Race report
“I don’t know where my sombrero is, but I can’t wait to come back next year,” says Hamilton, after clinching the Mexican GP. Thanks for your company, emails and tweets. The Brazilian GP, in a fortnight’s time is next up, where Rosberg can be crowned world champion – if he wins in Interlagos. Bye!
A quick word from Lewis Hamilton then, interviewed by Juan Pablo Montoya, of all people. “This is honestly the best crowd we get anywhere, these guys turn up and have great passion for this sport,” says Hamilton. “I love it, I’ve had Tacos every day since I’ve been here.”
As for Nico Rosberg, while Hamilton waves at the crowd, he says: “I have to accept second-place. We have had some massive battles out there, it’s OK to be second.” Which isn’t what Hamilton said before this race.
And then there’s the man everybody wants to speak to, Sebastian Vettel. “I was using a lot of sign language. He left the track and didn’t move so you can understand why I got annoyed. All of a sudden I was told to come up here.”
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A 30th career win for Lewis Hamilton, from pole position. Hamilton lifts the trophy aloft, with Tito Wolff duly applauding the Mercedes driver. A fine GP in Mexico City is all over. There’s confetti everywhere in the colours of the Mexico flag. It’s been some occasion, especially for Hamilton, and he and Rosberg go to Brazilian GP with it all very much to play for.
A fan has just dropped his smartphone while trying to lineup a hazy shot of Lewis Hamilton. The security guard is unmoved. Here come the anthems, with Hamilton, Rosberg, and Vettel all on the podium.
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After wrongly being given it in the first place, Nico Rosberg’s just chucked the winners’ hat down on the table, evidently unable of just handing it to his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who’s about 5mm away from him.
Vettel, after running towards the podium, is still reeling from that heated exchange with Verstappen it seems.
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Race result!
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel
4 Ricciardo
5 Verstappen
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Max Verstappen’s been given a five-second penalty, so strictly speaking Vettel should be on that podium. Remarkably, Vettel’s running towards the podium. Verstappen’s been asked to leave. The Red Bull driver does at least have Hamilton and Rosberg talking in the cool-down room.
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Nico Rosberg is 19 points clear of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship on the back of this. Hamilton’s clawed some ground back on his team-mate in Mexico City.
The overriding message of the final lap is that of wagging fingers between Vettel and Verstappen. It’s all a bit childish but it at least upped the anti on the final lap. But it’s Hamilton’s day, again, and it’s another Mercedes one-two.
“Really solid weekend, Lewis,” Mercedes tell Hamilton. Well, it’s back-to-back wins for the race winner.
Lewis Hamilton wins the Mexican Grand Prix!
It’s a Mercedes one-two, with Rosberg in second. Sebastian Vettel, who finishes fourth, is still venting his frustrations at Max Verstappen, who finishes third.
Lap 71/71 Here we go then! It’s a bonkers race for third, whilst Lewis Hamilton is still out in front. Nico Rosberg remains in second.
Lap 70/71 Vettel’s fuming. Somehow Ricciardo does not bypass the German, and Verstappen remains in third-place. Just as the Ferrari was bemoaning the Red Bulls’ antics, Ricciardo tried his luck and there was a small coming together, but nothing too serious.
Lap 69/71 Two laps to go! “He has to let me go,” cries wolf Vettel. And then there’s some beautiful choice words from the German. Will Verstappen hold up the Ferrari? The stewards say they will investigate the incident after the race. It’s all a bit tasty.
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Lap 67/71 Räikkönen finds his way past Hülkenberg, putting the German in a spin. Hülkenberg was fortunate to avoid a collision there. And then, Verstappen locks up badly, but finds his way back to the track via some help with the grass. Verstappen’s been told to give the place to Vettel by Red Bull.
66/71 Vettel flies past Ocon to stay in hot pursuit of Verstappen. “Let’s keep pushing mate, you will catch those two cars at this pace,” Red Bull tell Ricciardo. Meanwhile, Alonso and Palmer are up to a bit of touchy-feely in that battle for 13th.
