10/2016 - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury Family Lifestyle MAGAZIN 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

An exciting  F1 GP in Mexico with thousand of passioned  families, F1 fans  and about  360.000 spectators in total, celebrating the 'Kings class of Motorsport'  past weekend in Mexico City life at the circuit;  And a fantastic day for Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team: Nico Rosberg (349 points) still leads the Drivers' World Championship - after his second place at the Mexican GP 2016 -   by 19 points from Lewis Hamilton (330 points), race winner.

Red Bull Racing managed to lead over Ferrari (following penalties for S. Vettel, Ferrari and M. Verstappen, Red Bull),  - with  D. Ricciardo - finished 3rd.  and  M. Verstappen, finished 4th -   in the Constructors World Championship 2016 to 62 points.


Podium Celebration after the race:
1. L. Hamilton, Mercedes                         
2. N. Rosberg,   Mercedes                       
3. S. Vettel, Ferrari                                   
4. D. Ricciardo, Red Bull                            
5. M. Verstappen, Red Bull                        

Final result  - after penalties for M. Verstappen and S. Vettel - :
1. L. Hamilton,  Mercedes                          
2. N. Rosberg,    Mercedes                        
3. D. Ricciardo, Red Bull                            
4. M. Verstappen, Red Bull  
5. S. Vettel,  Ferrari    



Interviews, Team quotes:

RED BULL RACING:
DANIEL RICCIARDO, Finish Position: 3rd (5th)*, Start Position: 4th  
“Obviously I’m happy to get the points and I think that means third for me in the Drivers’ Championship so I’m quite proud of that this year. Sure it would have been nice to get up on the podium and enjoy it but none the less that was the situation today. It was a fun race. Even though I was quite frustrated after the race with the incident and all that, I still had a lot of fun with that battle. And being the hunter at the end is so much more fun than driving around by yourself. The race came alive and obviously it became a bit spicy but it was a cool day. Sure I want to race and having penalties after the race isn’t ideal, but I did feel today that it was called for. I committed to the move and he squeezed me. Racing should be tough and l don’t expect being waved through but we talked about the moving under braking and that’s on paper now. The only thing I’m disappointed of is not to be in the stadium in that moment but the podium is still up so I’ll go and have a few photos with the guys.”*finish position revised following penalty for Car 5


MAX VERSTAPPEN, Finish Position: 4th*(3rd)*, Start Position: 3rd   
“When I went off the track towards the end I think it was pretty similar to Lewis on lap one, corner one. He went off and I felt he gained an advantage, I didn’t even gain an advantage, I was ahead going into braking and when I came back on the track I was the same distance in front so I don’t understand the penalty. I think it was a small bit of justice that the stewards made the decision to penalise Seb. It was clearly a wrong move which has been punished according to the rules. As long as we can stick to the rules every week then we won’t have the frustration we felt after the race. I’m really happy for Daniel to get on the podium after a strong drive and it’s a great result for the team. It makes our second position in the Constructors’ Championship that little bit closer and I believe it confirms Daniel as P3 in the Drivers’ Championship. After a bit of stress we end the weekend with smiles all round. I could have done with a few more laps on the supersoft to get me closer to overtaking Nico, but at the end of the day we were always going to struggle to overtake here due to straight line speed. At the end of the day the Mexican fans have been amazing once again, the atmosphere and noise was great.”
*finish position revised following own penalty and penalty for Car 5
                        

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: “I’m glad to see the Stewards making the right decision regarding the Ricciardo-Vettel incident, and it extends our lead over Ferrari in the Constructors Championship to 62 points. It’s been an interesting end to the Mexican Grand Prix, not one that anyone really wants to see, but I’m delighted for Daniel in having secured 3rd place in the Drivers’ Championship, he’s had an excellent season and deserves it. Daniel and Max have been driving brilliantly well, pushing each other on, they’ve both raised the bar and the level that they are operating at now is good to witness. We are looking forward to the final two races and it’s encouraging to see we are getting closer and closer to Mercedes. For Max to be able to have a go at Nico today, having tailed him all the way through the race is really good news. We are chipping away and you are not seeing the margins Mercedes have had in previous years which bodes well not just for this year but for a more competitive Formula One in 2017."      


SCUDERÍA FERRARI:
Sebastian Vettel  
'Today I think we did everything right, we had a very good pace. I think we could have even done better with a better position in Qualifying, but we can't change yesterday. We were very positive going into the day today, we knew that the speed was there, so we had good confidence for the race. We made the tires last longer than anybody else. We were quicker, so we put Verstappen under pressure: for sure it was not easy to pass, but he did a mistake, cut the track and didn't give the position back even if he was told to do so. About the fight with Daniel: I respect him a lot, it is never ideal when you touch. On my defense, I was fighting hard, and trying to give him some space, which I think I did.'

Maurizio Arrivabene  
'Today could have felt special: we fully deserved this podium, which was taken away by bureaucracy. The whole team had showed great stamina by staying united and focused in a difficult moment. Our strategy had made it possible to make good progress through the race and both drivers did a very good job. Unfortunately, we were penalized by Stewards' unappealable decision which, in my opinion, is too harsh and somehow unfair.'

