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	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	71			25
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	15.186	15.186	18
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	71	18.097	2.911	15
4	George Russell	Mercedes	71	49.431	31.334	13
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	71	58.123	8.692	10
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	1'08.774	10.651	8
7	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	70			6
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	70			4
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	70			2
10	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	70			1
11	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	70
12	Alex Albon	Williams	70
13	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	70
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	70
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	70
16	Mick Schumacher	Haas	70
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	70
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	69
	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	63
	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	50
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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	George Russell	Mercedes	71	1'20.153			193.310
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	30	1'21.775	1.622	1.622	189.476
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	48	1'22.022	1.869	0.247	188.905
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	36	1'22.046	1.893	0.024	188.850
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	32	1'22.062	1.909	0.016	188.813
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	32	1'22.199	2.046	0.137	188.498
7	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	47	1'22.260	2.107	0.061	188.358
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	42	1'22.277	2.124	0.017	188.319
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	42	1'22.463	2.310	0.186	187.895
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	48	1'22.603	2.450	0.140	187.576
11	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	48	1'22.866	2.713	0.263	186.981
12	Alex Albon	Williams	48	1'22.914	2.761	0.048	186.873
13	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	45	1'23.086	2.933	0.172	186.486
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	48	1'23.279	3.126	0.193	186.054
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	49	1'23.300	3.147	0.021	186.007
16	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	43	1'23.363	3.210	0.063	185.866
17	Lando Norris	McLaren	48	1'23.402	3.249	0.039	185.779
18	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	48	1'23.403	3.250	0.001	185.777
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	30	1'23.641	3.488	0.238	185.248
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	56	1'23.709	3.556	0.068	185.098
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2022 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix pitstops

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