Mexico Grand Prix Race Report: Max Verstappen keeps breaking records
Mexico Grand Prix Race Report: Max Verstappen keeps breaking records
While the crowd came to support Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, who was already crowned world champion, dominated the weekend. The Dutchman started on pole and easily cruised to win, his fourth in Mexico and 14th overall.
With his 14th victory of the year, the 25-year-old passes Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher for the most race wins in a single season in Formula 1 history.
Verstappen also surpassed Lewis Hamilton’s previous mark from 2019 for the most points in a single season. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finished in second place.
However, Perez still had a successful day at home, taking second place on the world championship log after placing third ahead of George Russell.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc’s Ferraris took fifth and sixth place, with Sainz finishing almost one minute off Verstappen.
The day’s biggest surprise, Daniel Ricciardo, finished seventh, but not without incident. Late in the race, Daniel Ricciardo used soft tyres to maintain that position despite receiving a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda.
Esteban Ocon managed to have a calm day and finish eighth. Lando Norris struggled through a little bit of a rocky start, falling a few spots, and never quite recovered, finishing ninth. Valtteri Bottas finished 10th after starting sixth to earn the last point-paying spot.
For an early, aggressive move on Aston Martin opponent Lance Stroll, AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly received a five-second penalty and ultimately lost out on a point by just half a second, with Alex Albon finishing 12th for Williams.
Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo crossed the finish line ahead of the Haas cars driven by Mick Schumacher, Kevin Magnussen, and the Aston Martin duo of Vettel and Stroll.
With Tsunoda retiring after briefly becoming airborne in his collision with Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso grinding to a halt with an engine issue late on, Nicholas Latifi was the penultimate finisher.
