Hamilton's gap to Verstappen continues to grow as Verstappen now has 19 points
Lewis Hamilton has little time to save the Formula 1 drivers' championship from Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
Verstappen won Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix, his ninth victory in 18 races this year. The championship has never been won by a driver who has won so many races in one year. The trend is not likely to be reversed by the Dutchman, as it stands now.
Verstappen leads by 19 points, moving closer to a clear victory with four races remaining. Hamilton, whose Mercedes team was outclassed in Mexico has only won once in the eight previous races.
Verstappen stated that it was "of course looking good", but "but it also has the potential to turn around really quickly."
The comment's factual nature shouldn't fool you. This comment should not be taken as a detriment to the fact that Verstappen made it for the first time in his career.
Hamilton is, however, realistic about his chances to win the record eighth title in this year's race.
He said that there were still four races to go, but 19 points was a lot. He's won a lot. We would be in serious trouble if they carried that over to the next one."
Verstappen won by 16 seconds over Hamilton, and was now in a league all his own.
A disadvantage taken away
Verstappen's win was anticipated before the teams arrived in Mexico. Red Bull has been strong in Mexico even though Mercedes held a substantial car advantage at most tracks.
Mercedes was in a position to win the race for a time over the weekend.
Red Bull was dominant through practice, but it made a lot of mistakes in qualifying. Mercedes won the race. Hamilton was joined by Valtteri Bottas on pole with a great lap.
Verstappen could only qualify third. His final session was ruined by not having the tyres work on his first lap and then the Red Bulls running over Yuki Tsunoda, the sister Alpha Tauri team, on their final laps.
Mercedes had the chance to win the race with a front-row lockout, provided they could keep Verstappen at bay through the first three corners. They couldn't.
Bottas did a great job qualifying and made a quick work of the first laps of the race.
Mercedes had devised a plan to allow Hamilton to follow his team-mate on long runs to the first corner. Bottas would drive Hamilton, according to the plan. This will limit the chance of Verstappen trying for the slipstream.
The plan was quickly thrown out of control. First, Bottas started worse than Hamilton, even though he was on a more grippier racing line. Hamilton couldn't get in behind his teammate as he had almost immediately a part of his car with him.
Hamilton was on the inside and Hamilton on the Mercedes, so the Finn had to make sure Verstappen couldn't get along with him on the outside. He left a gap that Verstappen filled in only too happily.
They were now three-wide as they headed towards the first corner. Verstappen slowed down on the outside. This was a far better move than the Mercedes drivers could make. They had no confidence in their cars as they steered into the corner after struggling all weekend. Verstappen was at the grippier section of the track and simply swept to the outside for the lead.
This was the final win.
"Valtteri opened the door for Max"
Mercedes is a team that takes care not to throw each other under the bus. However, Hamilton and Toto Wolff made a comment about it after the race.
Hamilton stated that Hamilton was "covering my side of track trying to make certain no-one could get up the inside." "I was trying to keep Red Bull behind me and looking in my mirrors, I saw that Valtteri would also be doing the exact same. He left Max the door open."
Wolff stated that it is difficult to see behind the cars from the mirrors. He would have been stopped if the cars had been further to his left.
However, Verstappen was still alongside and had much to do to make it ahead. Hamilton described it as "a massive job braking into Turn One".
The decisive move: Verstappen was quick to get past both Mercedes and the start
Hamilton is out of options
Mercedes could have held off Verstappen if they had kept the one-two cars on the first lap. Despite his pace advantage, having two cars in front gives teams lots of strategic options. The thin air at 2,200m in Mexico City makes it difficult to follow closely and overtake.
Bottas' position on the straight ended that possibility. Mercedes was then made worse by Bottas' spin in the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo between Turns One & Two, and was forced to the rear.
Hamilton was now the only one, sandwiched between Red Bulls. His race soon became about not losing second to Sergio Perez, rather than challenging Verstappen.
Verstappen was just too fast - Hamilton thought his rival had only 0.5secs per lap on him, and he vanished into the distance as he pleased.
Perez was able to pass Hamilton, despite Perez staying out after Hamilton pitted and building an 11-lap offset.
Perez caught Hamilton 12 laps before the finish, but Hamilton drove well enough to keep him in front.
Wolff stated that Lewis was limited by damage. "It was a great drive, but it was really hard to keep on second. The car wasn't good enough to drive for P3 today.
"I expect Brazil to not be like this"
Mercedes expected Mexico to be difficult. Over the next five weekends, the title will be determined over the other four. The fight should be close at all three venues, at least on paper.
Brazil will be Red Bull's happy hunting ground next weekend. Verstappen won the race there last year, last year being the victim of the pandemic. Although Verstappen is the narrow favourite for Interlagos, Mercedes should be able give him a better fight.
Verstappen stated on Sunday that he doesn't believe momentum. "So we must nail every race, which we didn’t do yesterday [in qualifying]. It's possible for things to go wrong quickly, or they can go right. It will be tight and exciting until the very end. This track has been great for us. Brazil will not be the same as it is today, I believe."
Mercedes is expecting the same. But what's causing them concern is not losing to Verstappen at Mexico - that was to be expected. Hamilton's comments about being "grateful" that he had been able to salvage second place - but rather what happened in Austin.
Mercedes was expecting to win this race, but their post-event analysis revealed that Verstappen was 0.2 seconds faster than them. After a series races where the performances seemed to swing in the opposite direction, they couldn't explain why Red Bull had this edge.
Wolff stated, "I'm a fairly realistic person." However, he said that he loves motor racing because it can be anything. We are not going to let the circuit slip away with the mindset that it is.
There are four races left, four wins to be had and four DNFS that could [potentially] be lost. We must continue to fight. We are blessed with a strong team. We have the potential to win in Turkey, where our car performed exceptionally well.
"When you look at mathematical probability, I would prefer to be 19 points ahead than in behind, but it is what is."
It seems that Hamilton must win in Brazil to avoid leaving Sao Paulo without his title chances hanging in the balance. He was also asked if he felt that way.
He stated, "Naturally, I believe we should be winning every race." "We need those extra points in order to try and regain [ground].
"That was my goal going into this race, the previous race, and the one before that. It's just that they are just too fast. "I'm trying to give it all I have, but it's just not enough to keep up with them right now."
