The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team leaves Mexico City with a slender one-point lead in the Constructors' Championship after a strong defensive drive from Lewis Hamilton to secure P2.
Lewis delivered a masterful defensive drive to secure P2 on a day when we were outpaced by Red Bull in race conditions. Valtteri was turned around at Turn 1, putting him to the back of the field and restricting him to a long race unable to pass Ricciardo's McLaren.
In the final laps, Valtteri made two fastest lap runs - the first was unusually slowed by traffic from race leader Verstappen, while the second enabled him to secure fastest lap.
Max Verstappen (312.5 points) leads the Drivers' Championship from Lewis (293.5) by 19 points, with Valtteri in P3 (185). Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (478.5 points) lead Red Bull (477.5 points) by 1 point in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: First, we must congratulate Red Bull because their pace was on another level. I don't think we could have won the race even if we had stayed ahead in the first corner because they could have pincered us around the pit stops. At the end, I think for Lewis' championship it was damage limitation and he drive a brilliant race with the equipment he was given. As for the Constructors', Valtteri spinning out at turn 1 was just very painful. Looking at the start, we had two cars in front but it seemed to open up for Max to come around the outside - then the spin for Valtteri cost us the points that we could have had for a third or fourth place finish. Looking ahead to Brazil, this has also traditionally been a Red Bull track - but we're going to pick ourselves up and give it everything to fight back, then we have three more to go after that.
Andrew Shovlin: A difficult day; most of what went wrong did so in the first twenty seconds but ultimately we didn't have the pace and with only one car left at the head of the race, second place was the best that Lewis could have achieved. The launch phase of the starts were good, arguably Lewis's was too good as it meant he couldn't tow off Valtteri. Unfortunately Max was able to take that advantage and then found his way onto the racing line into turn 1 to take the lead. Valtteri then got spun round when Riccardo locked up and hit him which basically took him out of contention. The story of Lewis's race was quite straight forward; we had to react early on the first stop to protect against an undercut from Sergio which meant we had a long stint to the finish but Lewis managed it very well to secure second place. We've still got four races today, we're not where we hoped to be in the championships but we will leave no stone unturned trying to find performance in these final races.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "Today was a big race and a big team win. It was a flawless performance from the entire team, from drivers to pitstops to strategy to reliability, it was a really strong team performance. Max was phenomenal again today, he found some space at turn one, and I have to say Bottas was very fair and allowed him enough space, and Max made the most of it and was then able to control the race. It's the first time Honda have had a driver win nine races in a year, as Max was tied with Senna on eight, so that's a great achievement for him and Honda. What a weekend it has been for Checo, the first Mexican to lead the home Grand Prix and first to finish on the podium, his third in as many races, is really special. He's found his confidence in the car and his performances are getting stronger and stronger, it's exactly what we were hoping for from him. Next up is Brazil where it's a sprint race and we still haven't won a sprint race weekend yet. We saw how competitive Mercedes were this weekend, particularly in qualifying, so we are taking nothing for granted. There are still 107 points available, it's a long way to go and there's a lot of racing left."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Tough Sunday for us in Mexico. Daniel's race was effectively over after Turn One. He hooked-up a great start, made some positions and then had an unfortunate coming together with Valtteri [Bottas]. He needed to pit for a new front wing and had some additional damage on the car. Definitely a missed opportunity. On Lando's side, it was always clear he would have a difficult race today, starting from P18. He made up as many positions as possible, got back into the points but with the pace we had in the car today, it wasn't possible to achieve any more.
"Thanks to the entire team, the drivers and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP - that was a lot of hard work for a single point and the result does not reflect the effort. We'll reset, relocate to Brazil, and prepare to go again next weekend."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "Sebastian delivered a solid drive, with strong race pace, which allowed him to control his afternoon and score six points thanks to a fine seventh place. Starting at the back of the grid as a result of grid penalties triggered by power unit component changes, Lance drove a good race to 14th, the highlight of which was a beautiful overtake of [George] Russell's Williams around the outside of Turn One. From here we go straight to Interlagos, a superb racetrack that will be great to race on again after missing it last year owing to the pandemic."
Alpine F1 Team leaves the Mexico City Grand Prix with two more points to its 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship tally, after a hard-fought battle saw Fernando Alonso claim ninth position in front of an energetic Mexican crowd. Esteban Ocon who started from the back row of the grid finished in thirteenth despite his best efforts to climb the order.
The result leaves Alpine F1 Team in fifth place in the constructors' standings on 106 points and ahead of Alpha Tauri by virtue of the team's one race win in Hungary.
Finishing inside the points was always the team's target and it was nearly made impossible after a chaotic first lap that saw numerous incidents take place. Esteban was clipped on both sides of his A521 after Turn 1 and Fernando had to take drastic action on his steering wheel to avoid stationary cars into Turn 2.
