MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Lewis Hamilton won a comfortable Mexican Grand Prix ahead of Nico Rosberg, who did all he had to do to remain in control of his own destiny in the championship fight.
Hamilton's win cut the gap to Rosberg to 19 points in the standings, but with just two races left, victory for Rosberg at the next round in Brazil would secure him the title. Hamilton's victory only once looked under threat as he locked up at Turn 1 on the first lap. He later explained it was due to a low temperature on his right front brake and he escaped penalty for skipping Turn 2 entirely.
After a weekend of struggling behind the wheel of his Mercedes, Rosberg's second place could prove to be a defining result in the tale of this year's title if he takes his maiden championship. He twice came under attack from Max Verstappen -- on the first lap at Turn 2 and again at Turn 4 on lap 50 -- but both times resisted the attack from the Red Bull to retain second place. The second time saw Verstappen momentarily ahead before locking up and running wide as Rosberg stuck to the racing line.
After Verstappen's second move on Rosberg failed, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari started to close in on the Red Bull driver. Vettel had led part of the race with a long first stint on the soft tyres and that meant his second set of tyres were 20 laps younger than Verstappen's at the end of the race. The Ferrari caught Verstappen with four laps remaining, but as he attempted a move at Turn 1 the Red Bull locked up and continued straight over the run off area. By cutting Turn 2, Verstappen held the position ahead of Vettel, but even after being told by his team to move aside for the Ferrari he continued at full pace.
Following the race, Verstappen was immediately penalised five seconds, promoting Vettel to third and dropping Verstappen to fifth. In a bizarre turn of events, Verstappen had already pulled into the podium area in the stadium section before the penalty was confirmed, but was told to leave the podium green room soon after as Vettel was brought back from the paddock to take his rightful place on the third step.
Vettel had been irate about the situation in the closing laps of the race and screamed over his team radio to ask FIA race director Charlie Whiting to make Verstappen move over. When his race engineer tried to tell him the incident would be investigated after the race by saying "Charlie said...", he was cut off by Vettel yelling: "Yeah?! Here's a message to Charlie! F--- off! F--- off!"
Vettel's anger had intensified when Verstappen, still in third place, backed him into his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo in fifth, allowing Ricciardo to attempt a pass at Turn 4 on the penultimate lap. Vettel was having none of it however, and moved to block the inside, with both cars' front wheels locked up as they arrived at the apex. Vettel just managed to retain enough momentum to hold the position around the outside, which ultimately turned out to be enough to take third place when the Verstappen penalty was applied.
The story continued after the race, as Vettel was investigated for the Ricciardo incident. The stewards eventually handed Vettel a ten-second penalty, dropping him behind both Red Bull drivers, meaning it was actually Ricciardo who finished on the final step of the podium.
Away from the front
Behind the drama for the final podium place, Kimi Raikkonen snatched sixth place from Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages. Raikkonen was on a two-stop strategy compared to the one-stop adopted by most of the top ten, which dropped him from fifth to seventh before he fought back to finish sixth. As the Ferrari driver passed Hulkenberg, the Force India spun through 180 degrees, but with Valtteri Bottas another six seconds down the road Hulkenberg was able to hold on to seventh.
The Williamses of Bottas and Felipe Massa finished eighth and ninth ahead of Sergio Perez in the final points position for Force India. Ericsson deserves an honourable mention for working his way back through the field from his first corner collision to finish just outside the points in 11th and ahead of the two McLarens.
The next round takes place in Brazil in two weeks' time, with the title still very much in Rosberg's hands.