Lewis Hamilton and George Russell complain to Mercedes as victory chance slips away again

Max Verstappen took his 14th victory of the season, the most ever by a driver in a year, at the Mexican Grand Prix as Lewis Hamiltons long wait for a victory in 2023 goes on.

Mark Whiley Sports Writer

22:29, 30 Oct 2022Updated 23:21, 30 Oct 2022

[Max Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton at the Mexican Grand Prix]

Max Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton at the Mexican Grand Prix(Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Mercedes saw another chance to secure their first victory of the season slip through their fingers as Red Bull got their tyre strategy spot on to win the Mexican Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen led away from pole position while George Russell, who started second, lost places to teammate Lewis Hamilton and the other Red Bull of home hero Sergio Perez. The Red Bulls started on soft tyres with Mercedes on mediums. For the first half of the race, it looked like the Silver Arrows had made the right call.

Hamilton was able to comfortably keep pace with Verstappen, who complained of excessive wear with his softs and had to stop earlier. Red Bull appeared to be locked into a two-stop strategy at that stage, seemingly handing the advantage to Hamilton, who eventually made his one and only stop for the more durable hard tyres.

Russell did the same but it wasnt long before both he and Hamilton were complaining about their rubber while Verstappen and Perez managed to make their mediums last for the rest of the race. They did so at a decent pace too with Verstappen edging further clear of Hamilton, who was kept on his toes by Perez.

Towards the end of the race, Hamilton complained over team radio: Think the medium looks quick, theyre going to get to the end.

[Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the Mexican Grand Prix]

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the Mexican Grand Prix(Image: Tilton/Getty Images)

Then, after Fernando Alonsos retirement triggered a virtual safety, Russell pleaded to come in for fresh tyres, only for his engineer to say no and insist that Perezs rubber would wear out first.

That did not prove to be the case, although Russell did make a late stop to successfully bag the extra point for fastest lap on the final tour.

After the race, Hamilton thanked his team over the radio for a mega effort while team boss Toto Wolff came on to concede that in hindsight Mercedes made the wrong tyre call.

Can Mercedes win one of the final two races? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Lewis Hamilton on his way to a distant second at the Mexican Grand Prix(Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Speaking ahead of the podium ceremony, the seven-time world champion said: I was close in that first stint, but the Red Bulls are too fast, and ultimately they had the better strategy. I am not sure it was the right tyre. I thought we should have started on the softs.

A largely dull race saw Verstappen clinch a record-breaking 14th win of the season.

Daniel Ricciardos performance was the highlight of the day as he defied a 10-second time penalty, following a collision with Yuki Tsunoda, to finish seventh. The Australian, who has endured a wretched season and has been dropped by McLaren for 2023, was voted Driver of the Day by fans

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