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Lap 65/71 Vettel now trails Verstappen by 1.4secs, and the Ferrari is advancing nicely on the Red Bull. Where’s Ricciardo? He’s 19 seconds behind race leader, Lewis Hamilton. As it stands, it’s a Mercedes one-two.
Lap 64/71 Palmer’s medium tyres have yielded 61 laps while Alonso, directly behind him in 14th, tries to unsettle the Englishman. Alonso’s tyres in comparison have done just 17 laps. We probably haven’t seen the last of that battle.
Lap 63/71 “I can see him coming,” says Verstappen of Vettel, who has been storming through the last few laps because of those practically box fresh tyres. Ricciardo could do with helping out his team-mate at the opponent.
Lap 62/71 Hülkenberg, in sixth, shackles the attentions of Räikkönen in a nice battle in the points.
Lap 61/71 Just the ten laps to go! To celebrate that feat, Button’s eased past Palmer to move into 12th. Unbelievably, Palmer, who pitted behind the safety car following Wehrlein’s incident on the first lap, has not changed tyres since.
Lap 60/71 So, as earlier, if it stays this way, Hamilton would trail Rosberg by 19 points in the drivers’ championship. The race leaders are currently as follows:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Verstappen
4 Vettel
5 Ricciardo
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Lap 59/71 Verstappen is three seconds behind Rosberg. Ricciardo’s charging towards the leaders, he’s 26 seconds behind Hamilton with 12 laps to go.
Lap 58/71 Red Bull v Mercedes is the strategic battle with 13 laps to go. Do Mercedes have the pace to last the distance or might Ricciardo and Verstappen dampen all of the pre-race talk?
Lap 57/71 Hamilton leads Rosberg by more than seven seconds. It’s looking favourable for Mercedes, but they do have to pit again if they don’t have in the tank to finish with what they’ve got. Ricciardo, meanwhile, is flying.
56/71 Jolyon Palmer’s enjoying himself. He’s had a good race and is currently jostling for 11th, currently held by Ericsson. Palmer started the race at the back of the grid, remember.
Lap 55/71 Ricciardo’s 14.5secs behind Vettel, has he got time to thrash out that gap? You would guess not, but the Red Bull’s performed brilliantly so far. It’s hotting-up out there, with track temperatures beginning to soar once more.
Lap 53/71 Pérez must be fed up with the rear of Felipe Massa. He’s still looking at the sight of the Brazilian’s rear-wing, after 30 laps or so after sashaying behind the Williams. Meanwhile, Kimi Räikkönen’s got more problems with grip in the Ferrari. Something’s not right there.
Lap 52/71 Suddenly, there’s not too much longer to run in Mexico City. Hamilton is out in front, trailed by team-mate Rosberg and then Verstappen’s in third. Meanwhile, Ricciardo has just moved into fifth after overtaking Hülkenberg. Ricciardo’s now 20 seconds or so behind Vettel in the Ferrari.
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Lap 51/71 Ricciardo pits. The one-stop doesn’t come off for Red Bull, then. Verstappen locked up a little bit on that lunge on Rosberg. Plenty of smiles from the team back at the garage in the pits. A maverick of a young driver, Verstappen.
Lap 49/71 “Left-rear feels like it’s taken a hit,” says Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen, his Red Bull team-mate, has giving Rosberg a real difficult time. The teenager attempted to move into the second but ended up coming just off the track before recovering. Very positive move from Verstappen as ever. “Regroup, Max. Hard luck, nice try,” he’s told. You just get the feeling that Red Bull are trying to keep Verstappen on his leash or something.
Lap 48/71 Vettel and then Räikkönen take it in turns to set new fastest laps. Verstappen is now a second behind Rosberg, with Hamilton opening up a bit of breathing space between him and his Mercedes team-mate. The gap now stands at over 4.1secs. Romain Grosjean, meanwhile, is having problems with his brakes.
