Max Verstappen extends title lead with Mexican GP win

Max Verstappen extended his title lead to 19 points after a dominant win in the Mexican Grand Prix, driving to an easy victory in what turned out to be a largely uneventful race.

Red Bull had been strong all weekend, but were stunned by a Mercedes one-two in qualifying. Valtteri Bottas was on pole, Lewis Hamilton in second, with Verstappen only managing third. A strong start by the two Mercedes could have secured the race, but it’s not what happened at all – Verstappen benefitted from the two and then took advantage of a gap left by Bottas, taking the lead at the first corner. From then on, this lead only continued to grow – he was 2.5 seconds ahead after two laps, and finished more than 16 seconds ahead of Hamilton in second, demonstrating a phenomenal pace advantage in the process.

And it was a hard-fought second, as Hamilton came under threat from Sergio Perez about halfway through the race. Mercedes pulled their driver in for a pit stop on lap 29, while Red Bull left Perez out until lap 40, giving him fresher tyres to attack the seven-time world champion. With 11 laps to go, Perez was within a second, but Hamilton did just enough to hold him off and secure second. Perez came third, the first Mexican to finish on the podium here and to lead an F1 race. The top five was rounded out by Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc in fourth and fifth respectively.

There was little else of interest in the race past a number of incidents on the first lap. After being passed by Verstappen, Bottas was tipped into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo, sending him to the back of the pack. After a first-lap pit stop, he rejoined behind Ricciardo, and was stuck there for around 30 laps – eventually, he managed a 16th-place finish, and denied Verstappen the bonus point for fastest lap. The first lap also ended both Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher’s races – they were caught out after the Bottas spin and their cars collided, Tsunoda winding up on top of the other racer.

Hamilton will need a strong showing at Interlagos to keep any hope of title number eight alive

After the race, Verstappen said: “It’s incredible! Having Checo as a team-mate, coming to Mexico is amazing – actually even before that. All the fans here have been incredible, they love Formula 1. It’s really nice to be here.

“[The race start] was three-wide and it was just about trying to brake as late as you can. I went to third to first and that was basically what made my race because then I could just focus on myself. There was incredible pace in the car so I could just do my own thing.”

Hamilton said: “Firstly congratulations to Max – that car was superior this weekend. I gave it everything and had a great fight with Sergio in the end and got second. The pressure I have had many times before so it was easy to hold on and it showed just how fast their car was. [Perez] had a great race and piled on that pressure and kept going – but I enjoyed that race.”

Perez said: “It’s an unbelievable day obviously I wanted more. I wanted to get the one-two for the team but I didn’t have a single chance to get through. I gave my full heart for [the fans]. I could actually hear them when I was going through here, it was incredible.”

Next weekend, it’s time for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Verstappen enters the race at Interlagos as favourite, and Hamilton will need a strong showing to keep any hope of title number eight alive. After seeing how dominant his rival was today, however, it feels like the uphill battle of all uphill battles.