Max Verstappen had a trouble-free run to victory in the Mexican Grand Prix, his 14th race win of the season breaking the existing record for most wins in a single campaign previously shared with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Mercedes attempted to out-strategise Red Bull by starting on medium tyres before switching to sets of the hard compound before the midway point, but low degradation for everyone meant that this didn't pay off.
Lewis Hamilton still took second place ahead of Sergio Perez, after both drivers managed to get the better of George Russell at the start. The Briton finished fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in what was a poor day for Ferrari.
It was a colourful carnival atmosphere at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on the eve of the Día de los Muertos as the start of the Mexican Grand Prix drew near. Max Verstappen might have been on pole for the start of the race, but there was no question who the fanatical crowds watching on from the grandstand swanted to see come out on top. That was Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez starting from fourth, but first he would have to dispatch the two Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ahead of him on the grid before he would have the chance of achieving that objective.
When the lights went out to get the race underway, the long run down to the first corner presented everyone with their first opportunity to strike. Verstappen and Perez had opted to start on the soft compounds as did Ferrari's Carlos Sainz from fifth on the grid, but Mercedes had gone for medium tyres instead making them slower off the line but able to go longer and deeper into the race, potentially giving them more strategic options.
Verstappen got a decent start but Russell was initially able to hold on to the Red Bull's rear wing. However he was then ambushed by Hamilton sweeping around the outside, and that unsettled Russell enough to open the door for Perez to also snatch a place from the rattled Brit in turn 4. Behind this drama, Sainz had held on to fifth with his team mate Charles Leclerc (also on softs) quickly getting the better of the medium-shod Valtteri Bottas. The Alfa Romeo then dropped another position to Alpine's Fernando Alonso.
By the time DRS was enabled, Verstappen had already pulled out of range from Hamilton, and there were similar 1.5s margins back to and between Perez, Russell, Sainz and Leclerc, with the second group led by Alonso and Bottas already falling away by the end of lap 5. The Finn was now under threat from Alonso's Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon, with Lando Norris having already dropped two places to run in tenth in the McLaren.
Now the question was how the tyres would fare over the course of the opening stint. Pirelli had indicated that the soft compound would only last around 15 laps, but that would help turn the tide back to those on mediums like Hamilton and Russell? While we waited to see, the race settled into a waiting game with no changes among the leaders but some interesting developments further back: both Haas drivers faded badly compared to their Williams rivals, Kevin Magnussen running at the back behind Nicholas Latifi and Alex ALbon able to pick off Mick Schumacher for P17.
Ten laps in and Verstappen was already complaining about the lack of grip, which had been a problem for him and for Red Bull all weekend. Hamilton was staying in touch: although the gaps between the leading cars were starting to grow longer, the top six were still covered by just over six seconds. Lance Stroll was also complaining about a lack of grip, and Pierre Gasly tried to take advantage of this by barging past the Aston Martin going through turn 4 on lap 13. However he forced Stroll wide in the process and the stewards inevitably stepped in and handed the AlphaTauri driver a five second penalty.
With pit stops approaching, Verstappen put his foot down and set fastest laps in order to pull away from Hamilton, despite complaining of the car bouncing through the corners. Already struggling for pace, Stroll was the first car in for service on lap 18 to swap from medium to soft tyres for his second stint, but the leaders continued to eke out further laps before Perez was next to blink on lap 24. A hold-up with one of the back wheels cost him three additional seconds before he leapt out of the pit box and rejoined the race, now on mediums but down in sixth behind the two Ferrari cars.
Two laps later it was Verstappen's turn to pit for mediums, and there were no hold-ups this time. He came back out just ahead of Sainz and was immediately up to speed as he started to hunt down Russell. Perez was having more trouble passing Leclerc, but the speed of the Red Bull inevitably ensured that the Monegasque was firmly put in the rear view mirror before the Ferrari bailed out and pitted on lap 29.