Lap 47/71 Hamilton laps Kvyat, and now there’s Jenson Button to deal with. The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg now at 3.4secs.
Lap 46/71 The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg stands at 3.7secs. Meanwhile, the medium tyres go onto Räikkönen’s Ferrari. It was a bit of a sluggish pit, though.
Lap 44/71 Eight cars face Lewis Hamilton at the front. “Eight cars, Lewis, eight cars,” warn Mercedes. Ah, OK!
Lap 43/71 Verstappen has got to within a second of Rosberg, who has just lapped Magnussen. Rosberg’s just set a new fastest lap, as if he needed to remind anybody of his role in today’s race.
LAP 44/71: ROS responds to VES threat with the fastest lap of race (1:22.792) #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/nghUk34oTR
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2016
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Lap 42/71 The leaders have a lot of traffic coming up, seemingly helping Verstappen and Ricciardo get close to the Mercedes. No sign of Hamilton or Rosberg feeling the heat just yet, though.
Lap 40/71 Track temperatures dropping, down to 44 degrees, with it now 2pm local time in Mexico City. Pérez is still waiting to pounce on Massa in ninth, but he’s fighting a losing battle at the moment. You feel he’s almost trying too hard.
Lap 39/71 Pérez is not a happy bunny, after stopping behind both Williams’. “I don’t know why you’re stopping so late,” he bellows down the team radio. It’s his home GP, after all.
Lap 38/71 Verstappen is almost in DRS range of Rosberg. Red Bull will be feeling pretty smug about this. “It’s clouded over a little bit, the tyres are looking good at the moment,” Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo, is told.
Lap 36/71 “Make sure you keep it clean behind Rosberg at the moment,” Verstappen is told over the radio. “You never know what might happen.” Er, what does that mean. Anyway, McLaren are stuck in the mud. Frustrations doubtless being felt in their garage, with Alonso in 15th and Button frozen in 16th.
“Max Verstappen is a great driver for his age,” emails Leslie. “We have to root for him, too.”
Yes, what were you doing when you were 19?
LAP 36/71: #MexicoGP 🇲🇽
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2016
TOP TEN
HAM
ROS 📷
VES 📷
RIC
RAI
VET
HUL
BOT
MAS
PER#F1 pic.twitter.com/J99E5xJEXE
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Lap 35/71 Verstappen is six seconds off the lead, with the teenager certainly going for it here. The Red Bulls’ seem to have made the most of the occasion, and the track in Mexico City.
Lap 34/71 Kimi Räikkönen is next to lament the rubber. “The grip on these tyres is very poor,” says the Ferrari. Meanwhile, that gap between Verstappen and Rosberg is nearing a second.
Lap 33/71 Verstappen continues to close on Rosberg, with Ricciardo waiting in the wings behind him, around three seconds adrift. Vettel, at long last, has pitted. Hamilton restores normality then, by retaking the lead of this Mexico GP!
Lap 32/71 Vettel is still out there, three laps after his Ferrari team were ready to welcome him into the pits with open arms.
Lap 31/71 Pérez is struggling to trouble Massa too much. Button, meanwhile, has been getting some DRS assistance in his bid to overtake Fernando Alonso.
Lap 30/71 Pérez, the Mexican, continues to nibble away at Massa in ninth. This is a great spectacle, and the circuit, which returned last year after two decades away, looks absolutely superb.
Lap 29/71 There’s 22 million people in Mexico City, supposedly, and a fraction of them at the F1 circuit today. Vettel, the race leader, meanwhile looks set to pit.
Lap 27/71 Every single one of the top ten, except Vettel who is yet to pit again, are using medium tyres. For Lewis Hamilton then, the Englishman’s got the race where he wants it. Or so you’d think. “These tyres don’t feel that great,” he says over the team radio.
