Mexican Grand Prix 2022
Max Verstappen made history at the Mexican Grand Prix as he won his 14th race of the 2022 season, the most ever in a single F1 campaign.
The newly crowned world champion had another dominant drive in Mexico City, leaving his closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton, in his wake as he strolled to his third straight win.
Hometown hero Sergio Perez gave the crowd something to cheer about as he rounded out the podium in third, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished a distant sixth.
Read on below as SBOTOP recaps this record-breaking race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Highlights of the game
The Mexican Grand Prix 2022 odds were once again heavily on Verstappen’s side as the Dutchman claimed pole position for the sixth time this season, with the two Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, right behind him in the grid.
And the Red Bull driver made the most of his position as he got off to a great start. On the other hand, Russell was the big loser at the start as he went from second to fourth after the first couple of laps, with Hamilton and Perez jumping ahead.
The top three would be about 1.5 seconds ahead of each other through the first 10 laps, with hometown hero Perez hot on Hamilton’s heels.
But by lap 12, Perez was supposedly struggling with his rear tyres, while teammate Verstappen was having trouble with his grip. Nevertheless, he was still able to maintain a healthy lead over Hamilton.
By lap 18, Verstappen had extended his lead to two seconds, while Hamilton had gone three seconds ahead of Perez. Meanwhile, George Russell was slowly chipping away at Perez’s lead.
As for the Ferraris, they were struggling to make any progress as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were stuck in fifth and sixth, respectively.
The pit stops finally began on lap 24, with Perez coming in first. However, he had a horrendous five-second stop that sent him back out in sixth behind the two Ferraris. Verstappen went in shortly thereafter, and his stop went much more smoothly.
With his fresh set of tyres, Perez made one of the top Mexican Grand Prix 2022 highlights as he attacked Leclerc and succeeded in taking fifth, to the delight of the partisan crowd.
After the first set of pit stops finished, it was clear that the three frontrunners all had different strategies. Verstappen opted for the soft compound tyres, while Hamilton and Mercedes went with the hards. And Perez was on the mediums and proceeded to set some impressive laps.
Mercedes’ gambit to go with the hards seemingly backfired, though. Both drivers complained about tyre grip as Hamilton’s deficit from Verstappen grew to just under 12 seconds by lap 57.
The virtual safety car was deployed with five laps to go after Fernando Alonso’s retirement due to engine failure. But that was not enough to halt Verstappen’s procession to the chequered flag.
A few laps later, he strolled through to claim his record-setting 14th victory of the season, while Hamilton held off Perez for second place.
Key statistics
With his win, Max Verstappen set a new single-season record for wins with 14, breaking his tie with Michael Schumacher and the retiring Sebastian Vettel. He also broke the record for most points in a season with 416, overtaking Hamilton’s previous record of 413 in 2019.
Verstappen also broke the pole-sitter curse in Mexico; the pole-sitter had not finished on the podium in any of the last four races on the track.
Red Bull have now won nine straight races, which puts them just two behind McLaren’s all-time F1 record of 11 straight wins set in 1988.
Curiously, the podium of Verstappen-Hamilton-Perez was identical to last year’s top three in Mexico. The two Ferraris finishing fifth and sixth is also identical.
Speaking of Ferrari, it was a milestone race for Leclerc, who made his 100th Grand Prix start. However, he failed to make the podium, snapping his career-best run of five straight podium finishes.
What’s next?
The Formula 1 season is headed into its penultimate race, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which takes place in a fortnight.
Hamilton, who is still searching for his first Grand Prix win of the season, is the defending champion as he won at Interlagos last season. Hamilton is a three-time winner at the track.
But he once again faces stiff competition from Verstappen, who will be keen to extend his record wins total even further. The Dutchman won in Brazil back in 2019 and has finished second on two other occasions.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FORMULA 1 STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
