01/11/2015
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado took the chequered flag just 0.6seconds apart after an exciting first Mexican Grand Prix in 23 years. Pastor overtook Romain at the start, but Romain emerged ahead after the first pit stop and the black and gold duo were seldom far apart for the rest of the 71 lap race.
Romain started from P12 on the grid on his new soft compound tyres. He changed to new medium tyres on lap 11 and scrubbed softs under safety car conditions on lap 52. Pastor started from P13 on new soft tyres, changing to new medium tyres on lap 10 and scrubbed softs on lap 52.
Romain Grosjean: "It was great to see so many people here today; they are huge F1 fans and so knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to race in front of them, especially in the awesome stadium area where everyone was so passionate. It's good to score, even if it was only one point! It was a long race and not easy as there was a lot to manage. The car was good on medium tyres, less so on softs. The safety car meant it was too risky not to come in and that meant finishing the race on the soft compound. This weekend was all about finding the grip and the track was definitely improving massively throughout the race. I think next year will be even more fun to drive once the grip has improved."
Pastor Maldonado: "Our race was pretty good and it was great to cross the finish line to so many cheers and still pushing hard to pass Romain, though I would have preferred to be in front! I expected to struggle more with the brakes today, but everything was under control, so I'm disappointed not to be in the points after what was a strong race from us. I made a good start, but we lost time at the first pit stop. It was pretty tough at the end trying to overtake; I was a few tenths faster than Romain but it is tough to pass here. I missed a braking point at turn 12 late on, but my battle to beat him was lost in through traffic in the pits."
Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "What a fantastic return for Formula 1 to Mexico. We saw a fast-paced and exciting race today where both our drivers were amazingly closely matched, showing they are both giving their all. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a wonderful venue and we received a superb response from all the fans. Everyone in the team continues to show their fighting spirit with just two races left this season."
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "That was quite a straight-forward race for us to mark our return to Mexico. The circuit is very impressive and presents unique challenges from an engineering perspective. Both drivers drove strongly and intelligently and were very evenly matched throughout the race. Pastor lost time on his first pit stop from other traffic in the pit lane otherwise the finishing positions would likely be reversed, but he and Romain raced cleanly at every turn."
Check out our Sunday gallery, here.