Lap 26/71 Pérez attempted to overtake Massa to move into ninth but the Mexican locked up and essentially got it all wrong. Elsewhere ... “he’s trying to put you under pressure,” Mercedes tell Rosberg of Ricciardo. The Red Bull’s certainly been involved from the off in this one!
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Lap 25/71 Verstappen is 3.1secs behind Rosberg, and he’s gaining on the Mercedes. Hamilton, meanwhile, is looking pretty comfortable in second, well aware Vettel in front of him will be pitting anytime soon.
Lap 24/71 “Great job Valteri, great job if we can stay on the Plan A,” Bottas is told over the radio by Williams. Bottas has just overtaken Massa.
Lap 22/71 Ricciardo allows Verstappen past, and into fourth. Rosberg’s been told he’s been given a little too much on the front wing, with the car now unbalanced. Alonso, down in 15th, is not having so much joy.
📻 MCLAREN: "Ok push, push..."
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2016
📻 ALO: "I've been pushing since Lap 1. For 15 laps, in traffic. You do your job and I'll do mine"#MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/q0CigXe9s1
Lap 21/71 A clever pit from Mercedes, and as it happened, the Red Bulls were a few seconds behind where they wanted to be there. Ricciardo’s tyres are 11 laps older than Verstappen, and the Australian could be told to allow his team-mate past. “What do I do now, I’m stuck,” says Verstappen. A tough call for Mr Horner.
Lap 20/71 Rosberg pits and Ricciardo, being held up by Pérez, might just prevent the Mercedes being overtaken by the Red Bulls.
Lap 20/71 Bottas pits, after getting his money’s worth from those tyres of his, to relieve Pérez of the agony that he was suffering sat behind him. Meanwhile, Hamilton has just set the fastest lap.
Lap 19/71 Bottas keeps shrugging off the attention of Pérez, in the race for fifth. In seventh, there’s Ricciardo and then team-mate Verstappen.
Lap 18/71 Red Bull believe that Ricciardo can trump Rosberg, when he pits. The German’s still out, and his tyres look a little battered, putting it plainly.
Lap 17/71 It’s Lewis Hamilton, who gets rid of those vibrating tyres. Hamilton’s come out fourth, just behind Vettel.
Lap 17/71 Ricciardo’s lap times on the medium appear to have raised the eyebrows of everybody else at the Autódromo. A Mercedes pit-stop is in the offing too it seems ...
Lap 14/71 Time for a couple more emails. “This is what F1 is all about: sitting on the edge of our seats as the championship points go to the wire,” emails Rod. “We want Rosberg to win, but we want a championship finish and Hamilton to go through too.” And from Greece: “we heartily root for LEWIS, all the way from the island of Crete in Greece,” say Leslie and Anders, also on email.
Meanwhile, the stewards say “no further action needed” regarding Ericsson, Gutierrez and Wehrlein’s antics on Turn 1. Wehrlein, remember, is out of the running already on the back of that collision.
Carlos Sainz, thought, is not so fortunate and has been given a five-second penalty for forcing another driver – Fernando Alonso – off the track.
Lap 13/71 Verstappen’s come in to pit. He’s in and out, picking up medium tyres like Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo in the process. It’s one-stop from here on in you would’ve thought. Vettel, meanwhile, still trails Massa but the German’s lurking. “He’s stupid, he’s letting himself down,” moans Vettel of the Brazilian.
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Lap 12/71 Verstappen’s gaining on Rosberg, whose in second, a little. Lewis Hamilton remains out in front. Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean, the back marker, has just pitted, with medium tyres going on there.
Lap 11/71 Ricciardo marches on, then, up into 12th after overtaking Magnussen easily. Pérez, the Mexican, is down in ninth, where he trails Bottas by 0.67secs.
Lap 10/71 “We need to clear Magnussen as soon as possible,” Red Bull tell Ricciardo. “He’s vulnerable, he’s on his own at the moment.” Räikkönen’s in fifth, but not giving Hülkenberg too much to worry about.
