the first corner, leaving him fifteenth fastest, with a grid penalty for his gearbox change still to come. Max Verstappen puts in a quick lap towards the end of the session, knocking team-mate Sainz Jr out of the top ten.
Both Lotus and Ericsson's second Sauber were also eliminated. In Q3, both Mercedes drivers started the session with two consecutive fast laps, with Rosberg leading by 0.188 seconds. All the drivers struggle to improve their times in the second run of timed laps on fresher tyres. While Hamilton improves early in the lap, his efforts are halted when he makes a mistake in turn twelve. This means he is unable to challenge Rosberg for pole position, who qualifies first for the fourth race in a row. The two Mercedes drivers are closely followed by Vettel, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo, both Williams, and Verstappen in eighth. On the fifth row is home favourite Sergio Pérez, ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in ninth. Mercedes secure the front row for the Mexican Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season. Nico Rosberg takes pole ahead of team-mate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari is third. The German secured the top spot on the grid with a time of 1'19.480. Hamilton is 0.188 seconds behind his team-mate. Sebastian Vettel starts from the second row alongside Russian Daniil Kvyat in Red Bull, ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen is eighth, followed by Force India's Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Rounding out the top ten are Max Verstappen in eighth place with Toro Rosso and the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Kimi Raikkonen retired in Q2 and will start the race from the penultimate row. It's the twentieth pole position of Nico Rosberg's career, the fourth in a row and the fifth of the season. The German will once again deny Lewis Hamilton his fiftieth career pole position.
"We were hoping to be a bit closer, but we didn't make it".
So says Sebastian Vettel, who was satisfied with third place on the grid for the Mexican Grand Prix. But he is not setting himself any limits for the race.
"It was tough, I tried everything. They were quicker, but who knows what will happen tomorrow. The track is fun and tomorrow will be an exciting race".
While Nico Rosberg stated laconically:

"I was quickest in both sessions and managed to do a great lap".
Once again, pole position eludes Lewis Hamilton, who will start alongside his team-mate.
"This weekend Nico was quicker and I have to congratulate him. It was spectacular. I have areas where I can improve. Today I have a different set-up to Nico for qualifying, but maybe it's good for the race".
But the funniest idea comes from Sebastian Vettel:
"Why don't you guys crash in the first corner? I'll pass you and win the race. Shall I throw you the hat?"
The joke comes at the end of the press conference, with the Ferrari driver laughing, Lewis Hamilton grinning (already relaxed as a world champion) and Nico Rosberg, with his twentieth career pole (equal with Damon Hill) and fourth in a row, remaining focused on avoiding further disasters at the start, recalling incidents in Japan, Russia and the United States.Vettel downplays the situation but captures it well with his humorous remark about the two Mercedes drivers possibly colliding at the start of the Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton now have a strained relationship, often colliding in the first corner (usually with the Briton coming out on top) for good reason. On Saturday, at the end of qualifying, they pretend to make peace, or rather, Lewis Hamilton initiates a truce by extending his hand and complimenting his team-mate. In front of the cameras, however, they ignore each other, looking serious and frowning. Nico Rosberg was quick to dismiss his performance:
"I found a good set-up right from the start, was fast all weekend and the pole is a worthy conclusion. The best is yet to come: I want to win again".
A success that has eluded him since the Austrian Grand Prix, a lifetime considering he drives for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton accepts defeat graciously, then warns his team-mate:
"I had problems on a tricky track. He beat me, but I think I can improve in all areas. And I think I have a race set-up".
All the more reason to taunt your defeated team-mate. That is, if Sebastian Vettel, the ambitious third, doesn't reconcile everyone. After qualifying, jokes aside, he seemed disappointed:
"I thought I was closer to the two Mercedes, I tried everything, but it was impossible".
He even apologised to the team over the radio for finishing third.
"We could have been faster, but I preferred not to take excessive risks and cause a disaster for the race".
