Lewis today took his 51st career victory - his first at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and eighth of the 2016 season so far. With that result, Lewis draws level with Alain Prost in joint second place on the list of all-time Formula One Grand Prix winners. Nico completed a sixth Silver Arrows 1-2 of the season in P2.
Nico (349) leads the Drivers' Championship by 19 points from Lewis (330) in P2. Mercedes AMG Petronas (679) lead Red Bull (422) by 257 points in the Constructors' Championship
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: Maybe that race looked straightforward from the outside but it really wasn't from within the team. It all began at Turn One when Lewis flat spotted his front right tyre under braking. That gave us a really tough call to make because we could see the vibrations getting worse and some of the peaks he was hitting were pretty scary. In any normal race we would have pitted him because of the risk of tyre failure or maybe worse but of course today that stop would have cost him the Championship. We had a lot of debate with the engineers, balancing the positive and negative aspects of the decision, and we were monitoring the numbers every single lap. But in the end, some of Lewis' bad luck this year got cancelled out today by making it through this situation and we pulled him into the pits as early as we could to make the one-stop strategy work. From there, he was able to control his pace all the way to the end, in spite of some high exhaust temperatures that meant we were juggling with engine modes to look after everything properly. For Nico, it was a bit tougher today as he was at risk from the Red Bulls through the race. Under some big pressure, he didn't put a foot wrong, kept a cool head and finished in a very solid second position, managing the same temperature issues as Lewis in the final laps. Overall, it was a great day, with Lewis showing he is one of the greats of our sport by equalling Prost's record of 51 wins. Congratulations to him for this incredible achievement. And now we head to Brazil with everything delicately poised. Lewis will keep fighting to the end but the championship is now in Nico's hands - a win in Sao Paulo could make him Champion. Our job is simple: to give the boys a perfect, fault-free car to battle it out on track and that will be the entire focus of our preparations.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): A fantastic day. This is one of the best crowds of the year and I hope we provided terrific entertainment for them - particularly at the end of the race. It's incredible to have our drivers on the top two steps here after a weekend with such close competition. It was a great drive from Lewis to take the win. There was a great deal of stress for us at the beginning of the race after he flat spotted a tyre at the first corner. The vibrations and corresponding suspension loads were above permitted limits. I remember painfully Kimi's suspension failure in 2005 in similar circumstances. In this situation we knew that taking a precautionary pit stop would ruin Lewis' race and potentially his Championship, so we chose to cross our fingers and run him to the first stop, which we took a little bit early because of that issue. From then on it was quite straightforward on his side of the garage and he managed the race well from the front. Nico struggled a little bit more for pace and had a few scary moments with the challenge from Max and time loss through back markers. But he kept his head and got to the flag with a good margin in the end to take a well-earned P2 after a tricky weekend for him. A great job all round by the team and the drivers to get a perfect result at this fantastic race. A word too for Tony Walton, our Spares Co-ordinator, who represented the team on the podium today. Tony has been a part of the race team for 17 years and is now taking a factory-based job with us and a well-earned break from the tough business of travelling. It was great to have him up there today and a thoroughly fitting send off. Finally congratulations to Lewis for matching the 51 wins of Alain Prost. I have had the privilege to work with both of these great World Champions. so that is a very special statistic to appreciate.
Maurizio Arrivabene: Today could have felt special: we fully deserved this podium, which was taken away by bureaucracy. The whole team had showed great stamina by staying united and focused in a difficult moment. Our strategy had made it possible to make good progress through the race and both drivers did a very good job. Unfortunately, we were penalized by Stewards' unappealable decision which, in my opinion, is too harsh and somehow unfair.
Valtteri Bottas finished eighth and Felipe Massa ninth in the Mexican Grand Prix. Both cars managed to get a clean start on the supersoft tyre and tried to extend the first stint for as long as possible to make a one-stop strategy work.
Valtteri pitted on lap 19 to replace his supersofts for medium tyres, and the strategy worked perfectly with the chasing Perez remaining behind him following his stop soon afterwards. Valtteri overtook Felipe on track, and drove a solid and consistent race to finish in eighth and collect four points.
Felipe made a strong start, going from ninth to sixth in the opening laps, and pitted for the medium tyre on lap 14. He ran in ninth for the majority of the race on the medium tyre, holding off a chasing Perez who had newer medium tyres and DRS for much of the race.
