Highlights of the Mexican Grand Prix

By Kate Walker

Hamilton wins race, title still to come

Lewis Hamilton won the battle on Sunday afternoon at Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but has yet to win the war. Defying expectation – and at the helm of a car that had suffered damage in first lap contact with Max Verstappen – Hamilton turned a one-stop strategy into victory. The Mercedes driver had started in third but was running in fifth by the end of the first lap, having been passed by Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz in the opening corners. Having worked his way up to second by lap 23, Hamilton pitted for hard tyres and returned to the track in fourth. In the closing stages of the race, he managed to hold off Sebastian Vettel, taking the chequered flag with a margin of 1.7 seconds.

Verstappen delivers another recovery drive

It was another day of recovery from the back for Max Verstappen, who had qualified on pole but was then issued with a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. The Red Bull racer got a good start and was battling with Lewis Hamilton on the first lap. The pair made contact in Turn Two. Both men raced on, but Verstappen had picked up a puncture and by lap five his right rear tyre had exploded. Limping back to the pits, the Dutch racer was running in last place when he returned to the track, but quickly went purple and began picking off the competition one by one.

By lap 20 Verstappen had made it to P15, and by lap 31 the Red Bull driver was back in the points having passed former teammate Carlos Sainz for tenth. The next ten laps saw Verstappen work his way up to eighth, and by lap 50 he was in sixth place with a 44 second margin to Albon ahead. The gap was too big to close, and Verstappen ended the race in sixth, an impressive performance in a damaged car.

Problems in the pits at McLaren, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari

The Mexican Grand Prix featured a number of problematic pit stops, each of which negatively affected the driver’s race. McLaren’s Lando Norris was the first to suffer, when the team failed to secure his front left tyre. Norris stopped before leaving the pits and was wheeled back to attempt a recovery drive that ended when the Briton retired on lap 50.

“I know it’s sh*t, and I’m really sorry, but our goal here is to prove what could have been. We need you to do a mega stint on this tyre,” said McLaren on to Norris on the team radio after the botched stop.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi tried to pull away from his stop with only three tyres attached, but managed to avoid a penalty for unsafe release. Then Charles Leclerc suffered a botched stop when he came in at the end of lap 43, spending 6.2 seconds stationary and losing track position and a probable podium finish as a consequence.