Max Verstappen dominates Mexican GP: 'Fourteen wins, unbelievable'

Published on 31 October 2022 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen has commandingly won the Mexican Grand Prix with an impressive lead. The two-time world champion was able to manage his tyres quite impressively, and took home his fourth F1-win at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. From now on he also holds the record for most wins in an F1-season, fourteen in total, and the most amount of points in a single F1-season. Lewis Hamilton was runner up, trailing Max by fifteen seconds. Mercedes failed to come closer due to a wrong tyre strategy. Local hero Sergio Pérez took the final podium spot as his home crowd cheered him on. George Russell and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five. With just a single Virtual Safety Car towards the end, the race went by without any major incident.   

“Fourteen wins, incredible. What a season. A double-podium here is also great”, says Max as soon as he crosses the line. Max was very pleased with his car today: “It’s once again a great result and the pace of the car was again very good. The good start was important for us to stay ahead. We were on a different strategy than the cars around us. We were on the soft tyres so I knew that we would be able to pull away in the beginning. When we were finally on the mediums I had a good feeling in the car. We needed to take care of our tyres because it was a very long stint on the mediums. But it worked. I could slowly increase the gap.”

Mercedes’ tyre choice ensured that Hamilton and Russell never posed a threat for the Red Bull-drivers. But Max doesn’t think that a different strategy for Mercedes would have made any difference: “I don’t think that they would have been able to pass me, even if they had the same tyres. If they would have come along side me, they wouldn’t have been able to overtake me because we have a bit more top speed.”

As the many thousands of fans that are present go insane, Max shares his first feelings in the stadium section of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez: “It’s amazing here. It’s an incredible atmosphere. We love to come here.”

Max is the first driver to achieve fourteen wins in one single season: “It’s been a fantastic season so far”, says Max. “I am definitely enjoying it and we are trying to go for more wins.” Should Max win another race this season, then that would be his fifteenth: “We have two chances, so obviously we are going to give it a shot.”

Max Verstappen starts the race in Mexico-City from pole and does that on the soft compound tyre. George Russell, starting the race next to Max in second place, does that on the mediums. Team mate Hamilton, down in third, has the same tyres while Red Bull-driver Pérez is on the softs. When it’s lights out on Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Max has a perfect start and he manages to maintain his first place at the end of the long run. Hamilton passes his team mate and moves up from third to second place. Pérez also manages to outdo Russell and secures P3. The Mexican crowd approves his move as they loudly cheer him on. After just one lap, Max is already 1,3 second astray from Hamilton.

Also Lance Stroll has had a good start and moves up five places having started at the back of the field. The Canadian was handed a three-place grid penalty for crashing with Fernando Alonso last week in the US Grand Prix. Stroll, who overtook Pierre Gasly previously, is once again getting up in arms with the Frenchman. The AlphaTauri-driver outbrakes himself slightly while he is overtaking Stroll in Turn four. This causes them to run wide. Eventually Gasly is handed a five-second penalty for the incident.

On lap 16, we can hear Max on the radio complaining about the car being bouncy. Still he manages to keep Hamilton at bay for the time being. To be exact, at precisely 2,2 seconds. From lap 20 onwards, Max starts losing speed on the softs. He reports back to his team that he is struggling with his tyres when running on a slower pace. Pérez is the first one from the front runners to head in for a pit stop. He swaps the softs for the yellow walled tyres during a very slow five-second pitstop. The Mexican rejoins in sixth. Meanwhile, Hamilton reports on the radio that his mediums are still okay. On lap 25, Verstappen comes in for a set of the mediums after a 2,5 second pit stop. He slots back in right in front of Sainz in P3.  

Pérez overtakes Charles Leclerc on his new tyres. Max is not happy when he gets on the radio: he tells his team that shifting is not working properly. Leclerc heads in for new tyres and straps on the softs. Not much later, Hamilton opts to run on the harder compound tyres, it appears the Briton is planning to go for a one-stopper. Russell takes over the lead and tells his team that he wants to extend his stint. On lap 35, he comes in for a set of the harder compound tyres, this puts Verstappen back in the lead. Team mate Pérez is by now closing in on Hamilton, while the jam packed stadium loses it completely. Unfortunately he is constantly coming short in order to engage his DRS. On lap forty, the top five is formed by: Verstappen, Hamilton, Pérez, Russell and Sainz.

Both Mercedes-drivers are not happy with the white walled tyre. It’s no surprise Verstappen has no difficulties in keeping Hamilton at bay, just like how Pérez is doing the same to Russell. The first driver to drop out today is Yuki Tsunoda. He runs into Daniel Ricciardo who tries an over enthusiastic overtake maneuver. The Japanese-driver has damages to his sidepod, floor and other things and is forced to park his car in the pits. Ricciardo is slapped with a ten-second time penalty.  

Even though the Mercedes-drivers are told that the tyre will eventually come to them, this never seem to happen. With still ten laps to go, Max has a thirteen-second lead on Hamilton, while Pérez is four seconds ahead of Russell. Five laps before the end, we see the Virtual Safety Car appear. Alonso’s car has had enough and he is forced to park it track side. The Spaniard is audible and visible not happy. Russell wants to head in during the Virtual Safety Car, which ended very quickly, because he has had enough of the hards. His team is adamant he remains outside. However, a few laps later, he comes in for a set of the softs. His lead on Sainz is big enough for a free stop.  

After 71 laps, Verstappen is the first to take the checkered flag on Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with also a fifteen-second lead on Hamilton. This is another record for Verstappen, who now has the most wins ever in a single season. Pérez completes the podium as his home crowd vehemently cheers him on. Russell and Sainz come in fourth and fifth fastest.

Results Grand Prix Mexico: