2016 Mexican Grand Prix

The 2016 Mexican Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2016) was the Formula One motor race run on 30 October 2016 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, the eighteenth Mexican Grand Prix, and the sixteenth time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950.

2016 Mexican Grand Prix
Race 19 of 21 in the 2016 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details[1]
Date	30 October 2016 (2016-10-30)
Official name	Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2016
Location	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.304 km (2.674 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 305.354 km (189.738 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Attendance	339,967 (Weekend)[2] 135,026 (Race Day)[3]
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:18.704
Fastest lap
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Time	1:21.134 on lap 53
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Third	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Lap leaders

Defending race winner Nico Rosberg entered the round with a twenty-six-point lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship; they were the only two drivers who could win the title at the start of the race, and both remained in contention after it. Their team, Mercedes, held a lead of two hundred and thirty-six points over Red Bull Racing in the World Constructors' Championship before the race; Red Bull were fifty-three points ahead of Scuderia Ferrari.

Report

Lewis Hamilton won the race to narrow the Championship gap between him and teammate Nico Rosberg surviving a scare at the start when he ran wide at the first corner, before there was a brief Safety Car period after Pascal Wehrlein was punted off at the same corner. Both Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel were stripped of third place podium finishes when penalised post-race. Verstappen crossed the finish line in third, followed 0.99 seconds later by Vettel, himself followed 3.55 seconds later by Verstappen's teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Before the trophy presentation, Verstappen was penalised five seconds for cutting a race corner and unfairly maintaining his narrow lead over Vettel on lap 68. While Vettel attended the podium ceremony as the revised third-place finisher, he was soon given a ten-second penalty for driving dangerously on lap 69, for moving under braking to block Ricciardo as he attempted a pass, under new rules introduced at the United States Grand Prix the previous week. This meant that Ricciardo was promoted to third which also sealed third place in the championship for him, while Verstappen was relegated from third to fourth and Vettel was moved from fourth to third to fifth once the stewards had reviewed all incidents.^[4]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:19.447	1:19.137	1:18.704	1
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:19.996	1:19.761	1:18.958	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:19.874	1:18.972	1:19.054	3
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:19.713	1:19.553	1:19.133	4
5	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:20.599	1:19.769	1:19.330	5
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:19.554	1:19.936	1:19.376	6
7	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:19.865	1:19.385	1:19.381	7
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:20.338	1:19.958	1:19.551	8
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:20.423	1:20.151	1:20.032	9
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:20.457	1:20.169	1:20.378	10
11	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:20.552	1:20.282		11
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:20.308	1:20.287		12
13	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1:21.333	1:20.673		13
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:21.254	1:21.131		14
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:21.062	1:21.536		15
16	94	Pascal Wehrlein	MRT-Mercedes	1:21.363	1:21.785		16
17	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	1:21.401			17
18	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:21.454			18
19	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1:21.692			19
20	31	Esteban Ocon	MRT-Mercedes	1:21.881			20
21	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:21.916			21
107% time: 1:25.008
—	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	No time			221
Source:[5]

Notes

• ^1 – Jolyon Palmer did not set a lap time in qualifying. His participation in the race was permitted at the discretion of the stewards.

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	1:40:31.402	1	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	71	+8.354	2	18
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	71	+20.858	4	15
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	71	+21.3231	3	12
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	71	+27.3133	7	10
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+49.376	6	8
7	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	71	+58.891	5	6
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	71	+1:05.612	8	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	71	+1:16.206	9	2
10	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	71	+1:16.798	12	1
11	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	15
12	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	70	+1 Lap	13
13	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	70	+1 Lap	11
14	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	70	+1 Lap	21
15	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	19
16	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap1	10
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	70	+1 Lap	14
18	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap1	18
19	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	17
20	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	PL2
21	31	Esteban Ocon	MRT-Mercedes	69	+2 Laps	20
Ret	94	Pascal Wehrlein	MRT-Mercedes	0	Collision	16
Source:[6]

Notes

• ^1 – Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat received five-second penalties after the race.
• ^2 – Romain Grosjean required to start from the pit lane due to car being modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
• ^3 – Sebastian Vettel received a ten-second and two licence points penalty after the race.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Nico Rosberg* 349 2 Lewis Hamilton* 330 3 Daniel Ricciardo 242 4 Sebastian Vettel 187 5 Kimi Räikkönen 178 Source: [7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes* 679 2 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 427 3 Ferrari 365 4 Force India-Mercedes 145 5 Williams-Mercedes 136 Source: [7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors with a theoritical chance of being World Champion.