Formula 1 2018 Mexican Grand Prix

The Mexican Grand Prix winner was involved in a succession of incidents at the start of the year, culminating in crashing out of practice and missing qualifying in Monaco, where Red Bull was dominant. He reacted badly to suggestions he needed to change his approach but has won twice and scored seven more podiums in the 13 races since. Read Also: How Verstappen’s dominance stole ...

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Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggled with their tyres at the Mexico City race on Sunday, which left them unable to challenge the Red Bull and Ferrari cars ahead. With those difficulties coming just a week after similar troubles in Austin, when Mercedes did not race its spacer either, it prompted suggestions that the team may have suffered without the extra help from its ...

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Horner stressed that the unique conditions in Mexico put Renault on a par with its rivals Mercedes and Ferrari, allowing the team to take advantage of its strong chassis. Read Also: How Verstappen’s dominance stole Hamilton’s thunder "Credit where credit's due," said Horner. "Renault have provided us with an engine this weekend in these conditions that is competitive ...

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The Belgian has endured some torrid times in recent months and is switching to Formula E after finding himself without a drive at the end of this season. Read Also: Mexican Grand Prix driver ratings But a strong performance in Mexico, where he was able to do a 57-lap stint on supersofts without mistakes, helped deliver his first points since the Azerbaijan Grand ...

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F1 race director Charlie Whiting's directive will not be aimed specifically at the design used by Mercedes on its rear wheels, where it has deployed cooling holes that some have suggested could have aerodynamic benefits. Mercedes chose not to race the design in the United States Grand Prix, fearing that Ferrari might submit a protest after the race. Read Also: Analysis: How wheel ...

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The unique high-altitude demands of Mexico, where teams struggle to keep temperatures of engines and brakes under control, was the perfect proving ground for the new disc that will be made available to all customers in 2019. Read Also: Tech analysis: F1 teams chase 'fantasy' limits as brake discs go extreme F1's brake suppliers have long balanced out increasing the number ...

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Hamilton drew level with Juan Manuel Fangio on five championships by securing the 2018 crown on Sunday in Mexico. The Mercedes driver pulled clear of Vettel in the last few races, having been neck-and-neck with the German through the first half of the season. Read Also: The 10 moments that decided the 2018 F1 title "Through the year there were a lot of testing times for ...

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VERSTAPPEN’S SLEEPLESS TRIUMPH Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrates on the podium Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images Max Verstappen admitted after missing out on pole position to Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo that he had been disappointed – and he confessed to a sleepless Saturday night as he gathered his thoughts for the challenge ahead. But ...

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Ricciardo, who will be leaving Red Bull at the end of the year to join Renault and will be replaced by Toro Rosso driver Gasly, retired from the Mexican Grand Prix while fighting off Sebastian Vettel for second place late on. His exit from the race marked the Aussie's sixth retirement in the past 11 grands prix. “I don't think 'frustration' is the word anymore,” Ricciardo told TV crews ...

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A member of the Williams crew was knocked to the ground when Stroll departed his pit stall after his second pitstop at Mexico City, but escaped uninjured. The stewards ruled that the car was "released unsafely" and "in a manner endangering team personnel". Their statement added: "The stewards determined that the entire pitstop sequence was complete and that the mechanic being struck was as a ...

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Hamilton sealed his fifth world title in the Mexican Grand Prix, and he currently has 71 wins to his name, and another two years on his deal with Mercedes. Read Also: The 10 moments that decided the 2018 F1 title "For Lewis now, with five titles, unbelievable," said 2016 world champion Rosberg, in a message of congratulations he posted on his YouTube channel after the ...

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Vettel needed to win at Mexico City with Hamilton eighth or lower in order to keep the F1 title battle alive. Though the Ferrari driver beat his rival on the day - finishing second as Mercedes struggled and Hamilton came home fourth - it was not enough to prolong the championship fight. "It's a horrible moment," Vettel admitted. "You put a lot of work in and even if you saw it coming - I ...

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Hamilton started third and passed Daniel Ricciardo off the line, but neither he nor teammate Valtteri Bottas were competitive on race pace as they struggled to make their tyres last. Fourth place was ultimately enough for Hamilton to seal the title, but it marked his worst result since July's Austrian Grand Prix, and he'd crossed the line over a minute and 18 seconds behind race winner Max ...

