Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured F1 Mexico GP victory in a strategy battle as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended up second with Valtteri Bottas third.
It was a clean start to F1 Mexico GP from Ferrari as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc got away nicely with Sebastian Vettel holding off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. In fact, the FIA noted the incident of Vettel squeezing Hamilton on the grass in the Turn 1 run-up.
However, no investigation was necessary. This put Hamilton in Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen’s way as the two touched wheels and went on the grass as both dropped places, with the Dutchman losing the most as VSC was deployed for debris at Turn 2.
Replays showed Vettel tagging the back of Leclerc at Turn 4 but continued on without damage. All of the melee, meanwhile, allowed Red Bull’s Alexander Albon to be third with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in fourth ahead of Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The comeback from Verstappen was on as he tried a bold move on Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in the stadium section but they made slight contact, which caused for a right rear puncture, further jolting the Dutchman’s weekend as he was dead last.
Another set of replays showed the cause for VSC with a collision between Williams’ George Russell, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen at the start of the race going into the Turn 2-3-4 sequence, with the Finn in the middle.
At the front, meanwhile, Leclerc headed Vettel and Albon with Hamilton getting past Sainz, with Bottas joining in. Red Bull pulled the plug on Albon as he pitted on Lap 15 which didn’t work in the Thai racer’s favour as a late stop from Hamilton got him ahead.
The British racer stopped on Lap 24 and switched to the hard compound but he was on the radio all along with no confidence. At the same time, Leclerc had pitted before Hamilton with both Vettel and Bottas staying out on their initial medium tyres.
It were the two ahead with Leclerc, Hamilton and Albon in the Top 5. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was sixth on the hard compound, which he started on, with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll leading teammate Sergio Perez – the former having started on the medium.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was ninth with Verstappen climbing his way up to 10th as the fight for points was on between Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Sainz and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly. The biggest loser of places in the pack was Sainz.
His teammate Norris already faced dramas in his pit stop with a lose wheel as he had to stop for his team to take him back to his pitbox, losing all the time. Even Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi had a similar issue but not as bad as Norris.
The strategy game, meanwhile, was on with Bottas pitting on Lap 37 with Vettel covering him off on Lap 38, as both switched to hard compound. The German had track position over Bottas but lost out to Hamilton and Albon at that stage.
The pit stop trouble continued in Mexico GP with Ferrari in the heat this time, with Leclerc when they called him on Lap 44 for his second stop. He lost chunk of seconds to be fourth in the order behind Bottas, with Albon also pitting to be fifth.
Behind them, Renault’s Ricciardo eventually pitted on Lap 50 and gained nearly five places to be eighth as McLaren retired Norris with Alfa Romeo’s Raikkonen also retiring. The battle at the front got tasty with the Top 4 separated by only five seconds in the last few laps.
It was Hamilton ahead of Vettel, Bottas and Leclerc. The predicted drop-off never came as Hamilton eventually secured the Mexico GP victory and register his 10th F1 win of 2019 as Vettel ended up second despite on fresher tyres, with Bottas in third.
The Finn has kept the 2019 title hopes alive but with only four points to play with. Inherited pole-sitter Leclerc was fourth with the fastest lap point to his name as Red Bull’s Albon was fifth ahead of Verstappen, who completed 66 laps on the hard tyres.
Racing Point’s Perez ended up best of the rest in his home Mexico GP in seventh after he defied Renault’s Ricciardo in the latter stages. The Australian made an attempt at Turn 1 but missed the braking point and went off, which hindered his chances.
Renault’s Hulkenberg was on-course for eighth but for a last lap tangle with Toro Rosso’s Kvyat in the stadium section. The Russian made contact for which he was handed a 10 second time penalty. It helped his teammate Pierre Gasly to be ninth.
Hulkenberg got back in the points in 10th minus the rear wing with Kvyat eventually ending up 11th with Stroll 12th, Sainz 13th, Giovinazzi 14th. It was split then with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen 15th and Williams’ George Russell 16th ahead of their teammates.
The other Haas of Romain Grosjean was 17th with Williams’ Robert Kubica rounding out the 18 drivers. The two Haas and Williams drivers were two laps down, while everyone from Gasly until Giovinazzi was a lap down.