Both drivers remained unscathed after the opening bouts, and following a brief Safety Car interlude, Fernando found himself twelfth, where he started, with Esteban two places down in fourteenth.
After the restart, Esteban's impressive first lap progress was cruelly hindered after he and Nicholas Latifi made light contact during an overtaking move that consequently demoted him to sixteenth.
A sequence of overtaking moves by the Alpine duo followed, with Fernando first overtaking Nikita Mazepin on the main straight and then George Russell a few laps later into Turn 4 moving him into tenth. Esteban followed suit and overtook both Latifi and Mazepin to take thirteenth.
Esteban was one of the first to stop and his crew fitted fresh Hards on lap 14 to cover Lance Stroll's early pit-stop in the Aston Martin. Fernando followed the leading pack with strong pace and stayed out until lap 39 when he fitted fresh Hard tyres.
The Spaniard re-joined in tenth and was soon promoted to ninth when Lando Norris pitted. Despite some pressure from the McLaren behind, Fernando held firm in ninth and delivered two vital points for the team. Esteban found himself unable to recover the ground lost by starting towards the rear of the field and finished in thirteenth.
Laurent Rossi, Chief Executive Officer, Alpine Cars: "After a compromised qualifying yesterday, to be back in the points today shows the fighting spirit of this team. It was important for us to return to the top ten today after the frustration in Austin last time out. It was not an easy race - far from it - with Fernando starting in the middle of the pack and Esteban at the back of the grid with the engine penalty. For Fernando, he was a little unfortunate at the start as he had to avoid Bottas's spin but from there, he drove a very smooth and sensible race to work his way into the points. Esteban too had a tricky start and was sandwiched between two cars at Turn 1, which he did well to avoid. Like Fernando, he showed strong race pace and dug in to finish in thirteenth. Of course, scoring two points with one car is not our aim but after yesterday's qualifying, it's a result we can be pleased with. It also gives us additional motivation ready for next weekend in Brazil where we return to more conventional conditions. The fight with Alpha Tauri for fifth is now level and we must continue our hard work and commitment to stay on top in the battle."
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow came away from the Grand Prix named after the capital of Mexico with 18 points, courtesy of a fifth place for Charles Leclerc and a sixth for Carlos Sainz.
The race result was a pretty accurate reflection of the hierarchy between the teams established earlier in the weekend, with the two teams battling for the world championship having a clear advantage over the rest of the pack, with a close fight in the mid-field. As had been the case in qualifying, Pierre Gasly and the AlphaTauri had a slight but decisive advantage in terms of pace, which combined with the grid positions and the way the first chaotic moments of the race panned out, produced the order that would stay the same to the chequered flag.
Charles and Carlos tried in vain to put Gasly under pressure, pitting at different times and switching positions later in the race, which showed once again the spirit of cooperation between the two Scuderia drivers. However, the points haul, identical to that in Austin, was enough to put the Scuderia back in third place in the Constructors' classification by the biggest gap seen so far this season (13.5 points).
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: Today's result keeps us on course to reach our objective in this final stage of the season, which is to finish third in the Constructors' championship. The 18 points are the result of a good job from the entire team, the drivers, engineers and mechanics at the track and back at the remote garage, in the way they prepared for and managed this weekend.
I was particularly pleased with the team spirit shown by Charles and Carlos and with the pit stops, with two very quick and precise tyre changes, despite the pressure the team was inevitably under. We are now back in third place, with a not insignificant lead, but of course nothing can be taken for granted.
We must try and consolidate our position in the remaining four races, continuing to make progress, which is really the most important aspect of our season.
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Big congratulations to Max, this victory means a big step towards the possibility of winning the Championship. It's been wonderful coming back here to Mexico. There are so many Formula 1 fans and it's really exciting to see all the grandstands full of passionate people. It's been very interesting to see Checo, especially in the last laps, fighting while chasing Hamilton.
From our side, I must say that we had a very successful weekend. Pierre qualified yesterday in fifth position and the strategy was clear today: he had to survive in the first corner, keep the Ferraris behind and bring home P5. Due to Bottas' spin on the first lap, he was able to move up to fourth place and he defended this up to the chequered flag. We know how difficult it is here in Mexico to manage the tyres and the brakes at this altitude, and Pierre was incredible during the entire race, behaving in a very professional way. Pierre and the team did a fantastic job across the whole weekend and the car showed a very good performance.
Yuki was a bit unfortunate today. He had to start from P17 because of the Power Unit change and then in the first corner Ocon crashed into him, so he couldn't continue the race as the car was damaged too heavily. He showed great pace across the weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing how he performs now for the rest of the season. We hope we will not have any more penalties to take, meaning he should be in the top 10 and regularly scoring points in the remaining races. We will now get ready for Sao Paulo where I hope we can show a similar performance. We will have the Sprint Qualifying but having a fast car should definitely help."
