The win, Verstappen’s 14th of the year, surpassed the record that he had shared with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico—Max Verstappen put his name into the Formula One history books on Sunday, not only by winning his record-breaking 14th seasonal race of the year but by lapping every car up to sixth place at the Mexican Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took second in fine fashion but he could not match the Dutchman’s pace. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, finished third in front of his home fans.
The top three began the race in the same positions they eventually finished in, as Verstappen led right from the start and held a firm gap until he began to have tire issues, which gave Hamilton a chance to catch the Red Bull driver on lap 26. But that was as close as Hamilton could get, as the regular round of pitstops gave Verstappen the lead for the rest of the race.
Max Verstappen: It helped me out a lot to stay in the lead on Turn One. The pace of the car was really nice. We had to look after our tyres because it was a very long stint on the medium, but we made it work.
Verstappen still has two races left to increase his win record for the season. “It’s been an incredible year so far, will we try to go for more,” he said.
While the front of the grid was uneventful, the rest was full of excitement. George Russell brought his Mercedes in just laps from the finish, knowing that the Briton would secure fourth place with soft tyres. The goal was securing a point for the race’s fastest lap. He achieved it, too, finishing in front of both Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Then there was Daniel Ricciardo, who experienced a bad season and will lose his seat at McLaren for 2023. But Sunday was a good news story. The Australian put on a set of soft tyres near the end of the race and passed both Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso to finish in seventh place. Getting there was a challenge, though. Ricciardo was penalized for an incident on lap 52 when he ran into Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, knocking the Japanese driver out with a broken right sidepod. Ten seconds were issued, but Ricciardo made up that time, and that’s how he finished in seventh place.
Ocon ended up eighth, while the second McLaren of Lando Norris was ninth. Valtteri Bottas finished his Alfa Romeo in tenth after starting sixth.
Sunday, November 13, is the next race on the schedule, which will be held at the famous Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, Brazil. Free Practices 1 and 2 will be televised by ESPN2 on Friday, November 11, at 10:30a and then at 2p U.S. Eastern time.
