Ninth place was good enough for Lewis Hamilton to claim a fourth Formula 1 championship at a Mexican Grand Prix dominated by the fallout of first lap contact and won comfortably by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes driver made was hit by Sebastian Vettel on the exit of Turn 3, having lost the lead to the Dutchman at Turn 2, with the contact damaging the front wing of the Ferrari and causing a puncture of the Briton’s right-rear tyre forcing both to pit.
With the greater damage, Hamilton would lose a lot of time, falling to the back of the pack, as the German was able to continue the lap at a reasonable speed before falling to 19th after his stop.
That would mean the two championship contenders had to fight their way through, with Vettel needing at worst a top two to continue the fight on to Brazil, but that wouldn’t happen as he could only manage fourth confirming Lewis as the champion for 2017.
In the race, the incident left Verstappen alone out front as he pulled away from Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Esteban Ocon also made the most to jump up from sixth to third as Kimi Raikkonen slipped back to sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo would make quick progress from 16th following his grid penalty and was up to eighth before the newly installed MGU-H failed on Lap 6, forcing the Australian into a second retirement in a week.
He would be one of four drivers using the Renault power unit to have problems with Nico Hulkenberg also suffering an ERS failure, teammate Carlos Sainz pulled in towards the end and Brendon Hartley would pull over in the same place he did in Qualifying, resulting in the only interruption in the race with a Virtual Safety Car.
That would prove crucial in the battle for third, however, as Ocon had pitted early in response to stops by Force India partner Sergio Perez and Hulkenberg before his failure.
Raikkonen would stay out though, building a gap in the clear air and benefitting from stopping under the VSC, which loses him less time, to claim third which the Finn would maintain until the end.
Most drivers used it as a chance to pit, including Verstappen and Bottas at the front and Hamilton, who had fallen a lap down by that stage, and Vettel as they continued their fight back.
Knowing he needed to finish second, Vettel would switch to Ultrasoft tyres and made his way through the remaining midfield cars but would be 16 seconds behind Raikkonen in fourth at the end.
Ocon was disadvantaged by using Soft tyres and this allowed another big gainer from the VSC, Lance Stroll, to close in but the Canadian would just come up shy as the Force India took fifth with the Williams in sixth.
Home favourite Perez also looked to use the extra pace of the Ultrasoft with a second stop but would run out of laps in seventh, still enough to secure the Silverstone outfit fourth in the Constructor’s standings.
Kevin Magnussen made sure Haas maximised after Renault’s problems in eighth, holding off Hamilton in ninth with the Briton coming out on top in a fun fight with Fernando Alonso late on, with the McLaren driver scoring the final point in 10th.
Felipe Massa would be involved in a punchy battle with Vettel early on but would miss out on points in 11th with Alonso’s teammate Stoffel Vandoorne 12th. Pierre Gasly joined Verstappen as the only Renault-powered cars to finish in 13th with Pascal Wehrlein and Romain Grosjean completing the finishers.
But the stories from Mexico revolved around the current and the future with Hamilton joining Vettel and Alain Prost with four F1 titles Verstappen proving once again why in 10 or so years time he could be up there with him after a commanding victory.
