Lewis Hamilton was the first to admit that Mercedes had simply been out-classed by their Red Bull rivals in Sunday's Mexico City GP at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Hamilton and his team mate Valtteri Bottas has pulled off a surprise front row lock-out in qualifying, but neither car got a great start and they went into turn 1 three-wide with Max Verstappen on the outside.
While the Dutch driver secured the lead of the race, Bottas spun out leaving Hamilton sandwiched between Verstappen and his team mate Sergio Perez.
The Briton initially stayed in touch with the race leader but gradually dropped away as the race wen ton, leaving him under intense pressure from Perez all the way to the chequered flag.
“I gave it everything, I just didn’t have the pace," Hamilton told David Coulthard in parc ferme after narrowly holding on to second place at the line.
“Their car is far superior this weekend, and there's nothing really we could do about it," Hamilton added after congratulating Verstappen on the race win.
“I gave my absolutely everything, and even obviously a great fight with Sergio at the end, but I'm really grateful I did get second.
“I’ve had that many times before, so it was easy to just hold on,” Hamilton replied when how it had been when Perez twice got within DRS range.
“But it just shows how fast their car was, when Sergio was that close behind me and able to pull that close," he added. “He did a great job, he was applying that pressure and just kept going.
"Their pace, it was just unbelievable today," he told later. "There was nothing I could do to battle that, and when you’ve got Checo on your tail then you know the car is quick.
Despite not coming away with the win he had been hoping for, Hamilton insisted that he had still "really enjoyed the race" on Sunday.
“I started second and finished second, so I can’t complain,” he said. "Got a really start and I feel like I maximised it with what I had.
"They just made a mistake in qualifying to be honest, because we didn’t get any faster,” he added when asked what the difference had been between qualifying and the race. "I think they just messed it up with their tyres or something.”
Successfully holding on to the runners-up spot could prove crucial in the outcome of this year's world championship. It means that Verstappen now has a 19 point lead over Hamilton in the drivers title battle with four races remaining.
If Perez had succeeded in taking second then Verstappen's advantage would be up to 22 points. Bottas also helped with the damage limitation by denying Verstappen the bonus point for setting the fastest lap.
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