Mexican Grand Prix LIVE: Result and reaction as Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton
Will Lewis Hamilton close the gap to championship leader Max Verstappen? Follow all the action from Mexico
Lewis Hamilton’s dreams of a record-breaking eighth world championship are hanging by a thread after Max Verstappen outgunned his rival to win the Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen delivered the start of starts to blast away from third, and beat both Hamilton and pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas on the 220mph stampede to the opening corner.
Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez sits a breathless 2,285 metres above sea level, and Verstappen’s breathtaking getaway puts him in the driving seat to claim his maiden title and deny Hamilton further history.
Follow all the reaction from the Mexican Grand Prix below.
Lap 38/71: Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton is pretty stable right now - even though Hamilton’s pace has increased following his pit stop. Hamilton is around eight seconds behind his title rival.
Lap 36/71: Perez is still happy out there on his original tyres. “Tyres are getting good,” he says. “This pace is good,” is the reply from Red Bull.
Could there by any way Red Bull use Verstappen to slightly hold up Hamilton, and create a window for Perez to pit into so he comes out in the second?
Lap 34/71: Verstappen pits! It’s a perfect stop from Red Bull and the Dutchman emerges behind Perez, 7.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton. That has worked out nicely for them.
But what about Perez? He now leads his home Grand Prix, but would be behind Hamilton if he was to pit now. He’s going to try and stay out and run long.
Lap 33/71: Gasly is the next to pit - which means Hamilton has around 17 seconds of clean air to drive into. Mercedes tell him he has a 4.4s relative lead over Perez, taking into account a pit stop.
Leclerc makes a nice move to get past Alonso.
Lap 32/71: Leclerc does indeed pit, which clears some space for Hamilton. And there you go, Hamilton clocks the fastest lap of the race so far. He has Gasly up ahead next.
Verstappen is still happy with his tyres, while Perez also remains out.
Lap 31/71: That could have been a disaster for Hamilton, but Leclerc is going to pit on the next lap. Still, Hamilton will be losing some precious time. Could Perez pull off the undercut?
Lap 30/71: Here comes the first Hamilton pit stop! It’s a clean stop for Mercedes, but he can’t get ahead of Leclerc on the exit from the pit lane!
Lap 28/71: Ricciardo continues to hold his position and frustrate Bottas - further ahead Norris has opened a 17-second gap on his team-mate and is closing in on Alonso.
“Target plus six,” Mercedes tell Hamilton.
Lap 27/71: Red Bull are encouraging Perez to push harder and close the gap further to Hamilton.
“Let’s close it up,” is the message to the Mexican.
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