Max Verstappen has extended the lead at the top to 19 points, with just four races remaining, while Hamilton saved three points as he could hold off Sergio Perez for the second spot.
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It was a case of mixed emotions for Lewis Hamiton as he finished second in the Mexico Grand Prix on Sunday. The Mercedes driver did a fine job to hold off the faster Sergio Perez in the closing stages but he couldn’t challenge his title rival Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver extended his title lead by another seven points to 19, with just four races remaining. Verstappen stormed past both Mercedes drivers at the start before cruising away from Hamilton over the following 70 laps.
“I feel like I maximised what I had,” Hamilton, who started and finished second, told Sky F1. “But jeez… The Red Bull’s pace was just unbelievable today.
“There was nothing I could do to battle that.”
Hamilton added that Red Bull’s car was “unbelievably” quick and it was “a day to forget” for Mercedes. However he is not giving up on the 2021 championship despite losing more ground to his in-form rival.
The Briton said that Red Bull’s car was “far superior” as he finished 16 seconds behind Verstappen. However Hamilton managed to save three points as he could hold off Perez.
“If they carry that pace into the next races then we might be in trouble,” admitted Hamilton, but he still holds hopes of claiming a record eighth world championship come the last round in Abu Dhabi.
“We’ve got four races to go and we just have to keep pushing,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know where this performance has come from today but they were half a second quicker than us a lap, which is what we saw earlier on in the weekend.
“All I can do is just squeeze everything out of this car. They clearly have a stronger car so I think all I can do is just make sure we don’t leave any stone unturned and we just maximise all we have, and give it my all.”
Despite locking out the front row in qualifying, Mercedes were never really in the Mexico fight, with Verstappen overtaking both cars and Valtteri Bottas sent spinning back. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said to Sky F1 “it was a day to forget”
He added “You have to congratulate Red Bull because the pace was just on another level,”
“I don’t think we could have won the race even if we had stayed ahead in the first corner because they could have driven circles around the pit-stops.
“So in the end I think for Lewis’ championship it was damage limitation, as for the constructors [Mercedes are now only one point ahead of Red Bull], Valtteri spinning out Turn 1 was just very painful.”
Mercedes pulled out a shock front row lock-out in qualifying and Hamilton made an impressive getaway, so good in fact that he was side by side with team mate and pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas heading to the first corner. However, Wolf was unhappy with his team’s tactics as Verstappen got in Bottas’ tow, and was able sweep past around the outside to take the lead.
“That should not happen,” said Wolff. “We had two cars in front and seemed to opened up the sea for Max to come around the outside. The spin afterwards when there could have been a third or fourth place is annoying to say the least.”
But he still stressed: “We have to take the positives, Lewis I thought drove a brilliant race with the equipment he was given, holding on in the way he did for P2. That is really the highlight for me today. Now it’s about picking ourselves up.”