Lap 9/71 As it stands, Hamilton would trail Rosberg by 19 points in the drivers’ championship. “Come on Lewis,” emails Nancy. Ricciardo, meanwhile, is up into 13th. He’s already having some race in the Red Bull.
Lap 8/71 “No further action warranted,” say the stewards of that clash at Turn 1. Nothing doing, we move on. Vettel’s gaining on Massa a little, with the German currently in seventh.
Lap 7/71 Still no news from the stewards regarding that clash between Rosberg and Verstappen on Turn 1 of the first lap. Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo is now on a one-stop strategy whereas team-mate Verstappen, on the supersofts, will have to stop again.
Lap 6/71 Ricciardo is down in 15th after coming out of the pits. There’s not going to be too many opportunities for the Australian to move his way up the field. Button, meanwhile, is having another go at Magnussen but to no avail. Hamilton’s 1.4secs ahead of Rosberg in second.
Lap 5/71 Hülkenberg, in fourth, is not lettting Max Verstappen in third get too far away from him. Meanwhile, Jenson Button tries to get past Magnussen and into 12th but he fends him away.
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Lap 4/71 The safety car has gone and the cars have just made their way past the second corner. “There’s a hundred degree difference between the front two brakes,” says Hamilton over the radio.
Lap 3/71 Looking back at the first corner from the off, Hamilton’s lock up sent him, luckily, across the grass while there was some contact between Rosberg and Verstappen, with both under investigation.
Lap 2/71 Daniel Ricciardo comes into the pits to ditch the supersofts, Vettel appears to be carrying on even with the puncture.
Sebastien Vettel says he believes he has a puncture. The drivers appear to be grappling for grip. Pascal Wehrlein is already out of the equation, and the safety car’s on the track.
Lights out!
A good start by Rosberg and Hamilton locks up but the Mercedes gets through it unscathed after moving across the grass. A bonkers start in Mexico City.
The drivers are out for the formation lap. Juan Pablo Montoya’s been talking to Gutierrez over the radio. As you were.
Formation lap underway MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/24WCXl7q6l
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2016
A floor change means Romain Grosjean will start from the pit lane. And a reminder, it’s Hamilton on pole, then Rosberg taking up the other slot on the front row.
A little less than ten minutes to go until lights out. The national anthem came and went with little more than a few puzzled F1 drivers. Jenson Button looked totally lost for words, of course, while the Mexican Pérez was in full voice.
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“Where have Ferrari been this season? Not doing the name justice, F1 needs Ferrari at the top challenging, not way off the pace,” emails Alexander Kraushaar. “Improvement needed next season. Congratulations to Rosberg (champion-in-waiting).”
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The national anthems are underway, with the grid still teeming with drivers, broadcasters and everything in between. Jolyon Palmer’s at the back of the grid. “It’s a long race 71 laps, so it’s going to be some fun,” says the Renault driver.
Carlos Sainz, the Toro-Rosso driver, says track temperatures “made it tricky” for the drivers during the qualifying session. He adds: “If the tyres can reach lap 12 that would be amazing.”
Sir Jackie Stewart, the three-time F1 champion, says the audience in Mexico are “almost as enthusiastic as in Monza”.
It’s heaving on the grid before the off. Bernie Ecclestone says “everybody’s delighted with Mexico”, talking up their setup here. Meanwhile, Liberty Media chief Chase Carey’s talking with Niki Lauda.
A small reminder with a big if. If, and it’s a big if, Nico Rosberg takes victory at the Autódromo, and Lewis Hamilton finishes 10th, or any lower, then the German would wrap up the title race we’ve been foaming over until now. It’s not going to happen though, is it?
Paul di Resta’s on the television talking up the importance of slipstream into Turn 1. There’s a 890m sprint before the first corner, remember.