However, it seems that his pace is the best (in terms of top speed, Massa's Williams set a new F1 record of 364km/h) and therefore the race (with rain expected at times, a complicated strategy and a good chance of a safety car) could see him among the sure protagonists.

Conditions that Kimi Raikkonen is hoping for, forced to start from the ninth row due to a penalty and the consequent loss of five grid positions for a gearbox change. The Finn missed the last free practice session due to an oil leak in the gearbox, and then found himself without brakes in a desperate team effort to replace the (old and penalty-free) engine.
"There was no point in continuing, we hope to make up ground in the race".
All this while Jean Todt, the FIA president, announces that Michael Schumacher's fight will continue and that he does not appreciate Ferrari's veto on the sale of engines at lower costs. On Sunday 1st November 2015, at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg made a good start, fending off an attack from his team-mate Hamilton in the first corner. Behind them, Vettel had a bad getaway that saw him get into the middle of the Red Bulls. In turn 5, he touched Daniel Ricciardo's car and suffered a puncture that forced him into the pit lane at the end of the first lap. While he was able to come out again, Fernando Alonso retired after just one lap due to a loss of power. So the order after the first lap was: Rosberg, Hamilton, Kvyat and Ricciardo. The two Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton soon opened up a gap on the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo, exchanging the fastest laps as Felipe Massa and Max Verstappen became embroiled in a battle for sixth. Kimi Raikkonen, who had to cool down his brakes early on, made good progress and was up to 13th on lap eight. A lap later, Valtteri Bottas was the first of the front runners to pit for the medium compound, followed a lap later by team-mate Massa. While Raikkonen had moved up to eighth place by lap 12, Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz Jr. were battling for sixth, with Pérez being asked by his team to stay out as long as possible. Sebastian Vettel slowly worked his way up the field and was eleventh on lap 18, but a lap later he spun in turn seven and dropped back to 16th. He then complained of a puncture, but continued without pitting. On lap 20, Sergio Pérez pitted for new tyres and a front wing adjustment. As the stop took longer than expected, he rejoined the track just ahead of Sainz Jr, who used the momentum to pass Pérez in turn one. Meanwhile, Raikkonen and Bottas were battling for sixth place.
On lap 24, Bottas attacked on the outside of turn two and stayed on the inside line in the following corner, where Räikkönen did not pull back and ran into the front left of the Williams, breaking his own rear right suspension and forcing him to retire, while Bottas was able to continue. Rosberg came in for his scheduled pit stop on lap 27, while Hamilton waited two laps to follow suit in an attempt to get ahead. This proved unsuccessful as he rejoined Rosberg after his stop on lap 29. On lap 35, Sergio Pérez attempted to overtake Carlos Sainz Jr. for ninth place, but the Spaniard ran wide and held his position. After being informed by his team radio that he had gone off track, he relinquished the position to Pérez. Sebastian Vettel pitted for the second time on lap 37 and rejoined the field between the two Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton, albeit a lap down. A few laps later he was told to let Hamilton pass. On lap 48, Mercedes changed strategy and brought both drivers in for another tyre stop, much to the dismay of Lewis Hamilton, who complained to his team over the radio. Meanwhile, a battle for fifth place developed between Massa and Ricciardo, with the latter overtaking at the start of lap 53. On the same lap, Sebastian Vettel spun again at turn seven, this time hitting the barriers and retiring to bring out the safety car. The double retirements meant that for the first time since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, none of their cars were classified. During the caution period, the order was: Rosberg, Hamilton, Kvyat, Bottas, Ricciardo, Massa, Hulkenberg, Pérez, Verstappen and Grosjean. On the restart at the start of lap 58, Bottas made a move on Kvyat in turn one to take third place. In the final laps of the race, Hamilton closed on Rosberg and Massa on the two Red Bull drivers in front of him. However, neither was able to overtake and Rosberg crossed the line first, followed by Hamilton and Bottas. Seventy-one tightly contested laps at the qualifying pace revealed the true face of Mercedes: a lightning-fast and unassailable machine for everyone else. The race was therefore a duel between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, played out with fast laps but dominated by Nico, even after the Safety Car came out.

