Max Verstappen after his 74th Grand Prix victory: “The race should be called the Maxico GP!”

Which driver other than Max Verstappen could have held off a furious Lewis Hamilton at the end of the eventful Mexican Grand Prix? A Hamilton who was driving a Ferrari that was faster than Max’s Red Bull Racing car on the day.

But here’s the thing: catching up in Mexico is one thing, overtaking is another, and Verstappen handled it extremely cleverly, right from the start when he left Hamilton in his wake without a second thought. Of course, the Brit immediately raised the alarm via the rumour mill, but the FIA stewards looked into the situation and ruled that it did not warrant a penalty.

Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg agrees with the stewards: “Hamilton was never ahead of Verstappen, so Max was perfectly entitled to spread out a little.”

The tussle between Leclerc and Hamilton resulted in a five-second penalty for the Monegasque driver, which he served in the pits during his tyre change; Verstappen took the opportunity to move into the lead. He didn’t relinquish the lead after the restart (the race was interrupted due to a serious accident involving Valtteri Bottas), nor did he do so at the subsequent restart following a late safety car period (after the collision between Piastri and Lindblad).

Max said: “Everyone knows our starts haven’t been great this season. But today we managed to get off to a reasonably decent start every time. That was absolutely crucial for today’s victory.”

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“To be honest, I wouldn’t have expected that before the race. The first start made my race a bit easier, then there was that Ferrari duel, which put me in a good position against Hamilton. After that, it got a bit more gruelling.”

“Charles pulled away from me. I couldn’t keep up with him. But I managed to stay about five seconds behind. In the end, that was exactly the gap I needed to move up after Charles’s penalty.”

“After that, Leclerc was right behind me, but in Mexico you can’t follow too closely because the car overheats quickly. Leclerc had to ease off to cool his car down.”

“Then I saw the safety car coming straight out of the final corner and realised I couldn’t make it back to the pits. I thought: ‘This can’t be happening!’, because that would probably have been the end of my hopes of victory.”

“Then, however, the red flag came out because of Bottas’s crash, which reset everything to zero. I was a bit worried because our starts haven’t been great this year, but luckily they were actually good twice today, and that paved the way for me right to the end.”

“But it wasn’t made easy for me. I mean, Lewis was right on my tail; it was basically one qualifying lap after another right up to the chequered flag. Don’t make a mistake! It’s lovely to win after all that.”

So Max Verstappen has now secured his sixth victory at the Autódromo in Mexico. The Dutchman laughs: “Yes, they should start calling the race the Maxico Grand Prix! That would be great. I love being here. I love the city, I love the surroundings, I love the fans, but I’ve no idea why things often go so well here.”

Incidentally, Max Verstappen has moved up to second place in the World Championship, ahead of Hamilton, Russell and Leclerc.

A clever mind has worked it out: if the season had started in Barcelona, Kimi Antonelli would be leading the World Championship by six points ahead of Verstappen today.

Red Bull Racing has found its stride, though unfortunately a bit late.