Nothing Mercedes could do against “far superior” Red Bull - Hamilton

Mercedes claimed a surprise front-row lock out at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but a storming start from Max Verstappen saw the Red Bull F1 driver sweep past both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to snatch the lead at Turn 1. 

Verstappen pulled clear on his way to claiming a dominant victory, finishing over 16 seconds ahead of F1 title rival Hamilton, who fended off a late-charging Sergio Perez to take second. 

After crossing the line, Hamilton reported over team radio: “I gave it everything, I just didn’t have the pace.”

“Congratulations to Max,” Hamilton said after the race. “Their car is far superior this weekend, and there's nothing really we could do about it. 

“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.”

Hamilton was ultimately pleased to have salvaged second and limited the damage to Verstappen in the championship, despite seeing the Dutchman extend his advantage to 19 points heading into the final four races. 

The seven-time world champion finished just over a second ahead of Perez after the Mexican twice got within DRS range but ultimately couldn’t get close enough to make a pass. 

“I’ve had that many times before, so it was easy to just hold on,” Hamilton said of his late battle with Perez. 

“But it just shows how fast their car was, when Sergio was that close behind me and able to pull that close.

“He did a great job. He was applying that pressure and just kept going.

“But I really enjoyed the race still.”