Lewis Hamilton secured a solid second-place finish behind Max Verstappen at the Mexican Grand Prix. Although Hamilton couldn’t match Verstappen’s pace in his Red Bull, he successfully held off Charles Leclerc to secure valuable points by the end of the race.
The result saw Hamilton move within 20 points of Sergio Perez in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with the Mexican ace crashing out on lap one of his home Grand Prix. Hamilton was quick to praise his Mercedes colleagues for defying expectations in the aftermath of the race, which came just seven days after he was disqualified at the Circuit of the Americas.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that today and it’s a great feeling to be putting one foot in front of the other and progressing,” he said.
“Last weekend, we hit the ground running, but this time we had to dig deep to get the set-up right and we did a great job to progress so well in early phases of the race and then to charge for a podium and second place is amazing. I am very happy and I am incredibly proud of my team and I have total faith in them. I know we have great engineers and we can build a great car even if we haven’t done that for a couple of years.”
in 6 hours12:44 Archie Griggs
Verstappen takes aim at Perez
Max Verstappen, who won yesterday’s Mexican Grand Prix, believes that Sergio Perez was predominantly responsible for his own downfall after crashing into Charles Leclerc on the opening lap.
“I understand because it’s his home Grand Prix and you want to be on the podium, I fully understand that,” said the Dutchman.
“He went around the outside, and he tried. Looking at the footage, I think he could have left a little bit more space, but at the other end if it would have worked, you know, you look amazing.
“Of course, I think it’s just more like that excitement of wanting to be on the podium and this time it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”
in 6 hours11:59 Archie Griggs
Perez insists Leclerc not to blame
Sergio Perez has insisted that Charles Leclerc was not at fault for their first-lap collision at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver was heavily booed by the fans in attendance as he gave his post-race interview after finishing in second place.
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in 4 hours10:56 Archie Griggs
Fan receives lifetime ban
A fan who started a fight in the crowd during the Mexican Grand Prix was ejected and subsequently banned for life.
Video clips on social media appeared to show a brawl erupting in the stands after Sergio Perez’s early retirement.
The fan responsible for starting it has received a lifetime ban, according to Crash.net, with the matter set to be ‘robustly enforced’ to ensure that he cannot attend another F1 race.
