Lewis Hamilton continues championship hunt with win in Mexico
UPDATE: Following the race, Vettel was handed a 10-second time penalty, dropping him to fifth.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton dominated the Mexican Grand Prix Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico. He now sits just 19 points back of teammate Nico Rosberg with just two races left to go. Hamilton now ties Alain Prost for second on the all-time wins list with 51.
Hamilton led the field away for the first of 71 laps Sunday afternoon in Mexico City. While the Brit led into the first turn, he overshot his braking point, locked up and went through the grass. Behind him, Rosberg also went through the grass after contact with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Rosberg maintained the position and, after investigating the incident, the stewards decided to take no further action.
Hamilton had gained time after his off-track excursion, but gave it up when the Safety Car was deployed for an incident at the back of the field on Lap 1. The Haas F1 machine of Esteban Gutierrez and the Manor of Pascal Wehrlein got together, turning Wehrlein into the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. Wehrlein was out of the race. This incident was also investigated with no further action being taken.
However, the stewards did hand Carlos Sainz a five-second time penalty after Sainz ran the Toro Rosso driver ran the McLaren of Fernando Alonso off the track on the opening lap. Both cars continued. The Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat was also handed a five-second penalty later in the race for running off track and gaining an advantage.
With the Safety Car being deployed on Lap 1, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of the situation and pitted at the end of the opening lap.
The rest of the leaders came in for their first round of stops at around Lap 15, but the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel stayed out until Lap 32.
The order up front had remained relatively unchanged from the start, with Hamilton continuing to lead Rosberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo, and then the Ferrari teammates, who had leapfrogged the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Verstappen attempted a pass on Rosberg for second during the middle of the race, but overshot the turn and Rosberg got back by.
Raikkonen and Ricciardo pit for an extra stop late on in the going, with Ricciardo quickly getting back by Hulkenberg for fifth. Raikkonen also got by Hulkenberg for sixth in the closing stages, helped when Hulkenberg spun as they were side-by-side.
Things picked up in the closing five laps, as Vettel ran Verstappen down for third in the closing stages. Verstappen overshot Turn 1 and came back on track ahead of Vettel. Ricciardo attempted a pass for fourth on Vettel with two laps to go but was unable to get by. There was contact between the two, and the incident is under investigation.
Hamilton led Rosberg, Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo across the line, although Vettel was not pleased with Verstappen. Following the race, Verstappen was given a five-second time penalty, and dropped back to fifth. Vettel had to run from the pits to the stadium section ahead of the podium ceremony as the announcement was made.
Formula One takes a one-week break before the penultimate round of the season at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil.
Unofficial race results:
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
5. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
6. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India
8. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
9. Felipe Massa - Williams
10. Sergio Perez - Force India
11. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
12. Jenson Button - McLaren
13. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
14. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
15. Felipe Nasr - Sauber
16. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
17. Kevin Magnussen - Renault
18. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
19. Esteban Gutierrez - Haas
20. Romain Grosjean - Haas
21. Esteban Ocon - Manor
22. Pascal Wehrlein - Manor (DNF)
