Verstappen took the lead from third on the grid at the first corner, as he outbraked both Mercedes cars. Poleman Valtteri Bottas was pushed into a spin by the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 and dropped to the tail of the field.

Verstappen pulled away to win by over 16s from Hamilton, who pitted earlier than the Red Bulls. Sergio Perez stopped 11 laps later than Hamilton and closed right up in the final stages but had to settle for third.

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2021 Mexican Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Points
1	Max Verstappen	71	-			25
2	Lewis Hamilton	71	16.555	16.555		18
3	Sergio Perez	71	17.752	1.197		15
4	Pierre Gasly	71	1'03.845	46.093		12
5	Charles Leclerc	71	1'21.037	17.192		10
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	70	1 lap			8
7	Sebastian Vettel	70	1 lap			6
8	Kimi Raikkonen	70	1 lap			4
9	Fernando Alonso	70	1 lap			2
10	Lando Norris	70	1 lap			1
11	Antonio Giovinazzi	70	1 lap
12	Daniel Ricciardo	70	1 lap
13	Esteban Ocon	70	1 lap
14	Lance Stroll	69	2 laps
15	Valtteri Bottas	69	2 laps
16	George Russell	69	2 laps
17	Nicholas Latifi	69	2 laps
18	Nikita Mazepin	68	3 laps
19	Mick Schumacher	0
20	Yuki Tsunoda	0
View full results

How the Mexican Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position, Bottas led Hamilton on the charge to Turn 1, with Verstappen going to the outside, braking late and sweeping around them both.

Behind him, Bottas was spun around by Ricciardo, who lost his front wing, while in the pack Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) sandwiched the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and both flew up into the air and into retirement at Turn 2. Perez ran across the grass at Turn 1, but rejoined in third.

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21, and George Russell, Williams FW43B, as Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02, gets airborne at the start

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The safety car was required to clear away the stranded cars. Verstappen led Hamilton, Perez, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at the restart on Lap 5 – Sainz passing Giovinazzi for sixth at Turn 1.

Verstappen pulled well clear of Hamilton, who came under pressure from Perez before Lewis made his first pitstop on Lap 30.

Verstappen pitted several four laps later, promoting Perez to the lead – delighting the home crowd. Verstappen rejoined 7s ahead of Hamilton as the race hit half distance.

Perez pitted on Lap 41, rejoining 9s behind Hamilton but on tyres that were 11 laps fresher. Perez caught Hamilton going into the final 10 laps, and despite getting into DRS for a couple of laps, and one lunge into Turn 3 on the final lap, he wasn't even close to getting past and had to settle for third.

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Behind them, Ferrari switched the earlier-stopping Leclerc with Sainz, in a vain attempt to catch fourth-placed Gasly. But he failed, so they switched back with Leclerc taking fifth ahead of Sainz.

Sebastian Vettel drove an excellent race to finish seventh for Aston Martin, ahead of fellow world champions Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine). McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the top 10 from 18^th on the grid.

Bottas got stuck behind Ricciardo, outside the top 10, and toiled until Lap 40 when Ricciardo made a second stop. Bottas pitted two laps later but suffered a 12s stop, dropping him to 15^th, and he pitted again in an attempt to take away the fastest lap point away from Verstappen.

He achieved that on the very last lap, after stopping yet again for more soft tyres.

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2021 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	69	1'17.774			199.223
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	52	1'18.999	1.225	1.225	196.134
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	49	1'19.468	1.694	0.469	194.976
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	66	1'19.820	2.046	0.352	194.116
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	63	1'20.081	2.307	0.261	193.484
6	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	70	1'20.460	2.686	0.379	192.572
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	66	1'20.510	2.736	0.050	192.453
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	67	1'20.617	2.843	0.107	192.197
9	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	63	1'20.665	2.891	0.048	192.083
10	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	54	1'20.711	2.937	0.046	191.973
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	63	1'20.713	2.939	0.002	191.969
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	61	1'20.930	3.156	0.217	191.454
13	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	40	1'21.069	3.295	0.139	191.126
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	67	1'21.348	3.574	0.279	190.470
15	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	61	1'21.402	3.628	0.054	190.344
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	68	1'21.523	3.749	0.121	190.061
17	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	66	1'21.546	3.772	0.023	190.008
18	George Russell	Williams	61	1'22.016	4.242	0.470	188.919
View full results

2021 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix tyre history

Cla	Driver	Chassis	1		2		3		4		5
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	M	36	H	38
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	M	32	H	42
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	M	43	H	31
4	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	M	34	H	40
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	M	35	H	41
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	M	47	H	28
7	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	M	36	H	37
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	M	35	H	38
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	M	39	H	31
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	M	47	H	26
11	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	M	20	H	54
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	M	4	H	37	M	34
13	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	S	14	H	56
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	M	14	H	22	M	37
15	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	M	6	H	39	M	23	S	7	S	5
16	George Russell	Williams	M	15	H	54
17	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	M	11	H	38	M	22
18	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	M	13	H	45	M	10
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	M	0
20	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	S	3
View full results