Hamilton wins Mexican Grand Prix ahead of Rosberg

2016 Mexican Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix after a measured drive from pole ahead of rival Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel third.

Despite a scare at the first turn, Hamilton’s victory never looked in doubt throughout the 71 lap race who took the chequered flag almost ten seconds ahead of his team mate.

There was an intense battle for third between Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, with Verstappen given a post-race penalty just minutes before the podium ceremony after a dramatic late incident.

As the lights went out, the two Mercedes got off the line well with Hamilton leading on the run to turn one with Verstappen challenging Rosberg for second.

Hamilton locked up and ran wide, completely missing the first chicane, while Verstappen and Rosberg made wheel-to-wheel contact at the apex of Turn One, with Rosberg running through the inside of Turn Two and regaining position.

Back in the pack, Esteban Gutierrez made contact with Marcus Ericsson into Turn Two, sending the Sauber into Pascal Wehrlein’s Manor and putting the German into the barriers and out on the spot.

The Safety Car was deployed and Red Bull immediately pitted Ricciardo for mediums. The race resumed on lap four, with Hamilton leading from Rosberg, Verstappen and Hulkenberg.

Red Bull pitted Verstappen for medium tyres on lap 13, leaving the two Mercedes rivals alone out front.

Hamilton was the first to make his one and only stop for mediums on lap 17, with Rosberg pitting a handful of laps later, resuming behind his team mate in third as Vettel assumed the lead of the race.

The Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen began to catch the Mercedes, with Verstappen using fresher tyres to reel in his team mate at a rapid rate. Ricciardo moved aside to let Verstappen attempt to catch the leading Mercedes rivals.

Vettel eventually rescinded the lead by making his single stop on lap 32, rejoining sixth behind fellow Ferrari driver Raikkonen. This left Hamilton, Rosberg and Verstappen back at the front of the field.

After a lull in the action with drivers pacing themselves on their final stints, Ferrari opted to bring Raikkonen in again for mediums.

Verstappen used traffic to pressure Rosberg for second and made a late lunge under braking for Turn Four on lap 49, but locked up and ran wide as a result, allowing Rosberg back through.

Ricciardo then pitted for fresh soft tyres, resuming in sixth and quickly dispatching Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India for fifth and setting the fastest lap of the race.

Both Vettel and Ricciardo used the advantage of having fresher tyres than the leaders to good effect, with Vettel reeling in Verstappen while Ricciardo hunted down the pair of them with his soft tyres.

Vettel pressured Verstappen and caused the Red Bull driver to lock up under braking for Turn One and miss the chicane. Verstappen held onto the position, to the fury of Vettel.

Ricciardo then attempted a move on Vettel into Turn Four and Vettel appeared to squeeze the Red Bull under braking, with the two making minor contact and retaining position.

Hamilton ticked off the laps to take his first win at Mexico and to cut the championship lead of his team mate to 19 points.

Verstappen crossed the line in third ahead of a livid Vettel, but in the pre-podium green room, was informed that he had been given a five second-grid penalty for gaining an unfair advantage, dropping him to fifth and promoting Vettel onto the podium.

Ricciardo then took fourth, with Verstappen classified fifth and Raikkonen sixth. Hulkenberg finished seventh despite a late spin after being passed by Raikkonen, with Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez rounding out the points.

2016 Mexican Grand Prix

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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71 comments on “Hamilton wins Mexican Grand Prix ahead of Rosberg”

  1. There’s something off in young Max’s head.

    1. ROS and HAM gaining the same advantage in the first round, no action taken.
      VES taking the advantage, 5sec penalty…
      a little inconsistant huh

      Max was just smart by holding of VET, while hopefully RIC could pas VET

      1. Your list is one name too long. Rosberg did not take off the track to gain advantage, but was squeezed off by Verstappen, after banging wheels when Verstappen could not control his attack and slid wide. The overhead shot shows this very nicely, Rosberg completing the turn following the outer edge, then Verstappen going at him etc. If anyone gained advantage here, it was Verstappen, who was lucky to escape being penalized right there. But stewards usually do let people away with stuff the first turn after the start.
        With Hamilton it’s questionable, one might argue that if he did not overcook it into turn one, Rosberg might have had a go at him. I don’t think Rosberg would be that good, but I am not sure so I don’t make a judgement on this one.

    2. Wasn’t it obvious from the beginning?

    3. I keep waiting for someone to get into a physical altercation with him, but then I remember it isn’t NASCAR……

    4. It makes sense. They were gonna get P4 and P5 anyway.

      He tried slowing Vettel down so that Ricciardo could get past and it almost worked.

