(Motorsport) Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen claimed his 14th victory of the 2022 Formula 1 season, comfortably seeing off Lewis Hamilton’s challenge which resulted in the Dutchman being 15 seconds faster than the seven time World Champion when he crossed the chequered flag. The result meant that Verstappen has now equalled Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s record of 14 race wins in a single season and could realistically surpass it in the remaining two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. 

Fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, who was racing in front of his home crowd also secured a podium place, finishing above Mercedes’ George Russell. Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari looked way off pace, finishing fifth and sixth respectively and didn’t even look within touching distance of George Russell who even had a second pit stop. Daniel Ricciardo, who has been largely unimpressive in his McLaren career so far, rolled back the years and performed brilliantly to negate his 10 second penalty after a collision with Yuki Tsunoda to finish in an impressive 7th place. Esteban Ocon finished in eighth place followed by Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas. 

Speaking after the race, Lewis Hamilton questioned Mercedes’ strategy. When asked if the Silver Arrows should have started the race with the soft compound, the British racing driver replied “I think so. 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. It's something that I had asked and questioned. I thought maybe one of us, the two Mercedes, should have a soft to be able to attack. When both Red Bulls, and everyone behind, took their tyres off and had softs, I thought 'shoot'. It may be a loss for us today but still these are good points. [There are] so many positives [to take]. The upgrade really, really worked in the last race. We still have improvements to make, which we probably won't make in the rest of this year, but we know exactly where we need to improve for next year."

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell said “I think the last four races for me have been probably scrappy and going into turn one, I knew I wouldn't be able to overtake Max around the outside. And then when I had Lewis there, probably if it was anyone else but my team-mate, I'd have just ran him off the road." Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said “We didn't think that the medium would go to the end. So we just got it wrong. We discussed whether the soft and the hard was a viable one stop strategy and we thought it was never going to go so soft medium wasn't even on the radar."

Mexico City Grand Prix: Race Result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
4) George Russell, Mercedes
5) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
6) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
7) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
8) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
9) Lando Norris, McLaren
10) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

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