'Sleepless' Verstappen never under pressure in Mexico

Max Verstappen was deeply unhappy after missing out on becoming Formula 1's youngest ever pole sitter after he was pipped by his Red Bull team mate in qualifying at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

But the 21-year-old channelled all that anger and frustration at Saturday's outcome into driving the perfect race instead, which saw him pick up his second consecutive victory in the Mexican Grand Prix.

"The start was the key," he said after the finish. "To be honest I didn’t sleep well last night. I was really determined to win today. Luckily we did that.

"An amazing job by the team as well. We had the right tyres available and the car was working brilliantly.”

• Verstappen wins in Mexico, Hamilton crowned champion

While Daniel Ricciardo suffered from wheel spin when the lights went out, Verstappen got a perfect launch off the grid wand was able to fight off Lewis Hamilton going through the first corners.

"Into turn one everyone got boxed in and that was nice for me," he said. "I had to brake deep, but Lewis didn’t want to risk anything.

"From there I could do my own race and that was crucial," he added. "We were able to watch our tyres well the whole race

"You just want to make sure that nothing happens, and we were that far in the lead that it was okay," he continued. "I never felt that I was really put under pressure. I was able to drive my own race and followed what the rest did.

"When they came in for a pit stop, we did that as well. Luckily we still had an extra set of the supersofts, which made things even better.

“This track at such a high altitude cancels out a little bit of the dynamic, but our mechanical grip is even better and we have the downforce advantage here.

"I am very happy with this win," he admitted.

There was a late scare for Verstappen when Ricciardo suffered a hydraulic failure and was forced to retire from second place. If not for that, it could have been Red Bull's first 1-2 race finish since Malaysia in 2016.

A worried Verstappen contacted the Red Bull pit wall to ask: "Check my engine. If we need to turn it down, turn it down." The team duly took precautions, but it didn't stop him from finishing with a 17.3s advantage over the rest of the field.

"It is a shame to lose Daniel and I think we could have had a 1-2 or at least two cars on the podium," Verstappen said. "From that moment on we wanted to make sure that mine couldn’t retire, even if that meant to turn down the power on the engine, just to be on the safe side. That is what we ultimately did."

Verstappen's victory - and another driver of the day accolade for the young Dutchman - was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that Sunday saw the conclusion of the 2018 world championship battle with Hamilton successfully taking his fifth title.

Verstappen himself is only fifth in the drivers championship with two races remaining, but it hoping that with Red Bull's switch to Honda power over the winter he will be a lot more competitive in 2019.

“I think Lewis was the more consistent one fighting for the title and he deserves it," he said. "[But] I hope we can be a lot closer next year."

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