Lewis Hamilton finished second and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium. Daniil Kvyat was fourth, ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Felipe Massa was sixth, followed by Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and home crowd favourite Sergio Perez. Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean completed the top ten. Nico Rosberg said:
"It was a fantastic day, a great race and a battle with Lewis. I'm happy to have won; it's the best podium of the year. The crowd here is great. It's crucial to be first out of the first corner against Lewis, and today I kept an eye on him and was ready to accelerate a bit if he got too close. After that I managed the tyres, the pace was good and I controlled the race. I'm very happy and I feel I'm on the right track".
Rosberg's second pit stop was precautionary:
"The tyres were good, I had a good pace. There is no better place to return to the top step of the podium; this crowd gives me so much energy, it makes me feel like a rock star. Now I hope to get on a positive streak; winning helps to win. A starting point for 2016? There are two races left this year".
Lewis Hamilton pays tribute to his rival:
"Nico had a fantastic race. He made no mistakes today and that's very important for him".
It is impressive to see how easily Rosberg increased his lead on the first lap and after the restart. Lewis Hamilton was quick to point out that chasing is impossible in Mexico:
"You completely lose aerodynamic load and without grip there's virtually nothing you can do to stay close to the car in front. I pushed as hard as I could, taking care not to overheat the brakes, and got as close as the situation allowed. It's still a good result for the team (tenth one-two finish for Mercedes this season)".
Hamilton was able to wear the sombrero on the podium, although he had hoped to do so from the top step. The Briton still pays tribute to the impressive crowd:
"The fans were extraordinary, I've never seen anything like it, it felt like a football match".
Valtteri Bottas is moved:
"First of all I have to thank the team who did a fantastic job today. We drove like a winning team and I'm really proud of that. He mentioned his contact with Kimi Raikkonen, who moved three points ahead of him in the Drivers' Championship as a result of the result: "It wasn't an easy race. There was a little contact with Kimi, but it shouldn't have ended like that, so it's a shame. I was on the inside and unfortunately I had nowhere to go, but these are races".
He added:

"I don't need to talk to him, we had a hard race. Normally in these situations there's enough space for two cars in the chicane and certainly when I'm fighting for a position I don't back off".
Finally, on the crucial overtake of Kvyat, he recounted:
"I saw him slip in the last corner, stayed close to him and managed to pass".
While Mercedes celebrate, Ferrari despair: Sebastian Vettel drives the worst race of the year, with a multitude of mistakes. The repertoire is extensive: he starts badly and is immediately overtaken by Daniil Kvyat. Shortly afterwards, he touches Daniel Ricciardo and punctures a tyre. Later, the German returned to the pits to change the tyre, but when he came back on the track, he was last. At this point, two straight runs and then a spin that ended in the barriers. Goodbye to the race. The same goes for Kimi Raikkonen, who after a good comeback - he started from the back due to an engine change - touches Valtteri Bottas' Williams and breaks the rear suspension. Retirement for him too. Now it's on to Brazil for the Redemption Grand Prix. The atmosphere at Ferrari is always calm, despite the forgettable race. Sebastian Vettel, who had just crashed, apologised to the team.
"Today wasn't a good day in terms of results because the car was excellent and I made two serious mistakes. It's a shame because the pace was similar to the Mercedes, but today, in turn seven, I wasn't very sympathetic. I feel sorry for the team because I thought we could do well. When I make a mistake, I raise my hand and admit it, and today I realised that I didn't work as well as I could have. But in terms of the performance of the car, it's a positive day".
