The Mercedes driver ended the Mexican City GP in P2, making his way up in the ranks with a strong pace and a different strategy after the red flag.
For his final stint, Hamilton opted to run on mediums, which gave him a tyre advantage on most of the other top runners, as he completed his final stint on mediums and pulled off a number of moves on the day, including an outstanding pass on polesitter Charles Leclerc for 2nd.
Ultimately the bold choice paid off, with tyre degradation not impacting the seven times World Champion that much, allowing him to make up four positions from P6.
Hamilton began his post-race interview by praising the fans and the venue:
“I’ve got to say a big thank you to this incredible crowd. Mexico, they’ve been giving us these great races here every year, and I genuinely love coming to this city. The food is fantastic and the people are beautiful. So thank you all, gracias.”
The British driver had scored a podium in last week’s race in Austin, but was disqualified due to excessive plank wear that was not in compliance with the FIA standards. This week, however, he ended up scoring another one, which he gets to keep, alongside the very same man who had been disqualified with him in the United States GP, Charles Leclerc.
“Otherwise I feel fresh, we weren’t having to push crazy hard out there but this is a great result considering we started sixth. I’m really proud of the team, this is a really difficult couple of weeks and to bounce back from a difficult weekend last weekend with the end result, this is really, really well done.”
After praising Verstappen for his record breaking race win, Hamilton recalled his Mexican weekend and all the hardships endured by the German team:
“Great day, I was not expecting to be up here with these guys. Difficult weekend, it started out, but I just kept my nose clean at the beginning of the race, then just really trying to manage the tyres and maximise and progress forwards.
“When I noticed that I had the pace on Carlos, I knew that with the undercut, it really worked quite well, so, the team did a great job with strategy. Then the red flag probably played into our hands in terms of getting onto the fresher tyre at the end, but I didn’t know whether or not the mediums would make it that long.
“I was trying to see if I could close the gap to Max, but he was long gone and I could only just about equal his times. Great result for the team, really proud of everyone,” he concluded, satisfied with his sixth seasonal podium.
He also returned on one of the best moves he had completed in the race, his pass on Leclerc to secure P2: “Honestly, this weekend we’ve been very, very slow on the straight. In general, we were quite draggy on the straights more often than not, but this weekend, like yesterday, we were losing like two-and-a-half tenths just into Turn 1 before we even start braking.”
Photo credits: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
“These guys were very slippery on the straights so, trying to follow closely through Turns 16 and 17 was really the only way that I could get close enough, and have an opportunity to make the DRS impactful.
“Finally, I pressed every button on the steering wheel, maximum power, I didn’t know how far across he was going to go, but, split second decision, I decided to go to the right. There’s just enough space there but Charles was really fair. Yeah, great racing,” he concluded, remarking his respect for the Ferrari driver.
After two strong rounds in a row for Mercedes, Formula 1 is heading to the track where the Brackley-based team won its last race, Interlagos. In 2022 George Russell had secured his maiden win in Brazil, whereas Hamilton’s last victory dates back to the Saudi Arabian GP in 2021.