Lewis Hamilton’s 59th career pole sets him up for victory at the Autódromo. A win would close the gap on Nico Rosberg, with Hamilton currently trailing the German by 26 points. But Eddie Jordan says he hopes the title race goes down to the last race in Abu Dhabi. That’d be stupidly exciting wouldn’t it.
F1 fans were going absolutely bonkers in Mexico City for the drivers parade by the looks of it. Hamilton appeared to be taking selfies, but there’s no sign of any Snapchat antics. Let alone the circuit, the public have been out in force in the city itself, for the Day of Dead parade, transformed by 007 in Spectre.
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Sergio Pérez’s been talking about his home GP. “If there’s a race where I want to do well, it’s here in front of my own home crowd,” says the Mexican. “There’s potential to do well today. I hope I can make the people here today happy.”
Lewis Hamilton’s been talking about making life difficult for others, sort of. “It’s going be tough out there,” he said. “I’m excited to give everyone here a good race.”
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The grid!
1 Hamilton 2 Rosberg
3 Verstappen 4 Ricciardo
5 Hülkenberg 6 Räikkönen
7 Vettel 8 Bottas
9 Massa 10 Sainz
11 Alonso 12 Pérez
13 Button 14 Magnussen
15 Ericsson 16 Wehrlein
17 Gutiérrez 18 Kvyat
19 Nasr 20 Ocon
21 Grosjean 22 Palmer
Preamble
It’s coming up to crunch time for Lewis Hamilton, and as to whether the Englishman can retain his world drivers’ championship crown. Nico Rosberg sits 26 points ahead of Hamilton, with the two set for another battle in Mexico City, where Hamilton’s on pole and says he has no intentions of being second. On that note, Rosberg’s in second, also on the front row, whilst Max Verstappen starts from third. Daniel Ricciardo will start from P4.
Who, ever, intends to come second, to win silver, though? Anyway, regardless of the pre-race tittle-tattle, Hamilton is really in no position not to go out and get the job done, and crucially he needs a good start, after five poor launches already this season. Team LH are firmly of the belief that Hamilton will do just that. And to whet the appetite for the following 70 laps, there’s a cool 890m sprint into that first turn. “It’s a long run to Turn 1, we’ll just have to see,” said Verstappen on Saturday. Excited yet? Team LH are firmly of the belief that Hamilton will do just that.
Rosberg took the title in Mexico upon its return to the F1 calendar last year, with the German acutely aware a repeat performance here would go some way to landing his first championship title. Did somebody say become a maiden world champion? On this day, in 1988, the late Ayrton Senna became F1 champion for the first time.
Lights out: 1pm local time, 7pm BST.
Ben will be here soon enough. In the meantime, read Giles Richards’s interview with Emerson Fittipaldi:
“If I’d known what the reaction was going to be, I would have drunk the milk first,” says Emerson Fittipaldi, unable to prevent himself from chuckling as he recounts the incident that, even 23 years later, is recalled by many fans in the United States more clearly than his two Formula One world championships. By reaching for orange juice after winning the Indy 500 in 1993 the Brazilian might have provoked rancour but he was always a singular driver and a singular character and he has no time, nor patience, for regrets after a remarkable career. Being himself was always more important to Fittipaldi and it is something he shares with and admires in Lewis Hamilton.
The winner drinking milk after the race at Indianapolis is one of motor sport’s oldest traditions, begun in 1933 after Louis Meyer celebrated his second victory with a glass. But Fittipaldi wanted to do his own thing (and doubtless help the business of the orange grove farm he owned) after taking the flag for the second of his two wins at the Brickyard. He duly swigged orange juice and was still being booed years later when driving the pace car before the opening of the 2008 race. Mentioning it now provokes gentle amusement.
“I was promoting the Brazilian orange juice,” he says. “I won the race and I did drink the milk, but it was after I drank the orange. The media all said: ‘Emerson broke the tradition.’
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