Lewis Hamilton returns to the pits for his second pit stop for safety reasons. He's driving like a rocket and seems reluctant. But it would be strange if he overtook Nico Rosberg, who had already come in. For safety reasons, the Englishman was ignored the first time, but not the second, even though the pit stop (Hamilton was clever with the signals) came with a last-minute turn, just to make it clear that he was bowing, but not quite willingly. But these were code words from Mercedes; more than safety, it was a matter of state, Nico Rosberg needed the success, a little consolation after so many setbacks. In the end, Lewis Hamilton said:
"Rosberg drove an incredible race, he deserved it, he was the best. I'm still happy because it's great to be on the podium with such a fantastic crowd".
Meanwhile, the stage is all for the resurgent Nico Rosberg, who shouts on the radio and then to the crowd:
"I felt like a rock star when I climbed onto the podium in the stadium. Exciting, the best celebration after a victory in my life. A great race, a great battle with Lewis".
In Mexico, the Mercedes show was clear and allowed race winner Nico Rosberg to reclaim second place in the Drivers' Championship from Sebastian Vettel. The only moment of tension on a near-perfect Sunday for the British-German team came when Lewis Hamilton exchanged words with his engineers after the second pit stop of Nico Rosberg, who was leading the race before his stop. The Briton had repeatedly asked his engineer if it was really necessary to pit, as the second stop came somewhat unexpectedly, and the team justified it as a safety measure after discovering that the tread left on Rosberg's previously removed tyres was only 10%. It is likely that Hamilton, like Perez later at Force India, would have wanted to continue his race to the end and try to outsmart his team-mate.
"I had nothing to lose and I wanted to take a risk to try and win, but in the end it worked out like this and we ended up with a one-two".

The discussion between the three-time champion and his pit crew, which Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff tries to play down:
"It's about a driver's emotions when he's in a race car. He has to ask questions and make requests, which is perfectly reasonable. We were almost on the canvas with the tyres from the first stint. We had a good gap to our rivals and that's why we decided to make this move. So it's perfectly reasonable to have discussions. Do we want robots in the car? No, we want the best Grand Prix driver. That's the way it is. He asked questions, we've seen Vettel do that too. It's not a problem as long as the team keeps an overview. So as far as I'm concerned, there was no problem".
Still in the Mercedes box, technical director Paddy Lowe admitted that it was a mistake on Hamilton's part not to come in when called to the pits:
"Technically it was a mistake not to come in when we told him to. He only analysed it from his point of view and clearly didn't understand why we did it. When a guy is driving a car at 350 km/h, it's never easy to give him a technical explanation in a few minutes".
At the end of the day, the Mercedes team's non-executive chairman, Niki Lauda, focused instead on the fine performance of Nico Rosberg, who finally won after a long wait, with Lewis Hamilton claiming the third title of his career. According to the former Austrian driver, the success in Mexico sweeps away the anger accumulated by Keke's son at the United States Grand Prix, where he showed signs of impatience just before the podium.
"For him it's incredible. I felt sorry for Nico because I know how it feels when things go wrong and your team-mate wins the championship. It's the worst thing that can happen to a driver's morale. That's why it's good that the opposite has happened here, so that he can regain his balance and keep fighting. For me, the most important thing is that these guys push each other. And when one of them stops, the other one feels it. So the balance has returned and that is a positive aspect for the team. Nico was stronger than Lewis. That's what we want - one or the other. Not Vettel".
As for Hamilton's tenacity, Lauda insists:
"Orders are orders, and with the current technology it's the pit wall that calls the driver into the pits. And even if he doesn't agree, he has to listen, as Hamilton did in the end".
The struggles of young Sebastian Vettel are interwoven with the great celebrations in Mexico and the undisputed dominance of Mercedes. For once, the team does not allow itself to incite its warriors to battle, but to indulge in a state of mind that, after seeing Lewis Hamilton crowned World Champion in Austin, prefers to elicit a smile from Nico Rosberg. In an apparent psychological crisis following a series of setbacks, the German Mercedes driver, now partly comforted by his twelfth career victory, is the first to win in Mexico since Formula One's return after 23 years. Mercedes set the pace, but everything was made easier by the problems and mistakes of the Maranello team. On Saturday, Sebastian Vettel was disappointed, having hoped for pole position. His frustration was incomparable to what he felt after the race, with a slow start, an overtaking manoeuvre by Daniil Kvyat and, most importantly, a puncture on the fifth corner of the first lap, a gift from Daniel Ricciardo's attack. With that puncture, the troubles began, a mixture of misfortune, regret and an excessive eagerness to rectify the situation. In the end, after the last crash, Sebastian Vettel apologised to the team over the radio, but you have to forgive him because the German had done everything he could to make a comeback, starting 19th, 50 seconds behind Nico Rosberg at the end of the second lap.

