Title beckons

Although Lewis Hamilton raced to victory at the Mexican Grand Prix, marking a 100th win for Mercedes as a constructor, he still has to wait until Sunday’s US Grand Prix to see if he will be crowned the six-time world champion.

The Mercedes driver needed to finish 14 points clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas to take the overall championship, but the Finn’s third-place finish meant Hamilton has to wait until the next race in Austin, Texas.

Notching a sixth championship title would put Hamilton just one title away from all-time leader Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton started third on the grid behind the Ferrari pair Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had originally qualified in pole but was handed a three-place grid penalty for ignoring warning flags.

After being forced off the track with Verstappen at the start of the race, Hamilton worked his way up the grid and lasted 48 laps on his second set of tires to record a second victory in Mexico.

Hamilton said: “It was a surprise! We’ve really struggled here for quite some time and we came into the weekend expecting it to be very difficult. We really thought we would be on the back foot, but we kept our heads down, we kept working hard and it all came together in the end.

“I had a crazy first couple of corners. I was pushed on the grass at the start and then Max hit me. It was not easy to recover from that afterwards – I had a massive chunk of my floor missing, so the rear end was moving a lot and I had to really change the dynamic of how I was driving. I don’t know how I managed to keep it going, but I did. The guys also did a fantastic job with the strategy – we stopped pretty early, and honestly, I thought it might have been too early, but it all worked out in the end. I really wanted to deliver for the fans. They were all out there during the drivers’ parade supporting me, so I really wanted to give them a good performance and I’m so grateful we won.”

Vettel and Bottas completed the podium, while Leclerc, finished fourth.

The Red Bull duo of Alexander Albon and Verstappen were fifth and sixth respectively,

Hamilton’s now needs just four more points to wrap a third consecutive title.

Mercedes-AMG team CEO Toto Wolff added: “It was a strong race from Valtteri as well and I’m happy to see how confident he is when he races, actually pushing Lewis hard. They are really benefiting from each other, they look at each other’s data and both of them have really grown with the team.”