2018 Mexican Grand Prix

The 2018 Mexican Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2018) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 October 2018 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.^[3] The race was the nineteenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 20th running of the Mexican Grand Prix, and the 19th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950.^[4]

2018 Mexican Grand Prix
Race 19 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details[1]
Date	28 October 2018 (2018-10-28)
Official name	Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2018
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	334,946[2]
Pole position
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Time	1:14.759
Fastest lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:18.741 on lap 65
Podium
First	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Lap leaders

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 70-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship.^[5] Vettel's team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen, was in third, a further 55 points behind.^[5] In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of 66 points over Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing a further 160 points behind in third place.^[5]

The race was won by Max Verstappen (his second win of the season), while Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth position, thereby taking his fifth Drivers' World Championship.^[6][7]

Qualifying

Daniel Ricciardo took pole position from teammate Verstappen and with Hamilton in third.^[8] This was Ricciardo's last pole position.^[9]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:15.866	1:15.845	1:14.759	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:15.756	1:15.640	1:14.785	2
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:15.673	1:15.644	1:14.894	3
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:16.089	1:15.715	1:14.970	4
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:15.580	1:15.923	1:15.160	5
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:16.446	1:15.996	1:15.330	6
7	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:16.498	1:16.126	1:15.827	7
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:16.813	1:16.188	1:16.084	8
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:16.862	1:16.320	1:16.189	9
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:16.701	1:16.633	1:16.513	10
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.252	1:16.844	N/A	11
12	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:16.857	1:16.871	N/A	12
13	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.242	1:17.167	N/A	13
14	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:16.682	1:17.184	N/A	14
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:16.828	No time	N/A	201
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:16.911	N/A	N/A	182
17	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:16.966	N/A	N/A	15
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:17.599	N/A	N/A	16
19	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:17.689	N/A	N/A	17
20	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:17.886	N/A	N/A	19
107% time: 1:20.870
Source:[10]

Notes

• ^1  – Pierre Gasly received a 20-place grid penalty: 15 places for exceeding his quota of power unit elements and 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change.^[11]
• ^2  – Romain Grosjean received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the previous round.^[12]

Race

Max Verstappen won the race after taking the lead on lap 1, his teammate Ricciardo bogged down badly at the start.^[13] The two Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen completed the podium.^[14] Lewis Hamilton's fourth-place finish was enough for him to claim the 2018 World Drivers' Championship with two rounds to go.^[14] Pole sitter Ricciardo retired on lap 61, his eighth retirement of the year.^[15] Nico Hülkenberg finished a fine 6th place ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Stoffel Vandoorne equalled his best finish of the season in 8th place.^[16]

Post race

In the immediate aftermath of the race, Ricciardo insisted that his car was cursed and said that he "didn't see the point" in doing the final two races of the season.^[17]

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	71	1:38:28.851	2	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	71	+17.316	4	18
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+49.914	6	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	+1:18.738	3	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	70	+1 lap	5	10
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	69	+2 laps	7	8
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	9	6
8	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	69	+2 laps	15	4
9	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	10	2
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	69	+2 laps	20	1
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	69	+2 laps	11
12	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	69	+2 laps	17
13	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	69	+2 laps	19
14	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	69	+2 laps1	14
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	16
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	68	+3 laps	18
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	61	Hydraulics	1
Ret	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	38	Brakes	13
Ret	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	28	Clutch	8
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	3	Water pressure	12
Source:[18]

Notes

• ^1 – Brendon Hartley received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision.^[19]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton* 358 2 Sebastian Vettel 294 3 Kimi Räikkönen 236 4 Valtteri Bottas 227 5 Max Verstappen 216 Source:[20]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes* 585 2 Ferrari* 530 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 362 4 Renault 114 5 Haas-Ferrari 84 Source:[20]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.