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Poleman Daniel Ricciardo was swamped by teammate Verstappen and Hamilton at the start and Verstappen went side-by-side with Hamilton to take the lead. Verstappen breezed clear to a dominant victory ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen as Hamilton slipped to fourth at the finish, but that was enough to clinch the championship with two races to go. Hamilton went into ...

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Rich Energy failed in a bid to buy Force India earlier this year, and the drink company's CEO William Storey was in the Austin paddock last weekend. He held a meeting with Steiner in the paddock on Sunday morning and was also seen in conversation with Williams and McLaren. Four days later, Haas announced the new title sponsorship deal for 2019 and confirmed its cars would be painted in the ...

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The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen fill the front row, with title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel immediately behind them. Red Bull boss Christian Horner fears that the Mercedes and Ferrari could get the jump on his drivers on the long run to the first corner, and Wolff agrees that there could be some drama at the front of the field. “The grid has the ...

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Although Red Bull has been fastest all weekend, and has secured its first front row lock-out of the turbo hybrid era, it is aware that its power deficit could leave it exposed on the blast away from the grid. That is why Horner thinks it may make sense for his drivers to work together to hold back Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who are starting right behind them. Speaking to Sky about ...

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It's been a remarkable week at the Shell House. Day one saw the unveiling of an exclusive piece of art created by Mexican street artist Seher One, signed and revealed by Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, who spent the afternoon interacting with local media and influencers, testing the Shell House simulators, and chatting with Motorsport.com's Julia Piquet. On day two, we learned about ...

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After Bottas was forced to stop on track in the Saturday morning session, Mercedes had to change his power unit, fitting one that was already in the pool of available components and was raced in Austin. “The failure we have seen on Valtteri’s engine is a failure we haven’t seen for many years,” said Wolff. “You can call it an unusual failure, with mileage where it shouldn’t have ...

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With Pirelli’s fastest hypersoft tyre proving fragile in Mexico, Force India felt it better to avoid being forced to start on it so went for the harder compounds in qualifying. Although the team did not make it in to Q3 because of the tactic, Ocon still thinks it was the right thing to do after he ended up in 11th spot with free choice of compound for the race. “It is not great I would ...

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Hartley’s F1 career is under threat with ongoing speculation linking Nissan e.dams Formula E driver Alexander Albon to the second Toro Rosso seat. His team boss Franz Tost said on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix that Hartley needed to do more to keep his drive. Asked if the aerodynamic upgrade Hartley has this weekend could facilitate the sort of form Toro Rosso is ...

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This week at the Shell House in downtown Mexico City, Motorsport.com has been learning all about the different aspects of the partnership between Shell and Scuderia Ferrari. But, of course, the most important part of that relationship has to be Shell's innovation when it comes to the fuels and lubricants used by the team. After qualifying, Motorsport.com had a unique chance to visit the Shell ...

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FIA race director Charlie Whiting had instructed all drivers that if they went off track at Turn 8, the rapid esses in the middle of the lap, they needed to return to the track to the right of a fluorescent yellow kerb to ensure they rejoined safely. Stroll failed to do that in final practice. He was called to the stewards for failing to follow the race director's instruction, but no further ...

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Red Bull has been the class of the field in Mexico this weekend, topping every session and locking out the front row of the grid as Daniel Ricciardo edged out Max Verstappen. But with the Milton Keynes-based team having endured a run of race ending failures this season – and Verstappen being stopped by an hydraulics issue on Friday – Vettel thinks that the result is far from certain. "We ...

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Though Red Bull filled the Mexico City front row with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, the substantial advantage it held in Friday practice was reduced on Saturday - with third-placed Hamilton within 0.135 seconds of the top spot and Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari a further 0.076s back. But Hamilton insisted the Austrian team's cars had still been out of reach in the pole ...

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Max Verstappen had set the pace for most of the weekend, but lost out to his teammate in Q3 as Red Bull claimed its first qualifying 1-2 of the hybrid era that started in 2014. “It was mighty, it’s our first front row lockout since Austin 2013,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “A great performance by both drivers, but wow, what a lap by Daniel to come from nowhere, really. "To unleash ...

