Mexican GP 2017 F1: Lewis Hamilton world champion

We said in the preview of the 2017 Mexican F1 Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton had everything in his favour to be definitively crowned world champion. And so it has been: the Briton was able to celebrate his fourth title, which puts him level in the all-time standings with Frenchman Alain Prost and with his main rival this season, Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton only needed to finish fifth to be mathematically champion, but he could only manage ninth. Meanwhile, German Sebastian Vettel could only finish fifth, and the Ferrari had to finish first or second (provided Hamilton did not finish in the top five) to prevent any celebrations in the Mercedes garage.

The race was marked by a chaotic start that took both Hamilton and Vettel out of contention, the two of them in the pits and at the back of the field. The Briton, in his comeback (where he came up against, among others, Fernando Alonso), could only reach ninth place. Paradoxically, the day he secured his fourth world title mathematically was also the day he suffered the worst result of the season.

With Hamilton and Vettel out of the running for victory, the final win went to Max Verstappen. The Dutchman of Red Bull seized the opportunity and led practically the entire race, taking a comfortable victory in front of more than one hundred thousand spectators at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

The two Finns, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen, finished second and third respectively, flanking Verstappen on the final podium. As for the two Spanish drivers, Fernando Alonso finished in the points in tenth place, while Carlos Sainz could not complete the race: despite a strong start and aspirations of finishing in the points, he had neither luck (a puncture) nor the Renault on his side (temperature problems).

The full classification of the Mexican GP was as follows:

The World Championship is now decided in Hamilton’s favour, so there is little excitement left in what remains of the season. Even so, we will keep covering what happens at the remaining Grands Prix, the next one on 10, 11 and 12 November in Brazil, as well as other current news related to this motorsport.