The Champagne and the big trophy in
Mexico City went to Max Verstappen, the Dutchman driving an exemplary race to repeat
his 2017 victory. But while it was a
fifth race win for Verstappen, it was a fifth title win for Lewis Hamilton, the
British driver’s fourth place enough to see him crowned champion with two races
to go, becoming only the third ever driver, behind Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael
Schumacher, to claim five world championships.
Verstappen’s win was arguably the
most polished of his career so far. He was incisive off the line to pip his
pole-sitting team mate Daniel Ricciardo before enjoying a mostly lonely race
out at the front of the field. Sebastian Vettel knew that his chances of
staying in the title hunt were minimal coming into the race. But despite
putting in a fine performance – including executing a terrific move on Hamilton
on lap 39 – to finish second, it wasn’t enough for Vettel to deny Hamilton.
Vettel was joined on the podium by
his team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn having had a mostly quiet afternoon but
doing enough to deny Hamilton a podium finish on his momentous title-winning
day. That left the Mercedes boys to finish fourth and fifth, Hamilton ahead of
Valtteri Bottas, with Hamilton massively dropping his pace towards the race end
to make it home safely and claim the championship.
Some
fine midfield performances saw Nico Hulkenberg take sixth – good news for
Renault on a day when Haas failed to score – Charles Leclerc finish seventh,
while the beleaguered Stoffel Vandoorne was eighth to equal his best
performance of the year. But despite a crushing win for Verstappen to put Red
Bull on top for the first time since Austria, the plaudits today have to go
equally to Hamilton, the British driver now forming part of an exceptionally
rare group of Formula 1 drivers.
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