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN brought home four precious points from the Mexican Grand Prix, courtesy of a strong team performance that saw Kimi Raikkonen finish eighth after a flawless race in Mexico City. Team-mate, Antonio Giovinazzi, was just outside the points in 11th after a solid performance that saw him run as up as sixth in the opening stages.
The four points lift Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN's total to 11 as we continue a strong run that saw the team score in two of the last four races. Once again, we demonstrated we can fight with merit within the top ten, with the aim to do just that in the remaining four races in the calendar.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "Just as in the last few races, we have been on the pace all weekend: today we've delivered a strong performance when it mattered and the result shows it. We bring home four points, another top ten finish that gives us more confidence for the final races of the season. It's a shame not to have two cars in the points, especially given how strong we looked in the opening stages, but the race didn't go Antonio's way after the stop. We are a team, we win and lose as one and as a team we will get back stronger, starting from Brazil next week."
Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver Nikita Mazepin classified 18th, while Mick Schumacher was an early retirement at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Round 18 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Mazepin took the start from 15th on Pirelli's P Zero Yellow medium tires and gained positions through a chaotic opening sequence of turns to sit on the cusp of the top 10. Mazepin came in on lap 13 of 71 for a set of White hard tires and then opted for a second stop on lap 61 for mediums in order to get out of a cycle of blue flags. Mazepin came across the line in 18th place.
Schumacher started from 14th on the grid on medium tires but unfortunately his race came to an end on the opening lap. As the field tried to avoid the spinning Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas at the exit of turn one contact was made between Schumacher and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. That collision caused terminal damage to the rear-left suspension of Schumacher's VF-21 and he was forced to halt the car.
Up front Red Bull's Max Verstappen claimed his ninth win of the season with a commanding drive, ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, with local hero Sergio Perez third.
Uralkali Haas F1 Team's 2021 Formula 1 season will continue with the São Paulo Grand Prix, at the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace, from November 12 to 14.
Nikita Mazepin: "A tough weekend. Mick retired during the first lap, obviously there was nothing to do and it was a racing incident which happens when you're trying to do your best. With Nikita, he stuck in there and got the best out of it as possible. We had a bit of a slow pit stop - we wanted to come out in front of Latifi - and it didn't work out so we ended up where we ended up, but he learned a lot about tire management. Now it's on to the next one."
George Russell finished 16th and Nicholas Latifi 17th in the Mexico City Grand Prix. Nicholas started the race 13th with George 16th, both on the medium Pirelli tyres.
George made a strong start and ran as high as ninth early on before making his only stop on lap 15 for a set of the hard compound tyre. Nicholas ran a two-stop race, pitting on lap 11 for the hard compound before stopping again on lap 49 for the medium tyre.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: It was a tough day with the car requiring too much management to be able to race as hard as we would've liked. George had a very good opening lap, made good progress and got himself into a position that was above the real pace of the car. He tried to hold on, but defending was too difficult against the quicker cars.
Both drivers did a good job of managing the car throughout the race. This required a lot of discipline and mental effort and whilst it didn't deliver a good result today, it is valuable experience for future races.
It has been a frustrating weekend and we are looking forward to getting a brief rest before heading to Brazil for the next event.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix with a one-stop strategy, swapping from P Zero Yellow medium to P Zero White hard tyres on lap 34. This was the most frequently-used strategy in the 71-lap race, adopted by the majority of the field (and the strategy that Pirelli calculated as the fastest one).
Lewis Hamilton finished second for Mercedes after pitting on lap 30 for hard tyres, fighting off Red Bull's Sergio Perez for the runner-up spot in the closing stages - with the Mexican on hard tyres that were 11 laps younger.
All the drivers started the race on the medium tyre, with the exception of Alpine's Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, who began the race on the P Zero Red soft from the back of the grid.
McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo and polesitter Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) both switched to the hard tyre under a safety car on lap one. Both ended up stopping again for medium tyres, while Bottas made two additional stops for soft tyres at the end of the race to set fastest lap.
Track temperature was 48 degrees at the start of the race: the highest it has been all weekend.
Mario Isola: "It was a reasonably straightforward one-stop race for the majority of competitors, with the medium and hard delivering great results in these high track temperatures. The medium stood up very well to some long initial stints, showing a strong combination of performance and consistency, with a little help from a four-lap safety car period at the start. The hard tyre showed good race pace, with low degradation, which made it central to today's grand prix in these conditions. As a result, Max Verstappen was the first driver to beat the fastest race lap from 2019 (the last time that the Mexican Grand Prix was run) on used hard tyres, on a track that was still quite dusty."
