Mexican Grand Prix

Max Verstappen leads the drivers championship by 135 points from Sergio Perez after the Mexican Grand Prix.

1 Points Position

Hamilton received a hostile reception from some in the stands at the Mexican Grand Prix, as he reacted to a race which saw him lose a tyre strategy battle ...

"The start helped me out a lot to stay in the lead," said the Dutchman. Perez completed the podium, much to the delight of those home fans who cheered him on so well all weekend. But the Silver Arrows took a risk on tyre strategy which did not pay off, and he was powerless to prevent pole-sitter Verstappen from cruising to the win. It seems he heard the less-than-welcoming reception from those fans, but Hamilton did not react. I am not sure it was the right tyre. And some of them made their allegiance even more clear by booing Hamilton as he stepped up for his post-race interview in the stadium section.

The Mexican Grand Prix looked like it might be a Red Bull vs Mercedes battle for victory, but ultimately there wasn't much of a threat to Max Verstappen as ...

Even if his Alpine had stayed healthy, he probably would’ve been caught by the flying Ricciardo for seventh by the end but kept the place thanks to the McLaren driver’s penalty, so this was definitely a ‘best of the rest’ result lost. Instead he finally returns to the top 10 – but not as high up it as his qualifying form promised. – BA [Mark Hughes explained on Saturday after qualifying](/formula-1/mark-hughes-how-mexico-quirks-changed-f1s-lead-fight/), the Ferrari’s inlet, turbo and MGU-H design is ill-suited to such a high-altitude venue as Mexico City. While his fury has to be seen partly in the context of his impending exit from Alpine, it’s still understandable. Since Spa’s new plank restrictions and oscillation metrics, the Ferrari simply hasn’t looked the same car it did in the early races. The smooth track surface and high altitude played to the W13’s strengths and helped minimise its weaknesses – but it still wasn’t nearly enough to get the job done. Russell had a realistic shot at pole and at least a podium finish here, but he ended up achieving neither. – JS Mexico looked to be providing something of a reset. – Ben Anderson They’re down to how well he’s maximising every moment when his rivals aren’t, and Mexico was yet another great example of it.

Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton second and Sergio Perez third.

Hamilton is 15s down the road in P2, and Perez also finishes on the podium in P3. Tsunoda's car is airborne for a few seconds, and there is damage on the sidepod and the right-rear suspension. He comes back out in P3, and crucially, ahead of Perez in the sister Red Bull. LAP 25/71 - VERSTAPPEN PITS FROM LEAD - The race leader is finally in for his stop as the Red Bull mechanics fit a set of medium tyres. The scenario that he found himself in brought back glimpses of the Ricciardo of old, as he made some key overtakes on track to move up to sevent. It made the dynamic of the first stint very interesting, as both Hamilton and Russell anticipated early stops for the Red Bulls.

Max Verstappen made his mark in F1's history books in Mexico while Daniel Ricciardo finally turned up when McLaren needed him.

Abu Dhabi was not only a pivotal moment in the Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry, but almost a year later later it remains the most recent. “We have to remember these days because there’s no guarantee that they will last forever,” Vettel, Verstappen’s predecessor, memorably said at the height of his dominance in 2013. Yet how exactly does that tally with Bottas’s single-lap performance in a car with an identical engine? Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the 30-second penalty handed to Alonso in Austin – following one of the greatest, most defiant drives of his career – was that it had the power to completely distort the fight for fourth between Alpine and McLaren. Bottas has emerged as something of an American specialist in 2022 with his return to form in Austin and Mexico coming after he qualified as high as P4 for the inaugural race in Miami, with his last top-10 finish prior to this back in Canada. After appearing to have overcome the worst of their issues prior to the summer break, Alpine are struggling to finish races at the worst possible point of the season with Alonso’s retirement at Monza followed by a double DNF in Singapore. As recently as 2017, for example, a tame performance in the season finale in Abu Dhabi resulted in some concluding Ferrari were in some sort of terminal decline, only for the Prancing Horse to emerge with the quickest car of 2018. Perhaps the ghosts of 2021 will only truly laid to rest when there is the opportunity for fresh battles to be had and new memories to be made, opening a window for the respect between Hamilton and Verstappen to be re-established. But that first stint – a truce called to stop the nonsense and let racing drivers be racing drivers, with Verstappen and Red Bull on softs and Hamilton and Mercedes on mediums – was the first time all year the two have gone head to head, toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball. He didn’t exactly cover himself in glory in late 2017 either – failing to win either of the final two races after securing his fourth Championship in Mexico and crashing out of qualifying in Brazil without a time on the board – but learned the art of finishing with a flourish in 2018/19/20. Having won his first title on the final lap of last season, Verstappen is in new territory as 2022 comes to a close, facing that age-old challenge of maintaining his standards even though his work for the year is already done. When the title is sealed with weeks to spare, it is during the collection of ‘non-championship’ races to conclude a season when the true depth of a driver’s ambition and application becomes apparent.

