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Charles Bradley

F1 race results: Max Verstappen wins Mexican GP to set new record

Verstappen led from the start, briefly allowing the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to hold a 1-2 during the pitstop cycle.

But Verstappen’s win was never in doubt, as Mercedes’ tyre choice proved to be too conservative, and he won comfortably over Hamilton and Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez.

2022 Mexican Grand Prix race results

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Gap Interval Points
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 71     25
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 15.186 15.186 18
3 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 71 18.097 2.911 15
4 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 71 49.431 31.334 13
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 58.123 8.692 10
6 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1'08.774 10.651 8
7 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 70     6
8 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 70     4
9 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 70     2
10 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 70     1
11 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 70      
12 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 70      
13 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 70      
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 70      
15 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 70      
16 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 70      
17 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 70      
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 69      
  Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 63      
  Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 50      

How the Mexican Grand Prix unfolded

Verstappen led from pole on soft tyres, ahead of Mercedes’ Russell on the charge to Turn 1, where Hamilton grabbed second from his teammate – both Mercs on mediums. Red Bull’s local hero Perez soon jumped up to third on softs, as Russell bounced across the kerbs on the exit of Turn 3 and lost traction.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was best of the rest on the opening lap, ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo).

Verstappen extended a 1.5secs lead by Lap 10 and extended that by another second by Lap 20 but Hamilton then started to close in as Verstappen began to struggle for grip.

Perez was the first of the leaders to pit but a sticky left-rear wheel cost him time. Verstappen pitted on Lap 26 with a much faster stop, rejoining in third place as Perez set fastest lap.

Hamilton led Russell by 5.6secs, as Perez attacked Leclerc for fifth, passing him on the run to Turn 1 on Lap 27.

Hamilton pitted from the lead on Lap 30, switching to the hard tyre, as Russell declared his tyres as “good” and extended his stint. He stopped five laps later, also going on to the hard (and might have regretted not gambling on softs), rejoining behind Verstappen, Hamilton and Perez.

By half distance, Verstappen led Hamilton by over 7secs in a straight Red Bull (mediums) vs Mercedes (hards) battle. This extended to over 12secs, as Perez closed in on Hamilton.

Russell finished fourth, well ahead of the distant Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc.

In an otherwise  dull race, Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) emerged as a star on soft tyres in the latter stages, after being given a 10secs penalty for punting off Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). He rocketed up to seventh and negated the time penalty.

Esteban Ocon (Alpine) finished eighth as teammate Alonso retired from eighth place with five laps to go, causing a virtual safety car. That promoted Lando Norris (McLaren) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) into the points too.

2022 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 71 1'20.153     193.310
2 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 30 1'21.775 1.622 1.622 189.476
3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 48 1'22.022 1.869 0.247 188.905
4 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 36 1'22.046 1.893 0.024 188.850
5 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32 1'22.062 1.909 0.016 188.813
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 32 1'22.199 2.046 0.137 188.498
7 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 47 1'22.260 2.107 0.061 188.358
8 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 42 1'22.277 2.124 0.017 188.319
9 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 42 1'22.463 2.310 0.186 187.895
10 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 48 1'22.603 2.450 0.140 187.576
11 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 48 1'22.866 2.713 0.263 186.981
12 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 48 1'22.914 2.761 0.048 186.873
13 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 45 1'23.086 2.933 0.172 186.486
14 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 48 1'23.279 3.126 0.193 186.054
15 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 49 1'23.300 3.147 0.021 186.007
16 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 43 1'23.363 3.210 0.063 185.866
17 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 48 1'23.402 3.249 0.039 185.779
18 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 48 1'23.403 3.250 0.001 185.777
19 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 30 1'23.641 3.488 0.238 185.248
20 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 56 1'23.709 3.556 0.068 185.098

2022 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix pitstops

Cla Driver Chassis 1 2 3
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull S 28 M 46    
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes M 29 H 42    
3 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull S 26 M 48    
4 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes M 34 H 35 S 5
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari S 32 M 42    
6 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari S 30 M 43    
7 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren M 44 S 26    
8 France Esteban Ocon Alpine M 33 H 37    
9 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren M 31 H 39    
10 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo M 39 H 31    
11 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri M 40 S 30    
12 Thailand Alex Albon Williams M 38 S 32    
13 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo M 45 S 25    
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin S 38 M 33    
15 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin M 18 S 23 S 30
16 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas S 29 M 46    
17 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas M 38 S 35    
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams S 23 H 29 S 17
  Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine M 40 H 23    
  Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri S 29 M 21    

 

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