Speaking after the race, the seven-time world champion said he had given everything he had and did not expect Red Bull Racing to recover from their Saturday qualifying form. While both Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez botched their qualifying attempts due to Yuki Tsunoda’s spin, their pace and strong form at the Mexican circuit throughout the weekend was evident.

Despite grid positions favoring the Mercedes drivers, the tow into the first corner on the straight aided Verstappen in jumping both Bottas and Hamilton into the first turn. The Silver Arrows’ woes were compounded further when Bottas was spun out by Ricciardo under braking, leaving Hamilton without a wingman and sandwiched between two Red Bull cars.

Lewis Hamilton expected Valtteri Bottas to have a better start at 2021 Mexican GP

Describing the start of the race, Hamilton told Formula1.com:

Explaining the events after the lights went out, Hamilton said:

Commenting on Verstappen’s electric start, Hamilton said:

From there on, the race was a mostly processional affair, with tire strategies and pitstops deciding any change of positions. Despite his team instrumenting the undercut strategy, the Briton was unable to capitalize on it due to finding himself in traffic after rejoining the track.

Toward the end of the race, Hamilton trailed Verstappen by 16.5 seconds while being hounded by Sergio Perez, who kept up the pressure during the last few laps.

After starting third and fourth on the grid, Red Bull Racing not only had a double podium but are now just one point adrift of Mercedes in the constructors’ standings. Meanwhile, Verstappen increased his lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ standings to 19 points with four races left on the calendar.

Describing the rest of the race, Hamilton said:

Speaking of the battle towards the end of the race, Hamilton said:

Commenting on his battle with Perez, the Mercedes champion added:

Looking ahead to the remaining races on the calendar, Hamilton said:

Explaining his rivals’ progress and the championship, the Briton said:

Hamilton analyzed the goings-on in Mexico and projected his expectations for the next few races, saying:

In theory, the Red Bull hasn’t been all that superior to the Mercedes, and their performances have been equally matched throughout the year. However, the Mexico circuit was one of the circuits where the former was expected to perform better than the latter due to the low-air density and layout of the circuit.

The teams head to Interlagos for the Brazilian GP this weekend, which mark the end of F1’s tour of the Americas before the circus heads to the Middle East for the inaugural Qatar GP. The Interlagos circuit is also one that has favored Verstappen and Red Bull Racing in the past while the Losail circuit will be a neutral circuit for both teams.

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