Max Verstappen took the Mexican Grand Prix for his ninth win of the season after a calm and collected performance. Lewis Hamilton finished P2 from Sergio Perez who completed the podium at his home race for the first time.

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Saturday's qualifying saw an incident where Yuki Tsunoda spun out and slowed down Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, allowing Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton to lock out the front row. Tsunoda, Lando Norris, George Russell, and Esteban Ocon received penalties for engine parts after qualifying in the top 10.

Bottas and Hamilton got away well at lights out but were both overtaken by Verstappen on the outside of Turn 1, as Bottas spun before Turn 2 from contact with Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren. Ocon was crowded out at the back and sandwiched between Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher. Both retired from contact with Ocon, who was able to keep going as the incident brought out the safety car.

The race restarted on Lap 5 with Verstappen leading from Hamilton, from Perez in P3. Kimi Raikkonen took P9 from Russell on Lap 9 on the outside of Turn 1. Russell lost P10 to Fernando Alonso the following lap. Norris surged past Russell for P11

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Bottas and Ricciardo Battle For P11

Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Valtteri Bottas at Mexican Grand Prix
Via: Formula 1

Ricciardo defended P11 from Bottas for most of the race until Lap 29 when the Mercedes lost 1.5 seconds to the McLaren. Perez meanwhile was catching up to Hamilton, who was over 10 seconds behind Verstappen when he pitted for hard tires on Lap 30. Hamilton rejoined behind Charles Leclerc in P5. Verstappen pitted on lap 33 with a 30-second gap to Hamilton. His team gave him a 2.2-second pit stop and rejoined in P2 behind his teammate Perez. Bottas inherited P11 when McLaren called Ricciardo in for a pit stop on Lap 39.

Bottas fell back down the field into P15 from an almost 12-second pit stop on Lap 42. Lap 58 saw Leclerc letting his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. past into P5 to chase down Pierre Gasly in P4. Meanwhile farther up the field, Perez reduced his gap to Hamilton to 1.3 seconds by the end of Lap 60. The gap came down to 0.5 seconds, but traffic interfered and he lost time to the Mercedes. Perez caught back up to Hamilton with two laps left and started on a charge to pass the Mercedes. Hamilton kept the pace and finished in P2, 16 seconds behind Verstappen. Bottas who started on pole position finished down in P14 but was able to snag fastest lap from Red Bull.