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Verstappen Wins to Stretch F1 Lead

  • Posted Nov 8, 2021 09:42 by Rhea Soco
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INTERNATIONAL: Red Bull's Max Verstappen has celebrated a dominant win in the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, to surge 19 points, clear of Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One championship with four races remaining. Seven-times world champion Hamilton was second for Mercedes, holding off Red Bull's Sergio Perez who became the first Mexican to stand on his home podium at a jubilant Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Red Bull closed the gap to Mercedes in the constructors' standings to one point. The championship leader seized the lead into the first corner from third on the grid, after going three abreast with the two Mercedes, and gave Hamilton no chance to hit back once an initial safety car period was out of the way.

Lewis Hamilton, says, "It just shows how fast their car was when Sergio is that close behind me, and was able to follow that closely. He did a great job, so he was applying that pressure and just kept going but...yeah, I really enjoyed the race still."

Perez was hoisted high on the shoulders of his mechanics as he waved the Mexican flag to salute the crowd before the podium ceremony. He says, "It's unbelievable, obviously I wanted more you know, today i wanted to get the one-two for the team, it was pretty close but i didn't have a single chance, you know, to get through but still i gave my full heart, you know, for these people, I could actually hear them when I was going through here, it was pretty, pretty enjoyable."

Verstappen took the chequered flag 16.555 seconds clear of Hamilton to seal his ninth victory of the season, third in Mexico and 19th of his career. He says, "It's incredible, I mean, of course having Checo as a teammate, coming here to Mexico is amazing, but even before that already, you know, all the time the fans here have been incredible, they love Formula One so it's really, really nice to be here."

The safety car was deployed until lap four after a collision at the start between Haas' Mick Schumacher and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, while McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo tagged the back of Valtteri Bottas's Mercedes and lost his front wing.

PHOTO: HIGHLIGHTS FROM F1 MEXICO GP, SOUNDBITES FROM TOP THREE FINISHERS

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