Despite tyre strategy issues, set-up struggles, and a race-long battle with his teammate, Lewis Hamilton picked up an impressive fourth-place finish at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
With the Mexico GP throwing the drivers plenty of surprises, Hamilton claimed the race was “fun” and that he had a good start, but quickly noted, “I had a really bad first stint,” and explained how the setup on his Mercedes left him wrestling with “massive, massive understeer,” due to adjustments to the front wing.
While the team had anticipated warmer track conditions, a 5-degree temperature drop at the beginning of the race contributed to his setup issues, leading to a lack of grip.
In his words, the shift was “probably a third worse,” leaving him to navigate the track with far less grip than expected. However, as the race developed, the seven-time champion found himself better equipped to push.
“I was able to push and keep going. We got good points.”
As Hamilton closed in on Russell on the hards, the two Mercedes drivers had a respectful, hard-fought race. Russell did not make things easy, defending his position, but Hamilton eventually managed to pass his teammate, noting, “I think he had a problem with his front wing.”
Discussing the upgrades made to his car, Hamilton claimed that the race gave the team “a lot of information.”
“Hopefully they have lots of data, so we’ll figure out who starts at what next race.”
He spoke about the differences drivers make when racing a teammate; you “have to be double careful because you both want to finish”, and with this mindset, Mercedes was ultimately rewarded with valuable points for both drivers, finishing P4 and P5.
Discussing on-track battles with Russell, Hamilton claimed they’re “pretty straightforward.” The pair showed that competitive racing can still be fair, an important reminder in a season filled with on-track controversies.
“I don’t think either of us are silly. George is really smart, and so it’s fair, and he’s just really good at where he places his car, and I think for me too.
“So when they come on the radio and say, keep it clean, it’s like, of course. It’s no real difference to when you’re fighting anyone else, except for it is your teammate.”
Elsewhere on track, Max Verstappen had a turbulent day, dealing with incidents that brought shades of Verstappen and Hamilton’s 2021 encounters back to mind. There has been increasing scrutiny around Verstappen’s ‘aggressive’ racing, and the Verstappen-Norris drama that led to a 20-second penalty for the world champion.
When asked if the consensus is that Verstappen steps over the line and runs other drivers off track, Hamilton said: “That’s for you to decide, not me. But I’m not in that race, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Hamilton gave his thoughts on the review of racing guidelines by the FIA, claiming that, “They spoke about it for a long time, with no conclusion. I think they said they’re going to sit down in one of the races coming up to talk about how we can go about making it better.”
Aiming for clearer standards on driver conduct, it’s likely that the FIA will not adjust rules to what drivers want, nor create any firm conclusions. “They said we’ll sit down and talk,” he noted.
