Verstappen wins 16th race of the season at Mexican GP

Max Verstappen secured his 16th win of the 2023 Formula 1 season after cruising to victory at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The three-time champion was joined on the podium by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

The Dutchman rarely looked under pressure at the front of the field, but it was an eventful race behind him.

There was disappointment for the Mexican fans at turn one on lap one as Sergio Perez made a lightning quick start to challenge Leclerc for the lead, but the Red Bull driver squeezed the Ferrari too much and the two collided, sending Perez bouncing into the run off area.

Perez limped back to the pitlane, and the Red Bull mechanics brought his car into the garage to try to fix it, but the damage was too much.

Leclerc’s front wing also sustained damage in the incident, with his end plate falling off in the middle of a corner a couple of laps later resulting in a virtual safety car.

Hamilton and Lando Norris both struggled with their cars running hot, while Yuki Tsunoda ran wide while trying to make his way through the field, forcing him into an early pitstop.

At the front of the field, Verstappen was the first to stop after reporting degradation on his tyres, while the Ferraris tried to stay out longer.

There was a huge shunt for Kevin Magnussen when his Haas appeared to suffer a suspension failure, sending him at high speed into the crash barrier.

Fluid came out of the car before the Haas caught fire, while the collision resulted in damage to the techpro barrier, with race control initially sending out the safety car before red flagging the race to allow the car to be moved, the track to be cleared and the barrier to be fixed.

Once the scene was clear, it was a standing restart for the 18 remaining drivers. Verstappen eased away at the front while Hamilton and Carlos Sainz put Leclerc under pressure, but the Monegasque driver did enough to hold on to second initially, but Hamilton soon found a way through.

Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri fought hard over seventh, with the two banging wheels, but both remained pointing in the right direction. However, one lap later to two battled again, and this time Tsunoda went spinning into the run off area, dropping him down towards the rear of the field.

Having started towards the rear of the grid after a disappointing qualifying, Norris fought his way through the field, and late on found himself passing his teammate and Daniel Ricciardo as he climbed up to sixth, before looking to close to gap to George Russell in fifth.

Russell defended well to try to keep Norris behind, but the McLaren had too much pace as he powered past the Mercedes.

After Fernando Alonso retired due to damage sustained from debris, there was further disappointment for Aston Martin as Lance Stroll tangled with Valtteri Bottas, leaving the Canadian’s car with too much damage to continue.

Ricciardo tried to find a way past Russell in the closing stages, but the Mercedes driver did just enough to keep the Australian behind, but it did mean Ricciardo picked up his first points since returning to F1.

Logan Sargeant was a late retirement, pulling into the pits from 12th position on the final lap of the race.

Provisional classification:

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

5. Lando Norris (McLaren)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri)

8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

9. Alex Albon (Williams)

10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

11. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

13. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

14. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

15. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)

DNF:

Logan Sargeant (Williams)

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

Sergio Perez (Red Bull)