Verstappen cruises to Mexico GP win to extend F1 points lead

Verstappen, starting third on the grid after Mercedes claimed a surprise front-row lockout in qualifying, snatched the lead at the start with a brilliant, brave move to sweep around both Mercedes under braking into Turn 1. 

Chaos ensued behind when Valtteri Bottas was tagged into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren, which caused a further melee in a messy opening few corners, with Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda both eliminated in a hit with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, causing an early safety car. 

Verstappen wasted no time in surging clear at the front as set a string of fastest laps to open up a seven-second advantage over Hamilton by lap 20, at times running a whole second faster than the Mercedes driver, who suffered with tyre overheating in the opening stint. 

By Lap 24, Hamilton found himself over eight seconds behind Verstappen as he conceded over team radio: “These guys are obviously too fast for us.” 

Five laps later, Hamilton became the first of the frontrunners to stop as he switched onto hards, before Red Bull responded by calling in Verstappen for the same compound on lap 33. 

That allowed home hero Perez to enjoy becoming the first ever Mexican to lead the Mexican GP for a brief stint in the lead, before he finally pitted after a long first stint. 

Following a brief stint out in the lead for home hero Perez, Verstappen found himself back in front when his Red Bull teammate finally pitted on lap 40. 

On 11-lap younger tyres, Perez hunted down Hamilton in the closing stages but despite getting within DRS range, the Briton held firm to hang on to a distant second. 

Out front, Verstappen remained in complete control to claim a convincing ninth victory of the season and a record third win in Mexico to move 19 points clear of Hamilton with four races to go. 

Behind the top three, Pierre Gasly ran a lonely race on his way to taking an excellent fourth place for AlphaTauri. 

Gasly finished over a minute behind Verstappen but was a comfortable 17s clear of the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who secured a strong result to help Ferrari leapfrog McLaren into third place in the constructors’ championship. 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was seventh head of Kimi Raikkonen, who scored rare points for Alfa Romeo, while Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris completed the top 10 for Alpine and McLaren.