Verstappen makes historic 14th win in season at 2022 Mexico GP

MANILA: After an intriguing strategic struggle at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix — his 14th win of the season — beating off Mercedes opponent Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

The Dutchman currently holds the record for the most victories in a single Formula One season, breaking Michael Schumacher's (2004) and Sebastian Vettel's (2013) previous mark of 13.

The Red Bull driver, who secured his second world championship in the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, also surpassed Lewis Hamilton's previous mark of 413 points in a season, moving on to 416 points, just 31 points shy of Mercedes' overall tally for 2022.

With P2 in the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton came the closest to securing his first victory of the year. If he had won, this would have continued a streak that has seen him win at least once in every season since his debut in 2007.

His second P2 in a straight and eighth podium of the year helped him move up to fifth in the drivers' standings, 15 points behind his Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Since the Canadian Grand Prix, which took place 12 races ago, only Verstappen and Charles Leclerc have outscored the seven-time world champion.

Sergio Perez's home-country qualifying was plagued by an electrical problem, but he still managed to finish third in the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Although the Mexican was not in contention for the victory he so desperately wants, a second podium finish in a row here delighted his devoted supporters and his father, who was having the time of his life celebrating.

With only two races remaining, the solid point total puts him back in second place in the drivers' standings, five points behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

With his Red Bull team opting to use a soft-medium tire strategy, Verstappen won the race by about 15 seconds over Hamilton. Hamilton was left to wonder why Mercedes switched from their starting pair of medium tires to hard tires.

Perez gave the home crowd something to cheer about in third after making a late challenge to Hamilton, while Russell, who started behind his teammate, finished well behind in fourth.

A stop for soft tires with two laps remaining at least produced the fastest lap, but Russell was also dissatisfied with his strategy and kept requesting Mercedes to pit again and get rid of the hard tires, which had failed to give the Silver Arrows a chance to win the race in the closing stages.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished the race in fifth and sixth place, respectively, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren. This was despite the McLaren driver receiving a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri earlier in the race.

After Fernando Alonso's agonizing late loss, Esteban Ocon finished eighth. Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo, who was unable to match his qualifying pace, completed the top points roster.

For an early, aggressive move on Aston Martin opponent Lance Stroll, AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly received a five-second penalty and ultimately lost out on a point by just half a second, with Alex Albon finishing 12th for Williams.

Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo crossed the finish line first, followed by the Haas cars driven by Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen and the Aston Martin duo of Vettel and Stroll, who were wearing touching tribute helmets to the late Dietrich Mateschitz.

With Tsunoda quitting after briefly becoming airborne in his collision with Ricciardo, and the aforementioned Alonso grinding to a halt with an engine issue late on, Nicholas Latifi was the penultimate finisher in his Williams.

“Of course, [the start> helped me out a lot for the rest of the race to stay in the lead after Turn 1. We were also on a different strategy to the cars around us, but [it’s> an incredible result,” recalled race winner Verstappen.

“The pace of the car was really nice; we had to look after our tyres because [of the> very long stint on the mediums, but we made it work. It’s been an incredible year so far. We are definitely enjoying it and we will try to go for more.”

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which will take place at Interlagos from November 11 to 13, will use F1's Sprint format for the third and final time this year as the second-to-last race for 2022.

The 2023 Formula One season will have a record-breaking 24 races, beginning on March 5 in Bahrain and ending on November 26 in Abu Dhabi. For a Saturday night race, Las Vegas will serve as the halfway point and will welcome back China and Qatar.

The customary summer break will still take place in August, but due to changes in race schedules, Hungary and Belgium will now race back-to-back at the end of July, and once the 2023 Formula One season resumes, the Netherlands will be paired with Italy.

Pre-season testing will take place over three days, from February 23 to 25, at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Photos from Formula One

Also read: Verstappen beats Hamilton, Leclerc in 2022 US GP as Red Bull clinches team crown