Valtteri set the fastest ever recorded race speed for the hybrid power unit era, clocking a speed of 372.5kph, just short of the overall record of 372.6kph set by Montoya back in 2005.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We went into the race with the plan of doing a one-stop, knowing that it would be close between that and a two-stop race depending on how long the medium tyre would last. We thought we were right on the limit when stopping with Felipe on lap 14, but in the end the degradation was very low, even negative. The medium tyres were getting better and better throughout the race and we even saw a couple of cars do 69-lap stints on them. Our strategy was the right one, the drivers both drove great races and the pitstops were really good. We had some new people on the pit crew this weekend and so it's great to see us still performing some of the fastest race stops. We lost a point to Force India but it remains very open between us with two races remaining, so we will be doing our utmost to get that fourth place back in the championship.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "I'm glad to see the Stewards making the right decision regarding the Ricciardo-Vettel incident, and it extends our lead over Ferrari in the Constructors Championship to 62 points. It's been an interesting end to the Mexican Grand Prix, not one that anyone really wants to see, but I'm delighted for Daniel in having secured 3rd place in the Drivers' Championship, he's had an excellent season and deserves it. Daniel and Max have been driving brilliantly well, pushing each other on, they've both raised the bar and the level that they are operating at now is good to witness. We are looking forward to the final two races and it's encouraging to see we are getting closer and closer to Mercedes. For Max to be able to have a go at Nico today, having tailed him all the way through the race is really good news. We are chipping away and you are not seeing the margins Mercedes have had in previous years which bodes well not just for this year but for a more competitive Formula One in 2017."
Sahara Force India scored seven points in today's Mexican Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg raced to seventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "Scoring seven points in Mexico is an excellent result after a very strong performance by the team all weekend long. The pace of the car was excellent and both drivers delivered what we needed. Nico was pushing hard in the closing laps to keep the Ferrari of Raikkonen at bay, but in the end seventh was the maximum result achievable. Sergio spent most of his race behind the Williams cars, but despite his best efforts he had to settle for the final point. It means we've increased our points' advantage in the constructors' championship with just two races to go. We also take encouragement from the pace we have shown in both qualifying and the race."
Renault Sport Formula One Team's Jolyon Palmer put in a strong and strategic charge from the back of the grid to take fourteenth in today's Formula 1 Gran Premio de México. Jolyon started P21 and made a pit stop under the safety car at the end of the first lap. This meant he used Pirelli's medium compound tyres for a massive 70-lap stint. Kevin Magnussen started from P14 and his race strategy was modified from a one to a two-stop strategy, with a final stint on the super soft tyres.
Kevin started the race from P14 with a new set of Pirelli's soft compound tyres. He stopped on lap 12 for a new set of medium tyres, then stopped on lap 51 for a new set of the super soft compound tyres.
Jolyon started the race from P21 - gaining one position as Romain Grosjean vacated the spot to start from the pit lane. Jolyon pitted at the end of the first lap under safety car conditions to exchange his new super soft tyres for a new set of mediums, which he ran with until the chequered flag.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "Jolyon had a strong race where we made the most of an aggressive strategy and pitted him very early under the safety car. He drove 70 laps on the same set of tyres and was very consistent to finish in front of some of our nearest rivals. He put in a robust defence of his position, in particular against both Jenson and Fernando. It was a very strong race for him. Kevin had a puzzling race as he was well-placed at the start but he struggled for pace whatever the tyres. We'll spend a lot of time checking the car and analysing the race to understand how we could have done better. For Brazil we certainly want both cars fighting for points."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "This is not a result we expected, as Carlos was starting from P10, but during the race we simply had poor pace and we were therefore not in a position to fight for points. Carlos lost some performance in the second corner when he touched Massa and lost his front-wing end plate. From that point onwards he had less downforce, which also had a negative impact regarding the performance of the car. Later on, he got a penalty because of an incident with Alonso and this is the reason why we decided not to pit him again, because the end result wouldn't have improved if we had. Regarding Daniil, his first stint wasn't bad. He ended up getting stuck behind Nasr and couldn't overtake him, so we decided to pit him for a second set of soft tyres. From that point onwards he drove a strong and competitive race. For his final stint, we went for a bit of a gamble with the supersofts just in case there was a last-minute Safety Car, but it didn't happen in the end. We now look forward to the Brazilian GP that takes place in two weeks' time."
