Verstappen takes record Mexican GP win

Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the Mexican GP, setting a new record for the most number of wins in a single F1 season. Lewis Hamilton was left questioning Mercedes’ tyre choice as he ended up finishing a distant second, followed by Sergio Perez.

• Verstappen wins, 15.186 seconds from Hamilton
• Perez moves to second in drivers’ championship
• Sainz, Leclerc finish fifth and sixth

New F1 record for Verstappen

Red Bull and Mercedes opted for two very different tyre strategies for the race. While Red Bull put both its drivers on softs, both Mercedes drivers started the race on medium compounds. Verstappen made a clean getaway from pole position and remained firmly in control out at front to take a trouble-free win, over 15 seconds clear of Hamilton.

Having collected his 14th race win this season, Verstappen – who wrapped up the 2022 F1 title in Japan – adds another record to his name. He moves one clear of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s previous record of 13 wins, and has two more races this year to further add to that record. Of course, at 22 races, this year’s calendar is much longer than in the past. The 2004 season comprised 18 races, while the 2013 season had 19 races.

“The pace of the car was really nice; we had to look after our tyres because [of the] very long stint on the mediums, but we made it work. It’s been an incredible year so far. We are definitely enjoying it and we will try to go for more,” Verstappen said.

Mercedes’ Hamilton and George Russell were unable to really mount a challenge for victory, with both drivers complaining about lack of pace on the hard tyres they had switched to. Nevertheless, Hamilton did point out that the teams’ recent updates “really worked”.

Victory still eludes Hamilton this year, and the 7-time world champion has just two races left if he wants to maintain his record of winning a race in every season of his career. Perez made it to the podium in front of his home crowd. He was followed by Russell, who pitted for soft tyres with two laps to go; the move did help him score an extra point for setting the fastest lap.

Ferrari’s missing pace

Another big talking point of the race was Ferrari’s lack of pace. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc didn’t pose a threat to Mercedes and ended up finishing fifth and sixth respectively, nearly a minute behind Verstappen. This has also helped Perez move up to second place in the drivers’ championship, five points clear of early title contender Leclerc.

Daniel Ricciardo overcame a 10-second time penalty for an early clash with Yuki Tsunoda to finish seventh. He was followed by Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas.

After a week off, F1 will head to Interlagos for the penultimate round of the season on November 13.

2022 Mexican GP results