  2. I think Vettel is going to get a 5 second penalty of moving in the breaking zone.

    1. He could argue he moved to avoid hitting Max, so he may not get penalized.

      1. NAh, he was not close enough to Max, and more importantly he moved TOWARDS max when he moved over on Daniel @velocityboy

    2. Suprised they did not issue it right away…

    3. If Max gave him the position he deserved, he wouldn’t have closed the door on Ricciardo. Case closed.

      1. You wanna see raw racing or? Maybe it’s an idea to go buy a miniature train set and let it go round for 70 laps….

        1. I wanna see fair racing…

          1. So whey you watch football you also rather see everyone making a foul being sent off right away? Come on!

          2. So when you watch football you also rather see everyone making a foul being sent off right away? Come on!

      2. you win as a team loose as a team :)

      3. That together with the fact that he left RIC a cars width might save him though.

    4. I guess the stewards kinda see that vettels harsh move was a result of THEM failing to enforce verstappen accepting their ruling and thereby ruining vettels race.

  3. Cheap move at Turn 1, Lewis!

    1. Lewis is dirty, desperate, and a cheat. Bernie was right, but instead of walls they need polystyrene barriers like they have in the first chicane at Monza.

  4. Love to see this happening, a 19 year old kid, shaking the complete F1 show around.
    Controversing in every way.

    Smart move to help RIC by holding up Vettel.

    Curious what RedBull will do with the Moving under braking move from Vettel against RIC.

    Cry baby vs. Kid with balls…. Love it :)

    1. He sure manages to entertain us.

      Even Mercedes can’t deny it: https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/792823658213416962

      1. lol @ Mercedes, good one :)

  5. Yes turn 1 was anticlimax just go offroad and your fine. Just gravel or sand only way to keep it honest.

    1. ‘Member Senna being disqualified for cutting a chicane in walking speed after being stationary for 20 seconds?

  6. I’m fed up of Verstappen and Vettel’s childish antics. They both deserved penalties for their stupidity.

    1. @ultimateuzair
      Max slightly less so than Seb, but yeah, I agree with you. I can get behind the reasons for Verstappen’s penalty (although it’s blatantly inconsistent considering they let Lewis get away with that at the start), but if they don’t penalise Vettel, I wonder why they bother writing down rules at all. They already failed to apply a slam dunk penalty on Vettel’s grid position after he blocked Hamilton in qualifying, where the emergent pattern seems to be that it doesn’t count if you blame someone else and are really sorry afterwards.
      I just don’t know what to say anymore.

      1. +1
        it is all about inconsistancy

      2. But i think its just wrong to make the case max shouldn’t get a penalty because lewis didn’t. The point is lewis SHOULD get a penalty for that. because that he gained an advantage is just plain obvious, and a big one at those.

        1. Lewis did not gain a lasting advantage. He backed off. And let Rosburg catch up.
          There was no one directly challenging him when he made his mistake.

  7. Max is an idiot! Plain and simple!

  8. Why does VES get a penalty for over cooking it into a corner late into the race while HAM does the same thing on the first lap and

    1. Would have been cool if everyone just followed Hamilton by cutting the corner in the first lap :-)

    2. Well, to be fair, Lewis did not seem to gain any advantage over Nico by gaining time in going off, whereas Verstappen had a clearly bigger margin to the eye after he returned to the track to the chagrin of Vettel.

      1. He didn’t? He was more than one second ahead!
        Although after the safety car it was back to normal.
        I think they didn’t hand out the penalty because of the safety car, more than anything.

        1. 1 sec? so Ros and Ver didnt kiss eachother and braking problems didnt effect them? did you watch it?

      2. Lewis was doing it all by himself and did not gain a position while Verstappen did it in direct competition with another driver to gain an unfair advantage. Those are the rules.

    3. Ros went off track as well, so ham didnt gain anything, plus, first lap cold tyres, many people had issue under breaking!

      1. Hamilton didn’t gain anything on Rosberg, but it did get an advantage over the rest of the field. In my opinion he should have been penalised.
        Rosberg could also have been penalised although is his case the reason he left the track was that he got hit by Verstappen.

      2. Ros was shoved off track by Max. Ham decided not take the corner have locking up and cut the track.. big difference.

  9. Why did Kimi not investigated for ruining Hulk’s race ?

    1. Did they even touch? I thought Hulk spun by himself in desperation.

      1. It’s because of Kimi’s pressure he had spun. So Kimi should get a penalty, Don’t you know the rules ?

    2. Maybe for the same reason why Hulk did not get a penalty for “ruining” (he still finished in P 7) his race. He didn’t affect anybody elses’ race…

  10. Why should verstappen have given the place while he was in front before and after the incident? If so why hamilton wasn’t penalised for his mistake on the first lap? Furthermore Vettel clearly squeezed ricciardo and for a little more both were out. I don’t get those inconsistencies.

  11. Why does VES get a penalty for over cooking it into a corner late into the race while HAM does the same thing on the first lap and he gets no penalty. F1 is too random.