The Sauber F1 Team finished the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in P11 (Marcus Ericsson) and P16 (Felipe Nasr). Due to a penalty for Carlos Sainz after the race, Felipe Nasr gained one position, moving up to P15. Both drivers completed the 71-lap race in Mexico City with a one stop strategy. The 2016 FIA Formula One Championship will continue in two weeks time with the penultimate race of the season: the Brazlian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo/Interlagos - the home race for Felipe Nasr.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "We can be very satisfied with our performance today. Finishing in P11 confirms that we are working in the right direction. With such a performance under these difficult conditions, the team should have been rewarded with a point today. Marcus again had another strong performance and Felipe took the maximum out of his strategy. We are very confident about the next two races."
Today was a frustrating day for the McLaren-Honda team. Both drivers ran clean races and pushed hard, and were two of the very small number of drivers able to pass their nearest rivals on track.
The team split the strategies, Jenson pitting once and Fernando twice, in an effort to get the best out of the tyres on the slippery track and make progress through the traffic. On a circuit at which it is notoriously difficult to overtake, and despite their best efforts and some hard battles on track, neither driver was able fully to capitalise on their pace and duly finished in 12th and 13th positions.
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Clearly, when you qualify 11th and 13th, as we did yesterday, there isn't much to shout about when you manage to convert those starting positions to only 12th and 13th, as we did today.
"But this afternoon's race was a tough one for us, for many reasons. First, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a decidedly difficult circuit on which to overtake, as a result of which our drivers were held up behind Carlos's Toro Rosso for many laps; second, we were forced to down-tune Fernando's power unit during the race, which obviously handicapped him to some extent; and, third, there was a delay during Fernando's second pit-stop, which lost him a further two or three seconds.
"These things happen - that's racing - but it's always frustrating for driver and team alike when they do.
"Anyway, from here we move on to São Paulo, Brazil, whose famously undulating Interlagos circuit will present a very different set of challenges. Having won the Brazilian Grand Prix no fewer than 12 times in our history, which is more than any other team, we hope to fare better there than we did here, although a 13th Brazilian Grand Prix victory will of course be out of our reach. But we hope points will be possible."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "Today's Mexican Grand Prix was very harsh on our team. Fernando had a hairy start, being pushed out onto the grass, and as a result backed up Jenson who was directly behind him. Neither car was able to gain positions as they often do at the start, therefore. Furthermore, after the first pit-stops, we were constantly stuck in traffic, whereby we weren't able to push into the points-scoring positions. I don't think we were able to show any of the team's strengths in the 71 laps today.
"We also had some issues with our power units, Fernando suffering from an anomaly in the ICE whereby we were forced to detune the output, and Jenson showed a temperature rise in the ERS whereby he wasn't able to use the maximum performance mode at the end of the race. I am mostly disappointed as it feels like we have unfinished business and couldn't challenge enough on the track.
"Now that the two long Americas back-to-back races are over, we'll go to our respective factories and gather data to analyse, and look to pull the team together and forward for the upcoming Brazilian race."
The opening lap of today's Mexican Grand Prix dealt a devastating blow to Pascal and the team, in the wake of yesterday's fantastic Q2 qualifying performance. His race was over almost before it had begun, after he was hit from behind by Esteban Gutierrez. 'Our' Esteban drove a doggedly determined race, persevering with a car he has been unhappy with all weekend, to bring us to the chequered flag. "We'll be back" for Brazil.
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "Phew - talk about stress! We had 100 minutes of it on the pit wall this afternoon, starting with Pascal being punted out on the opening lap. Then we had to endure Ericsson's Sauber hovering just outside the points towards the last quarter of the race, while ahead of him several cars were getting very intimate with each other. There was every possibility of an incident of some sort elevating him into the points, but that's racing and that's what we're here for!
"For Pascal a very disappointing end to what had been a brilliant weekend and I'm sure that without the incident he would have had a very strong race. Esteban on the other hand has endured a difficult weekend and leading into the race we still hadn't managed to solve the handling issues he was suffering from. From that starting point he drove a creditable race and I'm absolutely sure we will be back on top of things for the penultimate race in Sao Paulo in two weeks' time."
Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Gutiérrez and Romain Grosjean finished 19th and 20th, respectively, in the Mexican Grand Prix Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The result capped a frustrating race weekend for the first-year team, as struggles in practice on Friday led to a disappointing qualifying performance on Saturday with neither driver getting out of Q1.
Gutiérrez started the 71-lap race from 17th in the 22-car field, while Grosjean started from the pit lane. Crew members had to change the floor of Grosjean's car race morning, and because it was different from the floor used in qualifying, FIA regulations required a pit-lane start.
