Remember when race drivers used to donate victories to their teammates? Ayrton Senna did this back at Suzuka in 1991 for his old mucker Gerhard Berger, and both Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher have also done it. Only if he were feeling particularly mischievous could you think of Lewis Hamilton doing the same for Nico Rosberg - but you can imagine him not digging in too deep in order to ease team tensions following his Austin elbows. Is that what we saw yesterday in Mexico?
Both the Mercedes were light years ahead of the rest all weekend; despite the safety car for Sebastien Vettel's self-induced spin into retirement, they still finished over 14 seconds ahead of the Williams that shares an engine with them - the team's success is dependent on much more than simply having a hot engine (which, presumably, is how Kvyat was able to finish just two seconds behind Bottas).
It's Nico's fourth win of 2015 and the 12th of his career; Lewis meanwhile, stepped onto the podium for the 15th time in 17 races this season. With such high-scoring consistency, is it any wonder he's World Champion?
Kimi Raikkonen hoofed Valtteri Bottas out of the Russian Grand Prix, denying his Finnish compatriot a podium. Yesterday, the youngster got his revenge, giving no quarter in an aggressive pass that almost inevitably led to Kimi exiting stage left. It was a proper job too; broken suspension for Kimi that saw him instantly retire, although amazingly Valtteri's car appeared undamaged and he went on to... well, score the podium he missed out on in Sochi.
It continues a jolly decent year for Williams. It hasn't got the breakthrough win it would love, but it has consistently outscored its budget and leaves the team a firm third in the championship. That'll count for a lot next season when the prize fund cash is being dished out. Perhaps fittingly, Bottas also squeezed ahead of Kimi in the Drivers' Championship - who continues to have less than half the points of teammate Vettel. You know how you say you know what you're doing, Kimi...
Button bigs up McLaren's speed deficit
Interesting numbers from a rather dejected Jenson Button on McLaren’s stark speed deficit during the most flat-out Grand Prix of the year. On the long, long straight, he said, the McLaren was clocking 345km/h – that’s 214mph. Quick, but not quick enough: rivals were 20 clicks up, on 226mph.
But, he then added, throw in DRS and their advantage stretches further – to almost 240mph, according to his number crunching. Which really would be something, given how the current highest-ever top speed in F1 was recorded by Kimi Raikkonen during the Italian Grand Prix back in 2005 – where he hit 230mph. Maybe it just felt that slow for JB, whose sole excitement during the race appeared to be seeing Felipe Nasr’s brakes on fire.
Red Bull: nobody likes us, we don't care (but can we have an engine please?)
Despite the above, there was continued talk this weekend that Red Bull Racing is trying to secure a supply of Honda engines. McLaren’s still having none of that though, with Eric Boullier being the latest to speak out. "Clearly there is an issue inside Red Bull, created by Red Bull and not by anybody else,” he said, “and we are not a charity foundation, so we are not here to help.”
It’s your own fault, Red Bull, seems to be the message, and you’re not going to get an ounce of help from your rivals in the pitlane. Would the situation be the same, you have to wonder, if the team were a little more well-liked?
Porsche is WEC World Champion
Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber triumphed once again in the Six Hours of China this weekend, giving Porsche enough points to take the World Endurance Championship's constructors' title. It comes in just its second season back in sportscar racing - and means Bernhard, Hartley and Webber are odds-on drivers' title favourites as well.
It was a reasonably close run fight with the Audi R18 e-trons in the battle for Volkswagen Group honours, but Dumas, Jani and Lieb eventually pipped Fassler, Lotterer and Treluyer for second. Perhaps inevitably, the Toyotas were many laps down; Wurz, Sarrazin and Conway were best of the rest in fifth place.
It adds a first WEC constructor's championship to Porsche's tally of 12 Sports Car World Championship Titles - they came in 1964, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
Lopez is WTCC World Champion
Another championship was wrapped up this weekend, when Citroen driver Jose Maria Lopez outscored Yvan Muller to become FIA World Touring Car Championship champ for the second year in a row. Other manufacturers have triumphed during the season, but it’s once again been a bit of a whitewash for the French brand; after helping Sebastien Loeb to nine WRC titles (even now, it’s still worth repeating. Nine!), the way it’s embraced circuit racing with such consistent success is pretty impressive.
Pity it’s Peugeot that’s meant to be the sporting brand within PSA.