Max Verstappen returned to rewrite another chapter of F1 history in Mexico. With his victory at the Hermanos Rodríguez, the Dutchman became the driver who has won the most races in a single season, at the moment 14, leaving behind the record shared by two myths such as Michael Schumacher (in 2004) and Sebastian Vettel (in 2013). The Dutch blonde thing is a scandal: he has 14 wins in 20 races. And he could still leave the outright record at 16 if he wins the remaining two events in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
At the start, Verstappen accelerated better than the two Mercedes, who aspired to take advantage of Red Bull’s slipstream on the very long 800-meter straight before the first braking. Hamilton won the position from his teammate Russell, while Checo Pérez made the Hermanos Rodríguez roar when in the fourth corner, on the outside, he overtook George and slipped into third place. Sainz remained in fifth position on the grid and Alonso rose from 9th to 7th by overtaking Bottas and Norris.
In the first laps, last year’s stellar duel between Verstappen and Hamilton was being prepared. The Dutchman, with soft tires, could not open a substantial gap on the Englishman, with yellow socks. He did not put more than 2.4 seconds (v. 18/71), so the Mercedes’ options multiplied when changing tires.
Around lap 22/71, Verstappen radioed that his soft tires were beginning to suffer. Hamilton was slightly closer, 1.6 seconds behind. The Dutchman was stretched to a stop and stopped on lap 26. He was retaking the race third behind Russell and leading Hamilton, something he had only done in five races this year.
However, before what could be expected, Mercedes made a move. He made Hamilton change tires – he put on the hard one – just four laps after Verstappen, on lap 30/71. He rejoined behind the Dutchman, 5.3 seconds behind. If his whitewall tires worked and he didn’t stop for the remaining 40 laps he could overtake him. A tire management battle began between the two most antagonistic rivals in recent years.
But Verstappen was showing good pace on the medium tire. On lap 40/71 he accumulated 8.5 seconds over Hamilton, who in turn had the breath on the neck of Checo Pérez, at 1.7s. In the middle zone, outside the podium, Russell remained fourth, ahead of the two Ferraris, Sainz fifth, very far behind, 22s behind, and Leclerc sixth. Alonso lost a position by extending his stop, from 7th to 8th, surpassed by Ricciardo.
The laps fell and Verstappen was increasing his advantage over Hamilton tenth by tenth, while he was doubling rivals. In the absence of 15 laps he took the English 11 seconds. If the performance of the Red Bull medium tires did not drop brutally, Max would take the street victory. He had a soft enough cushion. His superiority was overwhelming: he had doubled 14 drivers, even Alonso, who was running 7th, behind the two Ferraris.
“These mediums seem to go fast and they are going to go all the way,” Hamilton realized that Red Bull was not going to stop again. So there were no surprises in the final stretch of the race, no safety car appeared to disrupt the tiresome wandering and the established order, and Verstappen easily scored the victory, with Hamilton and Pérez seconding him on the podium.
Sainz finished 5th and Alonso ended up retiring due to a broken Alpine engine with six laps to go. It was his fifth dropout of the course. A few laps earlier he had been overtaken by Ricciardo and Ocon, who sent him to 9th place.