There are regrets because the Ferrari was fast, as evidenced by the fact that it matched the times of the two Mercedes for six laps at the end of the eighth lap when the track was clear. But when you're on the razor's edge, it's acceptable to make mistakes: on lap 17, after overtaking Carlos Sainz Jr. and Jenson Button, who were pushing hard, the German spun at Turn 7, skidded before coming back on track and marking the escape route. At that moment, the dream of a comeback finally came to an end; Sebastian Vettel, who had been fastest in the first sector before the mistake, was no longer as quick and on lap 51 (crashing into the barriers) he sealed his ordeal. Kimi Raikkonen fared even worse; he was beaten by his compatriot Valtteri Bottas (on the podium thanks to a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre by Daniil Kvyat), reminiscent of Sochi. In Russia, Kimi's daring move (later penalised by the judges) had shattered his rival's Williams; this time the roles were reversed: Bottas entered the corner fast, Raikkonen's car lifted and the suspension broke. The Finnish Ferrari driver climbed with the strategy, while the Finnish Williams driver (who was not penalised by the judges) rejoiced: one-on-one and a pass in the championship standings. Future sparks between the two are easy to predict; the relationship is in tatters. A feud that hardly concerns Maurizio Arrivabene, who was forced to comment on this unexpected disaster:
"It's a lesson in humility. To become great, you have to touch the sky with your finger but keep your feet on the ground. Today we landed on the ground and we have to learn. The team is motivated, the team is here this year. We're in F1, things can happen. Today the drivers had more problems than they should have. Let's start from here and look forward. Today we learnt what not to do. The car was strong. Sebastian doesn't have to apologise, we don't have to apologise to him, we're a team”.
But Sebastian Vettel insists:
"Obviously, from a result point of view, it's not a good day. The positive thing is that the car was excellent. Of course, we need to understand why we had such a bad start. We lost the race with the puncture. I don't know where Daniel wanted to go, at the end of the day these things can happen, these are races. It cost us a lot because we were at the back of the group, but then I did my best. The car was excellent; I think the pace was similar to the Mercedes. We tried to make up positions; it wasn't a problem, but then I made two very bad mistakes: once I spun and the second time I hit the wall in the same place. I don't know, maybe I wasn't lucky in turn 7 today! Obviously it was my fault. I'm sorry for the team because I think we could have had a very good race today. Even with the puncture I could have recovered well, but it didn't work out that way”.
Maurizio Arrivabene says Sebastian Vettel doesn't need to apologise. When informed of his team principal's words, the driver responded:
"It's nice to hear it, to know it, but I have no problems. If I make a mistake, I can raise my hand and admit it. Obviously I'm not proud of it, it can happen, but today I didn't do as good a job as I could have done for myself and the team. And obviously I can't be happy, but still, as I said, it's a positive day from the point of view of the car's performance. We've learnt some lessons, I had an excellent feeling for the car during the race and in the next two races we'll give our best, everything we've got”.
Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen comments on his race:
"Today I lost the wheel, while in Sochi I hit it, and as I've always said, there are two different ways of looking at things. These are races, but I expected it to happen after Russia because some people don't forget things. That's life. It was a very negative weekend because everything went wrong, but the speed was there and as a team we didn't lose anything. It was just a difficult weekend; we need to recover from the next race and try to finish the season on a high. Obviously, it's not the best feeling for the team when both cars break down".