F1: Verstappen Beats Hamilton To Win Mexican GP, Perez Finishes On Podium

Max Verstappen dominated the 2021 F1 Mexican Grand Prix as he beat Lewis Hamilton to the chequered flag. A bold move changed the status quo for the Red Bull driver, while Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas lost his advantage on the same move despite starting on pole position. Finishing third behind Verstappen and Hamilton was Sergio Perez, who took the podium in his home race and managed to give Red Bull Racing the lead in the Constructors' standings.

Pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas spun on the opening lap that ruined the race for the Mercedes driver

Hamilton was quick off the line and was alongside pole-sitter Bottas as the drivers entered Turn 1, as Verstappen followed closely. The Red Bull driver braked later than the Mercedes drivers and passed the two from the outside securing the lead. Hamilton followed up and slotted himself right behind Verstappen at Turn 2, while Bottas made contact with McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo on the same corner. The Mercedes spun around and that gave Perez the opportunity to cut through.

At the back, Esteban Ocon sandwiched himself between Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher. The driver made contact damaging his AlphaTauri. The safety car was called out as a result and Bottas pitted at the back of the field to switch from the mediums to take on hard rubber. Ahead of the restart, Verstappen dropped Hamilton and accelerated through the final corners building a lead.

As the race restarted on Lap 5, Verstappen shot forward over Hamilton to maintain a clear lead. By Lap 15, the Red Bull driver extended his lead by 5.4s that increased to nearly 10s before he pitted on Lap 33. Meanwhile, Hamilton was facing some heat from Perez for P2.

Of the leaders, Hamilton was the first to pit followed by Verstappen four laps later, while Perez held the longest stint pitting 11 laps after Hamilton's stop. This gave the driver a significant tyre life advantage in the second half of the race.

Hamilton and Perez contested closely for P2 but Hamilton held on to the spot crossing the chequered flag by a gap of 1.1s

The top order remained unchanged though till the end of the race but Verstappen enjoyed an unrivalled run to the final lap as he commanded the win by a margin of 16.5s. Perez though was more in action as he attempted to pass Hamilton on several occasions but could only finish in third place 1.1s behind the Mercedes driver.

Finishing fourth was Pierre Gasly in fourth place followed by the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel took seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen while Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris rounded up the top 10.