It was a memorable day in front of his home fans for Sergio Perez as he finished a brilliant P7 and best of the rest behind the top 3 teams. He avoided the early carnage to move up from 11th on the grid to P6 at one stage. Checo then held off Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages to win the midfield battle and delight his many fans. 

Sergio Perez – P7  

“This is a great day for me and my team. I think the race was just about perfect and I want to congratulate the entire team for all their hard work delivering this result. It’s extra special to score good points in my home race - in front of the fans who have given me so much support this week. There were some cars that were a bit quicker than us today, but we beat them with a fantastic strategy. This feels like a victory for us. The race was so intense, especially the battle against Daniel [Ricciardo] at the end – when he was on fresher tyres and putting big pressure on me. I had to concentrate so hard and push right until the end. I’m very satisfied with our performance and the points we scored today are important for the fight in the teams’ championship.” 

¡Qué gran día! Ejecutamos la carrera perfecta, atacamos en los momentos correctos y logramos contener a Ricciardo al final.
¡Sin duda mi mejor carrera en México! @mexicogp pic.twitter.com/aszA94JDCG

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) October 28, 2019

Daniel Ricciardo had a quiet but effective race. From P13 on the grid, he ran for 51 laps on the hard tyres and ran as high as P6. The Aussie switched to mediums in the closing stages and almost got past Perez, but he locked up and ended up on the grass at turn 1.  

Daniel Ricciardo – P8  

“It’s good to be in the points. I could have got more if I had passed Perez but I just couldn’t make it stick. I sent it into turn one, maybe a little late and the postman wasn’t there! We made a really strong start on the Hard tyre and that set us up for the rest of the race. It’s a solid day with both cars back in the points. It’s been a tough week for the team, so I’m proud of them and how they’ve kept their spirits high. We regrouped quickly and we can be pleased with that, but now we have to move on and keep it up.” 

#MexicoGP 🏁#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/YzxghXtNFO

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) October 27, 2019

A points finish looked impossible for Pierre Gasly until a last-lap collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat gifted him a point. Kvyat received a post-race penalty which moved the Frenchman up to P9. After feeling very unwell on Saturday, it was a nice bonus for him. 

Pierre Gasly – P9  

“It wasn’t easy at all inside of the cockpit, but today I gave everything and I’m happy with scoring two points. Overall the car has been competitive all weekend, which was positive. Starting the race on the Option tyre clearly wasn’t ideal, but we tried to make the best out of it. In the end we managed to make it work which was important for our battle in the Championship.” 

UPDATE: @kvyatofficial has been handed a 10-second time penalty for his collision with Hulkenberg which demotes him to P11 and sees @PierreGASLY finish P9#F1 #MexicanGP 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/LXF0D8qWIf

— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) October 27, 2019

A promising opening to the race turned into huge disappointment for Carlos Sainz at the Mexican Grand Prix. He ran as high as 4th at one point, but when he switched to the hard tyre, he dropped like a stone down the field. It was a rare bad day for McLaren in recent times. 

Carlos Sainz – P13  

“It’s been a bad and frustrating afternoon for the whole team. After such a strong qualifying yesterday and a great start today, managing to slip into P4, it was very disappointing to go backwards after the first pit-stop. 

The hard tyre simply ruined our race. We need to analyse in detail what happened and why we had such a poor stint on that compound. Austin is right around the corner so there is no time to lose. We’ll keep our heads down and work hard to come back stronger next weekend.” 

Not the best race for the team. I had a great start managing to slip into P4 but after the first stop the Hard tyre simply killed our race. We need to analyze in detail what happened there. Austin is right around the corner so no time to lose. Heads down and keep pushing! pic.twitter.com/TVXE1UWnzI

— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) October 27, 2019