The Red Bull driver had passionate home support at the Mexican Grand Prix but took issue with fans who jeered rival Lewis Hamilton as he gave a post-race ...

Ultimately Hamilton was helpless in stopping Verstappen taking a record breaking 14th win of the season - the only F1 driver to take so many victories in a single campaign. "When I was on the medium tyres there wasn't really any degradation when they pulled me in, so I think ultimately we should have been on the softs. I thought we should have started on the softs," Hamilton added. However, Perez was seen wagging his finger at his home crowd directed at those jeering the seven-time world champion. "I was close in that first stint, but the Red Bulls are too fast, and ultimately they had the better strategy. Despite hearing the boos Hamilton instead praised those who cheered him.

Lewis Hamilton has described being 'booed all day' at the Mexican Grand Prix as 'awkward' after he finished ahead of Sergio Perez.

[Lewis Hamilton](https://metro.co.uk/tag/lewis-hamilton/?ico=auto_link_sport_P1_LNK1) has described being ‘booed all day’ at the Mexican Grand Prix as ‘awkward’ after he finished ahead of Sergio Perez. MORE : [Max Verstappen breaks F1 record with dominant win at Mexican Grand Prix](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/30/max-verstappen-breaks-f1-record-with-dominant-win-at-mexican-grand-prix-17666688/?ico=more_text_links) [check our sport page](https://metro.co.uk/sport/). [Christian Horner reacts to Red Bull's punishment for breaching F1 cost cap](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/28/christian-horner-on-red-bulls-draconian-penalty-for-f1-cost-cap-breach-17659278/?ico=more_text_links) [Max Verstappen](https://metro.co.uk/tag/max-verstappen/?ico=auto_link_sport_P2_LNK1) [claimed a record-breaking win on Sunday](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/30/max-verstappen-breaks-f1-record-with-dominant-win-at-mexican-grand-prix-17666688/) but Hamilton finished second to deny Red Bull a one-two with Mexican driver Perez – in front of his home crowd at the Mexico City GP – forced to settle for third on the podium.

Sergio Perez was clear in his instructions to the crowd at his home Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was booed.

And, despite being targeted by large sections of the stadium stand, the seven-time world champion insisted he had "so much love" for the Mexico City crowd and the race itself. But the large contingent of Red Bull fans did not take kindly to Hamilton finishing ahead of their home favourite and made their feelings known with boos audible during his post-race interview. Hamilton admitted he had been left with mixed emotions after being constantly jeered by fans at the circuit and when it occurred during the drivers' post-race celebrations, Perez made a point of urging supporters to stop.

For a Formula 1 race with so much promise and potential, a dominant and record-breaking 14th victory for Max Verstappen somewhat undersold the Mexican Grand ...

With Red Bull at the top, Ferrari losing its edge, and Mercedes still in recovery, hopes of a two- or three-way battle for 2023 look increasingly slim But full credit must go to the reigning world champion and his Red Bull squad for masterminding a thumping performance, along with a handful of other critical factors which worked in their favour Dominant title winner Max Verstappen may have secured a sixth pole of his campaign of campaigns, but there was a serious threat from two rival cars in between him and team-mate Sergio Perez on the grid.

Although this year's edition of the Formula 1 race in Mexico was hardly a classic, there were lots of significant threads tied up off-track as the cost cap ...

[intention to sign a contract extension](https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-wont-set-limit-on-f1-career-as-he-plans-multi-year-mercedes-deal/10391399/) to remain at Mercedes in an interview conducted in the United States. It was revealed that the championship and its owner Liberty Media had inked renewed terms with the Mexico City government and local promoter Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE) for a further three years. But full credit must go to the reigning world champion and his Red Bull squad for masterminding a thumping performance, along with a handful of other critical factors which worked in their favour Likewise, [his progress was slowed.](https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mercedes-unsure-ricciardos-f1-strategy-would-have-changed-mexico-result/10393217/) In brief, Alpine had rapidly issued a counter-protest for the penalty because Alonso had not been informed by race control that his car was unsafe to continue. Nevertheless, with the cat properly out of the bag, in Mexico City, the seven-time champion was bombarded with questions and clarified that there was no immediate end date to his decorated topflight career. [dropped him off the pace.](https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-red-bull-too-fast-for-mercedes-to-beat-in-f1-mexican-gp/10393062/) Even race engineer Peter Bonnington struggled to justify the call over team radio. The excess is down to failing to include elements such as social security contributions for staff, apprenticeship levies, cost of use of the power units, and a clerical error in the calculation of costs recharged to Red Bull by Red Bull Powertrains, among others. His source material was the 2021 title fight, in which he repeatedly referred to a driver being “robbed” of the championship spoils. Such was his turn of speed that he cleared away from Esteban Ocon to effectively render his penalty meaningless as he didn’t drop a place and was voted ‘Driver of the Day’ by viewers. Team boss Mattia Binotto put some of the blame on the power unit and having to turn down the turbo in the high-altitude conditions. Although this year's edition of the Formula 1 race in Mexico was hardly a classic, there were lots of significant threads tied up off-track as the cost cap furore reached a resolution.