DHL Fastest Lap as consolation for Hamilton after missing out on victory in Mexico

After securing the 105th pole position of his F1 career, victory in Mexico seemed within Lewis Hamilton’s grasp, but his hopes of taking the win were dashed right at the start. As the race got under way, he was attacked on the outside of Turn 1 by Charles Leclerc, who was on a charge.

Hamilton managed to fend off the first attack, but the second, in Turn 4, was a far less civilized affair. Leclerc positioned himself on the outside as he squared up to Hamilton. They both braked too late and failed to take the corner. Leclerc took a shortcut through the grass and rejoined the track in the lead while Hamilton pulled back onto the asphalt before the apex but was overtaken by Max Verstappen.

Leclerc subsequently received a five-second penalty for ‘gaining an advantage’. As a result, he lost the lead to Verstappen after his first pit stop but remained ahead of Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas damaged his right front suspension on lap 44, prompting a virtual safety car, so Hamilton seized the opportunity for a second pit stop. In view of damage to the Tecpro barrier, the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period was subsequently changed to a red flag, giving all drivers the chance to change tires.

At the restart, Hamilton immediately shot past Leclerc off the line and then attacked Verstappen from the slipstream. The Red Bull driver shut the door very firmly but fairly, forcing Hamilton to slot in behind. Hamilton put pressure on Verstappen over the first few laps after the restart and set the DHL Fastest Lap of 1:19.268 on lap 50.

However, Hamilton was soon forced to focus on cooling the SF-26 because of the high altitude, so victory in Mexico went to Verstappen with Hamilton second while Kimi Antonelli in third place became the youngest world champion in F1 history.

“First of all, congratulations to Kimi (Antonelli) on winning the World Championship,” said Hamilton. “It’s a huge achievement that he deserves and I’m happy for him and his team. For us today, it was good to see the pace we had. Everyone has worked hard to improve the car, and we’re seeing that progress on track, which is encouraging. We’ve come away with good points, but I wanted more from the race and felt we had the pace for a win.”