Hamilton wins Mexico GPposted in F130 | 10 | 2016

LEWIS HAMILTON CLINCHED his 51st grand pix win to keep his world championship battle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg alive. Hamilton’s dominant victory in mexico also moved him to second on the all-time list, equalling Alain Prost and behind Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton heads to Brazil in 12 days knowing, realistically, he has to win again and maintain the pressure on Rosberg if he is to overhaul the 19-point deficit.

But the reality is, the German knows even if Hamilton wins both races, all he has to do is finish second behind him again to seal his first world title.

In Mexico, Hamilton cruised to a near flawless 8.3sec win ahead of Rosberg. But Rosberg’s race was almost ruined by Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull racer dived down the inside of the Mercedes into Turn 4 on lap 50 after Rosberg had made a small mistake on the brakes at Turn 1. The 19-year-old Dutchman locked up as he made the pass, sliding past Rosberg and getting out of shape, allowing the Mercedes driver to get back through into second.

The ‘Verstappen Show’ though wasn’t over. On lap 68, under pressure from the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, Verstappen locked up at Turn 1 and careered over the grass, ensuring the retained his position.

Shortly afterwards, a livid Vettel launched a verbal tirade over team radio as the Red Bull driver refused to hand the position back to the Ferrari driver.

Verstappen then took the chequered flag in third and proceeded to the ‘podium room’ to prepare for the rostrum ceremony.

Vettel meanwhile, still with helmet on, stormed from the Ferrari garage across the circuit, surrounded by a posse of team members, intended by the situation and determined be on the podium.

Before he arrived to confront Verstappen — who by this time had left the cool-dow room — stewards had handed the Red Bull driver a five-second penalty, dropping him to fifth, behind Vettel and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

As if that wasn’t enough,

The stewards will investigate another incident involving Vettel and Ricciardo as they diced for fourth into Turn 4 on lap 69, touching wheels as the Ferrari held the position when Ricciardo attacked on the inside.

Up until that final five laps, the race had been pretty mediocre, with Hamilton leading from pole and controlling the race.

Questions early-on though surrounded the fact Hamilton had outbraked himself into Turn 1 at the start of the opening laps —  eliminating Turn 2 completely — and was forced to drive across the grass; ironically the same route Verstappen was subsequently punished for following.

When Hamilton emerged back on to the track leading Rosberg, the race was allowed to continue with stewards taking no action.

Also on the opening lap, Esteban Gutierrez tagged Manor's Pascal Wehrlein, who in turn spun into the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson, sending both off track, with the young German retiring immediately.

And there was a coming together of the two Spaniards when Carlos Sainz Jr forced the McLaren of double world champ Fernando Alonso off the track on the run from Turn 3 to Turn 4 on the opening lap. The incident cost the Toro Rosso driver a five-second penalty.

Behind the relegated Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen finished sixth for Ferrari, ahead of the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, whose team-mate Felipe Massa finished ninth. An intensely frustrated Sergio Perez, who spent the vast bulk of the race stuck behind the Williams, finished 10th in his Force India.

Formula 1 — Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (Result):

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 71 laps

2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +8.3s

3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +17.3

4. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer +20.8s

5. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +21.3s*

6. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +49.3s

7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +58.8s

8. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +65.6s

9. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +76.2

10. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +76.7s

11. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

12. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap

13. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1 lap

14. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +1 lap

15. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

16. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

17. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +1 lap

18. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

19. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

20. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

21. Esteban Ocon FRA MRT-Mercedes +2 laps

Retired:

Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes

*Max Verstappen given 5-sec penalty

Related: Hamilton seals 50th GP win in USGP

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Jim McGill