Lewis Hamilton kept his hopes of securing a fourth World Championship alive by scoring his 51st Grand Prix win in Mexico - equaling four-time title holder Alain Prost in second place in the all-time win list.
Hamilton went off at the first corner but recovered and thereafter drove a perfect race. He is now 19 points behind Nico Rosberg.
“That’s just incredible,” he said of his 51st win. “Fantastic. Over half of the victories I’ve had have been with this team. It’s a true showing of just how incredible the group of people we have and how well we work together and for the third year in a row proved that we are the best team.
“So, very proud and, as I always say, really proud to be a part of it. That was the plan, coming here to this team, being hopefully a part of that growth and success. I couldn’t have dreamt it to be any better than it is.”
Hamilton blamed a brake issue for his moment at the first corner.
“Basically on the formation lap I had a glazed front right brake. I couldn’t wake it up. So, I had 500 degrees Celsius in the left front and 150-200 in the right front.
“So, I went into Turn One and the right front eventually woke up and just locked. I was carrying such speed. I was lucky I didn’t go in the wall or something. And after that I had just the biggest vibration.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it in the first stint. Honestly I thought I had to stop, the vibration was so big I would barely see, to be honest. It was really nice when I got some new, fresh tires, and it was much smoother.”
Regarding suggestions that he had gained an advantage, he said: “I had a completely flat-spotted tire so that definitely wasn’t an advantage but I think I was still in the lead going in so I was in the lead coming out, so I don’t believe so.”