Kimi Raikkonen  
' My start was not too bad and we were running quite ok. After the first pit stop, though, I struggled to get any good grip with the Mediums, so we thought maybe we should try and see if we could go back on track with a new set of the same tires: but to be honest I had no better grip at the rear. It was the first time I was running with these tires, maybe it's just how the tire is. Afterwards it's easy to say that probably it was not the right thing to do, but I'm happy that we tried. It was not easy to pass Hulkenberg, it's difficult when you get close and you have no grip. I don't know if we touched, I just saw him spin.'


MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton
This weekend I've had really good pace. The car felt really strong from start to finish - night and day compared to last year. I had a good start - but it's such a long way down to Turn One that everyone just got the tow on me. The right front brake disc had glazed on the formation lap and I couldn't un-glaze it. I thought it might be okay - but when I hit the brakes it just locked up as the temperature came up and I went flying across the grass. I was lucky to get across and rejoin on the other side of the track. I had a big flat spot - and I mean seriously big. I could barely see the end of each straight with the vibrations and I genuinely didn't know if my suspension was going to last. I was really lucky not to catch it again and either destroy the tyre or have to come in for an early stop. Luckily, I got it under control and was cruising from quite early on. It's kinda crazy to think I now have 51 wins. It's a shame these results are coming so late in the season - possibly too late. You can look back at say that maybe if Malaysia didn't happen then I'd be in a different position right now. But that's motor racing. All I can do is my best and hope things go as they have done for the past two weekends. History has shown that it's never too late - that's why I keep pushing and doing everything I can to repeat weekends like this. I hadn't won here before so it's a great feeling to do that in front of this incredible crowd. Now my sights are fully set on Brazil. I've never won there either - but if I can take this kind of performance into the next weekend I'll be in a good position. Ultimately, as long as I feel I did the best I could in these final races, I can be happy at the end of the season.

Nico Rosberg
The Mexican fans were really outstanding again. I got goose bumps already in the stadium before the race at the driver's parade. But then, when the people were calling my name on the podium, that was the most emotional moment of the weekend. Thank you to everybody who made this event possible and to every Mexican fan who made their way today to the track today. Checo Perez and Esteban Gutiérrez can be really proud of their countrymen. I had a tough race today. At the start I had a good getaway and thought I would be able to take the lead from Lewis, when I saw he had a massive lock up and went straight through the grass. Then, suddenly, Verstappen hit me heavily after he had a lock up too and forced me off the track. Luckily my car wasn't damaged and it didn't cost me a position. Lewis was that little bit quicker today, so I didn't manage to achieve my goal and win here again. But being second is not too bad overall. Now I look forward to flying home after two long weeks and relaxing a bit with my family, ready to come back stronger in Brazil and go for the win there. I think the Interlagos track suits our car much better, so I'm looking forward to going there and seeing what we can do.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
Maybe that race looked straightforward from the outside but it really wasn't from within the team. It all began at Turn One when Lewis flat spotted his front right tyre under braking. That gave us a really tough call to make because we could see the vibrations getting worse and some of the peaks he was hitting were pretty scary. In any normal race we would have pitted him because of the risk of tyre failure or maybe worse but of course today that stop would have cost him the Championship. We had a lot of debate with the engineers, balancing the positive and negative aspects of the decision, and we were monitoring the numbers every single lap. But in the end, some of Lewis' bad luck this year got cancelled out today by making it through this situation and we pulled him into the pits as early as we could to make the one-stop strategy work. From there, he was able to control his pace all the way to the end, in spite of some high exhaust temperatures that meant we were juggling with engine modes to look after everything properly. For Nico, it was a bit tougher today as he was at risk from the Red Bulls through the race. Under some big pressure, he didn't put a foot wrong, kept a cool head and finished in a very solid second position, managing the same temperature issues as Lewis in the final laps. Overall, it was a great day, with Lewis showing he is one of the greats of our sport by equalling Prost's record of 51 wins. Congratulations to him for this incredible achievement. And now we head to Brazil with everything delicately poised. Lewis will keep fighting to the end but the championship is now in Nico's hands - a win in Sao Paulo could make him Champion. Our job is simple: to give the boys a perfect, fault-free car to battle it out on track and that will be the entire focus of our preparations.

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)
A fantastic day. This is one of the best crowds of the year and I hope we provided terrific entertainment for them - particularly at the end of the race. It's incredible to have our drivers on the top two steps here after a weekend with such close competition. It was a great drive from Lewis to take the win. There was a great deal of stress for us at the beginning of the race after he flat spotted a tyre at the first corner. The vibrations and corresponding suspension loads were above permitted limits. I remember painfully Kimi's suspension failure in 2005 in similar circumstances. In this situation we knew that taking a precautionary pit stop would ruin Lewis' race and potentially his Championship, so we chose to cross our fingers and run him to the first stop, which we took a little bit early because of that issue. From then on it was quite straightforward on his side of the garage and he managed the race well from the front. Nico struggled a little bit more for pace and had a few scary moments with the challenge from Max and time loss through back markers. But he kept his head and got to the flag with a good margin in the end to take a well-earned P2 after a tricky weekend for him. A great job all round by the team and the drivers to get a perfect result at this fantastic race. A word too for Tony Walton, our Spares Co-ordinator, who represented the team on the podium today. Tony has been a part of the race team for 17 years and is now taking a factory-based job with us and a well-earned break from the tough business of travelling. It was great to have him up there today and a thoroughly fitting send off. Finally congratulations to Lewis for matching the 51 wins of Alain Prost. I have had the privilege to work with both of these great World Champions. so that is a very special statistic to appreciate.


Fotos: McLaren Honda,  copyright all rights reserved