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Verstappen held provisional pole after the first runs in Q3 but failed to improve on his second lap and was pipped to pole by teammate Daniel Ricciardo. After dominating practice, Verstappen revealed he has been battling a peculiar rear-locking problem since Friday afternoon and said "the whole qualifying was crap" as a result. "It was just not good," he said. "I was struggling the whole ...

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Alonso qualified in 12th position, his best qualifying result since the Singapore Grand Prix, splitting the Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. Although delighted with the result, the Spaniard admitted he was left with a "bittersweet taste" about his lap. "It was one of those days when I finished the lap and thought it was a shame because it wasn't a good lap," said Alonso. "I ...

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Ricciardo overhauled teammate Max Verstappen on the final runs in qualifying to take his second pole of the season. Hamilton was quickest on hypersofts in the opening phase of qualifying but Verstappen had the edge on ultrasofts in Q2 and took that momentum into Q3 to hold provisional pole after the first runs. His 1m14.785s was almost two tenths clear of Vettel, while Hamilton lost time in ...

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Bottas's Mercedes ground to a halt with a hydraulic problem with 15 minutes remaining. Team boss Toto Wolff suggested at the end of the session that this could lead to an engine swap, which Mercedes has now confirmed. Bottas was running a different engine this weekend to the one he had in last weekend's United States Grand Prix. He will now switch back to his Austin engine. As this ...

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Gutierrez was dropped by Haas after the 2016 season and his only race outings since have been sporadic appearances in Formula E and IndyCar. However, he has retained a link to F1 by joining Mercedes as a simulator driver and has attended some races with the team. Gutierrez would not explicitly confirm a Williams bid but told Motorsport.com at his home grand prix in Mexico that "there are ...

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The Red Bull driver, whose hydraulic problem yesterday was caused by two wires rubbing together that caused a hole in a pipe, completed a clean sweep of practice by setting a best time of 1m16.385s with three minutes remaining using hypersoft Pirellis. Despite complaining his front tyres were not up to temperature on that lap, this was enough to give him top spot, and he subsequently improved ...

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Race director Charlie Whiting outlined the new policy in revised race notes sent to all the teams on Saturday, following yesterday afternoon's drivers' briefing. Whiting explained: "If a driver crosses the kerb on the exit of Turn 11 during qualifying and, as a result, no part of the car remains in contact with the red and white section of the kerb, the laptime of the driver concerned will be ...

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Toro Rosso introduced a new front wing and floor, along with some minor bodywork tweaks, on Pierre Gasly’s car in the United States last weekend but opted not to persevere with it because of limited dry running.  The update is on Hartley’s car in Mexico, where Gasly has a grid penalty, and the New Zealander was extremely positive about its impact after lapping sixth-fastest in Friday ...

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Ocon is poised to lose his Racing Point Force India seat to Stroll for 2019 because the Canadian’s father is an investor in the new team.  That is part of a volatile situation for Ocon that leaves the Mercedes protege at risk of a season on the sidelines next year.  However, Ocon went online earlier this month to defend his friend against what he believes was an abnormal amount of ...

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Grosjean's opening lap collision with Charles Leclerc in Austin last weekend has left him just two points away from a race ban, so any incidents over the Mexican GP weekend could see him forced out of action immediately. “I am in a s*** situation,” admitted Grosjean. “I’ve got two points left. I get one back after the [Mexico] race and two back after Brazil, so then it is going to be a ...

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F1's tyre supplier has brought its new-for-2018 hypersofts to Mexico City, where high track temperatures and the low-grip surface combined for a tricky opening day of practice on Friday. The trouble of the hypersofts contributed to a jumbled order, with Red Bull leading Renault as Mercedes and Ferrari both struggled. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was one of the biggest losers of the mixed-up ...

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Honda partnered with Toro Rosso for 2018 after splitting with McLaren and has made enough progress to convince Red Bull to use its engines next year. Red Bull reckons the latest Honda upgrade brought it at least level with Renault in the engine pecking order, although there have been some setbacks with the new specification. "They have so far done a fantastic job because they have improved ...

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Alonso was responding to comments from his friend and 2019 McLaren replacement Carlos Sainz, who said on Thursday that the sport should take note of the fact that there was no seat for Alonso. "The fact that he's leaving is a big loss for F1," said the Renault driver. "It is something for F1 and for everyone to consider - why one of the best drivers is leaving and why we cannot have a bit ...

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