Lewis Hamilton wins Mexican GP but must wait for F1 title

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix with a superbly controlled drive in a tactical fight with Ferrari to move to the brink of the world title.

Hamilton will clinch his sixth championship at the US Grand Prix next Sunday as long as he does not lose more than 22 points to Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

While Mercedes could congratulate themselves on gambling on a one-stop strategy with a long second stint to gain track position on Vettel and then hold off the German to the end, there will be questions over Ferrari's decisions.

The Italian team twice gave up the lead, first with pole position winner Charles Leclerc, who was pitted out of first position after 15 laps to stick to a two-stop strategy decided before the race.

And Vettel took his strategy into his own hands to decide to do the same when Hamilton made his stop.

Hamilton triumphed in a tense, slow-burn race of divergent strategies between the four Mercedes and Ferrari drivers.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was second, ahead of Bottas and Charles Leclerc.

The four men closed up in the final laps as their different tactics came together.

Ferrari had the chance to pit on the next lap and retain the lead, but Vettel suggested they "leave him to it", a decision that meant they would stop later and try to come back at Hamilton at the end of the race on fresher tyres.

Vettel had tyres that were 14 laps fresher than Hamilton's for the climax to the race, but the reigning champion was more than capable of holding the Ferrari back.

But the win was not without anxiety for Hamilton, who shortly after his pit stop questioned whether they had given him too long to make the tyres last, and who was also battling a car damaged by the contact with Verstappen.

He complained so much that Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles came on the radio, a rare event used only at critical moments, to reassure Hamilton: "You can do this."

In the closing laps, as Vettel was urged on by Ferrari, Hamilton was able to hold his advantage at just over two seconds and take his 10th win in 18 races this season.

He leaves Mexico City, where he tied up the championship in both the last two seasons, with a 74-point lead over Bottas, the only man who can mathematically beat him.

He needs to leave Austin, Texas, next weekend with a lead of 52 points to become only the second man in history to win more than five F1 world titles.

The only way that can't happen is if Bottas wins and Hamilton finishes lower than eighth, a highly unlikely scenario in normal circumstances, especially at a circuit where Hamilton has excelled since its debut on the calendar in 2012.