Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton admitted that Red Bull were simply too fast in Mexico as Max Verstappen cruised to a record third career Mexico City Grand Prix victory ahead of him on Sunday.
The joy of Valtteri Bottas's shock pole position was short-lived as Verstappen swept around the outside of the two Mercedes into the first corner on the opening lap. From then on, Verstappen's pace was superior and he won by over 16 seconds. The Dutchman has now a lead of 19 points over Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' championship.
"Their car was far superior this weekend and there was nothing we really could do about it," said Hamilton after the race, as per formula1.com. "I gave it absolutely everything and even obviously a great fight with Sergio at the end, but I'm really grateful I was able to at least get a second."
"I feel positive in the sense that I had a good race. I did it with the car that I had and the car was not good today. When you have Sergio behind you pushing you like that, you know the car is fast, so you know, I'm glad I was able to keep at least those two apart in terms of getting one-two for the team and we want to keep fighting."
He added: "They've had the fastest car most of the year so it's not a surprise. I wish we were quicker this weekend but today we were a long way off, so I don't really understand that, but we'll go back to the drawing board and try and come back next week stronger."
F1 now heads straight to Brazil, with Hamilton uncertain how strong Red Bull -- who are now just one point behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship -- will be at Interlagos, which is the second-highest race above sea level.
( With inputs from ANI )
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