Gutiérrez made some headway at the start, surviving getting sandwiched between the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and the Manor of Pascal Wehrlein through turn one of the 4.304-kilometer (2.674-mile), 17-turn circuit. Despite contact that sent Wehrlein spinning off track and into Ericsson and then into the barriers, Gutiérrez emerged unscathed in 14th.
The accident triggered the Virtual Safety Car (VSC), and after a handful of drivers headed to the pits for service, Gutiérrez remained 14th and Grosjean moved up to 19th.
Shortly after the race went green on lap four, Gutiérrez battled the McLaren of Jenson Button and the Renault of Kevin Magnussen for 12th. By lap six, the duo had pulled away and Gutiérrez's mirrors were filled with the charging Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo got by on lap seven to drop Gutiérrez to 15th, a position he held until his first scheduled pit stop at the end of lap 13. Off went the Pirelli P Zero Yellow softs tires Gutiérrez started the race with and on went a new set of White mediums.
Grosjean pitted a lap before Gutiérrez, initiating the tire strategy for both drivers. Not long after exiting the pits, Grosjean keyed his radio to say, "I can feel no rear downforce."
The lack of downforce combined with the slippery track surface prohibited Grosjean from making significant forward progress. He managed to pass the Manor of Esteban Ocon for 20th when Ocon made his scheduled stop, but that was all Grosjean could get.
Gutiérrez, meanwhile, had dropped to 19th after his pit stop and was running a few seconds ahead of Grosjean.
Gutiérrez made his final pit stop at the end of lap 50, swapping the White mediums for new Yellow softs. Grosjean followed at the end of lap 52, emulating the tire strategy of his teammate. Their positions remained unchanged, with the two running 19th and 20th all the way to the checkered flag.
Winning the Mexican Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton. It was the Mercedes driver's 51st career Formula One victory, equaling the tally of legend Alain Prost. It was also Hamilton's eighth win of the season and his second in a row, but first at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Hamilton's margin of victory was 8.354 seconds over his Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. The victory cut Rosberg's advantage over Hamilton from 26 points to 19 points with only two races remaining.
Nineteen rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains eighth in the constructor standings with 29 points. The American squad kept the gap to seventh-place Toro Rosso at 26 points and maintained its 21-point advantage over ninth-place Renault, as neither Toro Rosso nor Renault finished in the points.
Formula One takes a weekend off before returning to action for the season's penultimate race - the Brazilian Grand Prix Nov. 13 at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a tough day and a tough weekend for us. We started on the wrong foot and it ended how it ended. Sometimes you have to go through bad experiences like this to be able to learn from them. I hope this is our only bad weekend of the year. We've got two more races to go. We'll get ourselves ready for those and get our spirits up again. We saw this coming on Friday, so today's result is not too unexpected. A race like this just makes it a long day."
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won the Mexican Grand Prix from pole, after starting on the soft tyre and then running a one-stop strategy by switching to the medium. During the course of the race, Williams driver Valtteri Bottas clocked 372kph on the speed trap (running the medium tyres): quite close to the fastest speed ever seen in a Formula 1 race.
Most drivers started on the soft compound, including the two Mercedes on the front row of the grid. Directly behind them were two Red Bulls starting on the supersoft, which theoretically allowed them a faster start at the expense of a shorter first stint. However, Daniel Ricciardo changed to the medium tyre during a virtual safety car period on lap one, before completing a second stop to have a rapid final stint on the soft and finish fourth after using all three compounds.
All the drivers apart from Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat chose the medium tyre for the second stint, (with Sauber's Felipe Nasr having started on mediums). Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel completed the longest first stint on softs, only swapping from the soft to the medium on lap 32. Nasr completed the longest first stint of the race, starting on medium and then switching to supersoft only on lap 49, demonstrating the consistency of all the compounds throughout the race. Renault's Jolyon Palmer also ran the entire race bar one lap on the medium tyre.
Conditions were warmer than they were during free practice, with track temperatures remaining just below 40 degrees throughout the grand prix. A key part in today's strategy calculations was the length of the pit lane: the longest of the season, which increases the time needed to make a pit stop.
Paul Hembery: "Today's race contained a strong strategic element, with the front row starting on the soft tyre, followed by the second row on the supersoft tyre. There were still a number of question marks about strategy heading into the race, with teams having to react to events as they happened and make the most of every opportunity that presented itself. As expected though, most drivers were able to complete the race with just one pit stop, extracting a low wear life from the tyres."
Truthometer
Lewis Hamilton started on the soft, then stopped for the medium on lap 17: the same strategy as was adopted by his team mate Nico Rosberg in second after stopping on lap 20.
