Mexico – Race: Verstappen triumphs, Hamilton crowned
Max Verstappen managed to win his second race of the year thanks to an excellent start. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen complete the podium while Lewis Hamilton, struggling with his tires, finishes 4th, which earns him his fifth title.
If last year the first turn was marked by a collision between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, nothing of the sort happened this year. Lewis Hamilton had an excellent start, darting right between the two Red Bulls as Daniel Ricciardo was left stuck on the grid. Max Verstappen, on the inside, managed to take the lead by the first chicane. Behind them, Sebastian Vettel faced difficulties on this first straight, being overtaken by Valtteri Bottas. However, the Ferrari driver managed to regain fourth place by the third corner.
The only victim of this start was the Frenchman Esteban Ocon who saw Nico Hülkenberg’s Renault close the door on him. Unfortunately for him, his front wing couldn’t withstand it and he was forced to pit at the end of the first lap. Even more unfortunate, this piece of the wing got stuck on Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, forcing him to retire once again (the eighth time this season) by the fifth lap.
Max Verstappen then had no trouble maintaining his lead over Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was the first to pit on lap 12 as he saw Daniel Ricciardo closing in on him with great strides. Daniel Ricciardo then followed suit on the next lap, while Max Verstappen waited one more lap.
Ferrari attempted an alternate strategy by staying on track much longer than Red Bull and Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen returned to the pits on lap 18. These fresher tires allowed the German to catch up to Daniel Ricciardo. Just as he was about to attempt an overtaking maneuver on lap 31, the virtual safety car was deployed due to Carlos Sainz’s retirement at the side of the track.
⚠️ Virtual Safety Car ⚠️
Sainz has ground to a halt in the stadium – that’s his race done ❌ #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/lc8Jvmp2Qy
— Formula 1 (@F1) 28 octobre 2018
At the restart, Sebastian Vettel managed to stand out by taking advantage of backmarkers’ traffic ahead of Daniel Ricciardo to grab third place at the braking of the first corner. The Ferrari driver didn’t stop there and quickly caught up with his championship rival, who was struggling with his tires. He had no trouble taking second place.
Daniel Ricciardo was the next to catch up and overtake Lewis Hamilton, who was very angry about the degradation of his tires and missed his braking point at the end of the straight. On lap 47, the championship leader pitted, as did Sebastian Vettel, even though the German had a strong race pace. To take no risks, Red Bull called Max Verstappen in to cover Ferrari’s strategy. In contrast, Daniel Ricciardo stayed on track, which allowed him to stay ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
However, Daniel Ricciardo’s mechanical issues struck again, forcing him to park his car in the escape road due to a clutch problem.
Max Verstappen, calmly leading, then asked the team to reduce the power of his engine to be sure to reach the finish. That was the case. With this victory, he mathematically offered the world championship title to Lewis Hamilton. He finished fourth, behind the two Ferrari drivers, allowing him to join Juan-Manuel Fangio in the F1 annals.
Nico Hülkenberg secured a fine sixth place, ahead of Charles Leclerc, once again delivering a very strong performance. Stoffel Vandoorne ends this difficult season with a commendable eighth place. Marcus Ericsson achieved ninth place, ahead of Pierre Gasly who started in last position.