Hamilton was now leading, but ominously reporting power cut-outs similar to those that had affected him in the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Russell was doing a good job in second, with Verstappen still 12 seconds behind and seemingly unwilling to overtax his new tyres so early in the run. Sensing an opportunity, Hamilton pitted on lap 30 and had a good service to put him back out between the two Red Bulls have opted to switch to the hard compound. Only Ocon, Norris and Latifi had made the same choice. Sainz also stopped at this point, trading softs for mediums, but Russell was telling the Mercedes pit wall that his original tyres were fine and he wanted to stay out longer now that he was in the lead of the race. Just to make his point, he put in his fastest lap of the race as evidence - but he was inevitably losing time every lap to Verstappen.
In the end, Russell reached half race distance before pitting on lap 35 and he too opted for the hard compound. That restored Verstappen to the lead followed by Hamilton, who was struggling to get the hard tyres to switch on and coming under pressure from Perez. Russell came back out in fourth ahead of the yet-to-pit Alonso and Bottas, with Sainz and Leclerc looking inert in seventh and eighth respectively followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou Guanyu, who were still actively considering their options for their first pit stops.
Sebastian Vettel was the last driver to pit who had started on soft tyres, having made them last a whopping 38 laps. Magnussen was also in and took inspiration from Vettel's fortitude to try a set of softs, but Alonso and Bottas weren't tempted and they followed the Mercedes playbook, pursuing a one-stop strategy by switching to the hard tyres on lap 41. As for Hamilton and Russell, they were both expressing doubts - until Hamilton suddenly punched in a much better time suggesting that the tyres were finally waking up. But surely it was far too late, with Verstappen having already stretched out a ten second lead?
Having been the earliest to pit, Stroll came in for his second service on lap 45 just before Ricciardo made his one and only visit to pit lane. That left Zhou the final car to come in a lap later, both of them opting to finish the race on the soft compound in hopes of using the fresh, faster tyres to claw their way back into the top ten by the chequered flag. Ricciardo was soon hard up behind Yuki Tsunoda, but his eagerness resulted in contact as he lunged down the inside of turn 4 which bounced the AlphaTauri into the air and off into the gravel. Tsunoda limped back to pit lane but the damage was too great to carry on, making him the first retirement of the race on lap 51. Ricciardo was duly sanctioned by the race stewards with a ten second penalty in his case, which was a shame as his subsequent pace on the softs was little short of phenomenal.
Hamilton was still complaining about not being on the right tyre compound, even though his race engineer insisted that they were still on the right strategy. However the data threw doubt on that as Verstappen extended his lead by another second with his tyres not showing anything like the degradation that Mercedes were still pinning their hopes on. Hamilton was further compromised when he was held up by Alonso as he came up to lap the Alpine on lap 60, costing him a further two seconds on the race leader. Alonso was clearly struggling with a mechanical issue, and he was soon swamped by Ocon and Ricciardo before finally retiring on lap 64 with smoke streaming from the back of the car. It triggered a brief Virtual Safety Car while the marshals took care of the broken Alpine parked in the turn 1 run-off.
There was still no sign of significant degradation for Verstappen or Perez, and the die seemed firmly cast as the laps ticked down to the finish. Russell was clamouring to make a late pit stop for a final set of softs, claiming he had suffered a puncture by running through some debris on track. The Mercedes powers-that-be vetoed the idea, still hopeful that Perez would wane in the final minutes: "His tyres are more gone than yours." It was only with two laps to go that they finally relented and allowed Russell to pit and successfully take the bonus point for setting the fastest lap.
There was no question about the winner, with Verstappen setting a new record for most wins in a season with his 14th victory of the season ahead of Hamilton and Perez with Russell crossing the line in fourth despite his extra stop, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc. That splendid run from Ricciardo secured the Australian seventh place even after the ten place penalty was added on, staying ahead of Ocon, Norris and Bottas with Gasly just missing out in 11th and Albon a now-familiar 12th.
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