F1 Grand Prix race results: Max Verstappen wins Mexican GP
Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on Sunday to extend his F1 World Championship points lead over runner-up Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, as Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, spins on the opening lap
Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Verstappen took the lead from third on the grid at the first corner, as he outbraked both Mercedes cars. Poleman Valtteri Bottas was pushed into a spin by the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 and dropped to the tail of the field.
Verstappen pulled away to win by over 16s from Hamilton, who pitted earlier than the Red Bulls. Sergio Perez stopped 11 laps later than Hamilton and closed right up in the final stages but had to settle for third.
2021 Mexican Grand Prix race results
Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | 71 | - | 25 | |||
2 | Lewis Hamilton | 71 | 16.555 | 16.555 | 18 | ||
3 | Sergio Perez | 71 | 17.752 | 1.197 | 15 | ||
4 | Pierre Gasly | 71 | 1'03.845 | 46.093 | 12 | ||
5 | Charles Leclerc | 71 | 1'21.037 | 17.192 | 10 | ||
6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 70 | 1 lap | 8 | |||
7 | Sebastian Vettel | 70 | 1 lap | 6 | |||
8 | Kimi Raikkonen | 70 | 1 lap | 4 | |||
9 | Fernando Alonso | 70 | 1 lap | 2 | |||
10 | Lando Norris | 70 | 1 lap | 1 | |||
11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 70 | 1 lap | ||||
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | 70 | 1 lap | ||||
13 | Esteban Ocon | 70 | 1 lap | ||||
14 | Lance Stroll | 69 | 2 laps | ||||
15 | Valtteri Bottas | 69 | 2 laps | ||||
16 | George Russell | 69 | 2 laps | ||||
17 | Nicholas Latifi | 69 | 2 laps | ||||
18 | Nikita Mazepin | 68 | 3 laps | ||||
19 | Mick Schumacher | 0 | |||||
20 | Yuki Tsunoda | 0 | |||||
View full results |
How the Mexican Grand Prix unfolded
From pole position, Bottas led Hamilton on the charge to Turn 1, with Verstappen going to the outside, braking late and sweeping around them both.
Behind him, Bottas was spun around by Ricciardo, who lost his front wing, while in the pack Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) sandwiched the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and both flew up into the air and into retirement at Turn 2. Perez ran across the grass at Turn 1, but rejoined in third.
The safety car was required to clear away the stranded cars. Verstappen led Hamilton, Perez, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at the restart on Lap 5 – Sainz passing Giovinazzi for sixth at Turn 1.
Verstappen pulled well clear of Hamilton, who came under pressure from Perez before Lewis made his first pitstop on Lap 30.
Verstappen pitted several four laps later, promoting Perez to the lead – delighting the home crowd. Verstappen rejoined 7s ahead of Hamilton as the race hit half distance.
Perez pitted on Lap 41, rejoining 9s behind Hamilton but on tyres that were 11 laps fresher. Perez caught Hamilton going into the final 10 laps, and despite getting into DRS for a couple of laps, and one lunge into Turn 3 on the final lap, he wasn't even close to getting past and had to settle for third.
Behind them, Ferrari switched the earlier-stopping Leclerc with Sainz, in a vain attempt to catch fourth-placed Gasly. But he failed, so they switched back with Leclerc taking fifth ahead of Sainz.
Sebastian Vettel drove an excellent race to finish seventh for Aston Martin, ahead of fellow world champions Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine). McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the top 10 from 18th on the grid.
Bottas got stuck behind Ricciardo, outside the top 10, and toiled until Lap 40 when Ricciardo made a second stop. Bottas pitted two laps later but suffered a 12s stop, dropping him to 15th, and he pitted again in an attempt to take away the fastest lap point away from Verstappen.
He achieved that on the very last lap, after stopping yet again for more soft tyres.
2021 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix fastest laps
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 69 | 1'17.774 | 199.223 | ||
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 52 | 1'18.999 | 1.225 | 1.225 | 196.134 |
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 49 | 1'19.468 | 1.694 | 0.469 | 194.976 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 66 | 1'19.820 | 2.046 | 0.352 | 194.116 |
5 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 63 | 1'20.081 | 2.307 | 0.261 | 193.484 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 70 | 1'20.460 | 2.686 | 0.379 | 192.572 |
7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 66 | 1'20.510 | 2.736 | 0.050 | 192.453 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 67 | 1'20.617 | 2.843 | 0.107 | 192.197 |
9 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 63 | 1'20.665 | 2.891 | 0.048 | 192.083 |
10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 54 | 1'20.711 | 2.937 | 0.046 | 191.973 |
11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 63 | 1'20.713 | 2.939 | 0.002 | 191.969 |
12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 61 | 1'20.930 | 3.156 | 0.217 | 191.454 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 40 | 1'21.069 | 3.295 | 0.139 | 191.126 |
14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 67 | 1'21.348 | 3.574 | 0.279 | 190.470 |
15 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 61 | 1'21.402 | 3.628 | 0.054 | 190.344 |
16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 68 | 1'21.523 | 3.749 | 0.121 | 190.061 |
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 66 | 1'21.546 | 3.772 | 0.023 | 190.008 |
18 | George Russell | Williams | 61 | 1'22.016 | 4.242 | 0.470 | 188.919 |
View full results |
2021 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix tyre history
Cla | Driver | Chassis | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | M | 36 | H | 38 | ||||||
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | M | 32 | H | 42 | ||||||
3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | M | 43 | H | 31 | ||||||
4 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | M | 34 | H | 40 | ||||||
5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | M | 35 | H | 41 | ||||||
6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | M | 47 | H | 28 | ||||||
7 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | M | 36 | H | 37 | ||||||
8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | M | 35 | H | 38 | ||||||
9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | M | 39 | H | 31 | ||||||
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | M | 47 | H | 26 | ||||||
11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | M | 20 | H | 54 | ||||||
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | M | 4 | H | 37 | M | 34 | ||||
13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | S | 14 | H | 56 | ||||||
14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | M | 14 | H | 22 | M | 37 | ||||
15 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | M | 6 | H | 39 | M | 23 | S | 7 | S | 5 |
16 | George Russell | Williams | M | 15 | H | 54 | ||||||
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | M | 11 | H | 38 | M | 22 | ||||
18 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | M | 13 | H | 45 | M | 10 | ||||
19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | M | 0 | ||||||||
20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | S | 3 | ||||||||
View full results |
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