    1. Because of first lap cold tires and the fact that Verstappen could have returned to the circuit before the second apex but decided against to stay ahead where as HAM came into the corner so tight (with cold tires and a charging pack behind) that would be impossible.

    2. Pretty much that @cswilly. And then they tell us they will now penalise the “verstappen move” i.e. moving under braking/in the braking zone and the very next race Vettel does it and gets rewarded by beeing fasttracked to the podium?

      That does not sit right. Back to the famous FIA inconsistent stewarding.

  12. Whining Vettel, not able to win on the track. Max didn’t do anything stupid although it could be part of the investigation. I wonder if the FIA will look into earlier of-tracks in the race as well…

  13. LOL will Ferrari still whine about moving under braking

    Great to so such passionate racing for the podium. Max’s penalty is probably correct but can’t see why it was ok in te 1st round to gain advantage cutting the corner.

  14. So tell me the difference between Hamilton going off at turn one under pressure from rosberg and Max and gaining a lot of time, and Max going off at turn one under pressure from Seb and gaining a little time. Im not saying that Max didnt deserve the penalty but so did Hamilton and to have consistency in the rules. The F1 stewards and rules are complete joke and probably the worst stewards in motorsport. As a Canadian whos only broadcaster is tsn which takes the sky f1 feed i am getting really annoyed at their british bias, Im not a fan of Hamilton or Rosberg but honestly Martin and Crofty didnt even touch on the subject of penalty for Hamilton but when Max did it Martin was straight for the penalty.

    1. If Ham gets a penalty for that, then ROS deserved a penalty in Montreal 2014 for doing the same thing. Surely, had there been no safety car, HAM would have reduced the gap. Besides, no one was besides him so what is the point? Verstappen’s case was different, because had the lock up not happened, Seb might have had a better run down to turn 4 which he didn’t get….

      1. Rosberg had to give his position back in Russia 2014 and had to pit. If Hamilton tried to honestly make the corner, his right front tyre would have had a square shape instead of a round shape. Hamilton’s race would have been over.

        1. I certainly think that it shows the inconsistency of the stewarding.

    2. Sky is completely into the British drivers, will defend them all the way, even if the move was the same.

      Max deserves the penalty, be so did ROS and HAM.

  15. Yet another race that delivered little in the way of interest or excitement.
    Thank goodness I was watching on my PC and could relegate this to a small window, with the sound off, while I watched the NFL matches.
    I’ve been following F1 since 1958 through various peaks and troughs but it’s never been as dull as this before.

  16. wow, just wasted 2 hours watching a race only for some OAPs to change the result
    wish they would be consistent, HAM clearly gained a big advantage on lap 1, OK so safety car came to his rescue
    I GIVE UP !

  17. Verstappen was wrong for jumping the corner and gaining an advantage, the penalty was deserved. He even got a radio message telling him he should probably give it back so Red Bull agreed.

    Though I thought Hamilton should have got a penalty for the same thing on lap 1. I don’t agree with this first few laps getting a pass stuff – he cut the corner and gained a huge advantage, just as Verstappen did. So either it’s wrong or it’s not.

  18. Michael Brown (@)
    30th October 2016, 21:10

    Maybe I’ll save the race for Vettel’a radio

  19. Congrats to Lewis…victory no. 51 to tie for 2nd all time. Staggering.

    1. Lewis has been driving great ever since Toto took away his Snapchat after Japan.

  20. Max shouldn’t have had a penalty, too many drivers have got away with cutting the corner and staying ahead, including both Lewis and Nico R on lap 1 of the very same GP, each stayed ahead of their respective rivals by fully leaving the race track. Also remember Rosberg in Canada doing just the same and retaining the race lead?

    Track designers should make the route back to track slower than actually using the track, simple as.

  21. @rocketpanda thing is that hamilton didn’t really gain any advantage as the safety car came out almost immediately after so in the end him running off didn’t really gain him anything.

    1. Opening your brakes to save the tyres is gaining an advantage, a pretty big one as well. Normally he would have destroyed his tyres and fallen back to the end of the field like Rosberg in Russia 2014.

  22. love the interview at Sky from Verstappen.
    Lovely!!

    proud to be Dutch anyway!

  23. Many are complaining Hamilton did what Verstappen did, however, I disagree. Hamilton was not losing his position whereas Max losing to Vettel was imminent. More so, he refused to give back the position and deliberately tried to back up Sebastian into Daniel.

    1. It is about ROS… not HAM

    2. Absolutely. But they messed with the golden boy, and Hamilton won, so people will complaint about it.

  24. Am I the only one who thinks the Sainz incident with Alonso in Mexico is identical to what Rosberg did in Spain with Hamilton?

    The only difference I see is how the actions of Sainz and Rosberg were handled.

    1. Actually there is a small difference that Sainz had no idea Alonso was there while Rosberg did it deliberately.

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