Horse 2022 - F1: Angry Rosberg Remains Unbothered (Round 8)

Even before a wheel had turned at the Mexican Grand Prix at the the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, engine builders were already bemoaning the fact that because the race is held at a height of at least 7000ft above sea level, engines wouldn't be able to breathe as easily in the less dense air and that precisely because the air is less dense, engines would not be able to dissipate their heat as easily.
Even after a 50 place grid penalty, the Honda engine in the back of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was the first to expire; probably because of this reason.

Early in the race, Sebastian Vettel had a collision with Daniel Ricciardo and this meant that he dropped his third place and had too pit. Things only got worse from there. His pitstop put him to the back of the field and even though he spent most of the race on a blistering pace, he was still instructed to let Hamilton and Rosberg pass under blue flags. Vettel's race went from disappointing to humiliating when on lap 53, he spun the car into a set of barriers and then proceeded to try and clean up his mess by picking up broken pieces of Ferrari and putting them in the cockpit.
Not that Raikkonen in the other Ferrari had it any better.

Perhaps in exacting revenge for the incident in Russia (which for the purposes of this blog never existed) on lap 22 and challenging for sixth, Valtteri Bottas punted Raikkonen off the track. When quizzed on the subject of whether or not it was his or Bottas' fault, Raikkonen was quite phlegmatic about it and said that "That is life.It is racing. I haven't seen the pictures, but the end result wasn't ideal for me."
The last time both Ferraris failed to finish a Grand Prix was all the way back at the Australian GP in 2006.

After the safety car had come out and after the marshalls cleaned up Vettel's Ferrari, the Mercedes power in Bottas' Williams proved too much for the Renault in the back of Kvyat's Red Bull. Bottas breezed off into the distance and Kyvat was left to defend a late charge from his team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
The second Williams of of Felipe Massa who had sort of been nurdling around behind the leaders for virtually all the race, dribbled into sixth place.

Most of the Grand Prix was decidedly processional with very few overtaking maneuvers around the circuit. After about ten laps, the race very quickly turned into a silberwäsche with both of the Silver Arrows shooting off into the distance. Late in the race, there might have been a little bit of interest with Hamilton ignoring the Mercedes team’s directions to pit for new tyres so that he could stay out longer and hopefully get some advantage but it simply didn't work. Pretty much from the first corner, this was a Rosberg benefit race.
Maybe following on from the hat-throwing incident at the end of the Russian GP, Rosberg found some fire and it must be said that Angry-Rosberg is better than Sad-Rosberg but it's all come too late in the season.

Race Results:
1. Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Hamilton - Mercedes
3. Bottas - Williams
4. Kyvat - Red Bull
5. Ricciardo - Red Bull
6. Massa - Williams

"The John Logie Baird Television Was Better in 1984 Memorial Cup" at the end of Round 8 in Mexico looks like this:

52 Hamilton
46 Rosberg
30 Vettel
13 Bottas
13 Ricciardo
12 Kyvat
12 Massa
11 Raikkonen
6 Perez
4 Grosjean
3 Nasr
1 Hulkenburg

The Constructor's Championship is thus:

98 Mercedes
41 Ferrari
25 Red Bull
23 Williams
7 Force India
4 Lotus
3 Sauber