Racing | Formula 1 | 2018 Mexican Grand Prix — Hamilton Secures His Fifth Championship at Mexico City

On 28 October 2018, Formula 1 returned to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the nineteenth round of the World Championship, with the title arithmetic focused on Lewis Hamilton and the front row belonging to Red Bull.

Daniel Ricciardo had taken pole in 1 minute 14.759 seconds, just 0.026 seconds ahead of teammate Max Verstappen. Hamilton started third and championship rival Sebastian Vettel fourth. When the lights went out, Verstappen launched alongside Hamilton and reached the first corner in front; Ricciardo fell to third.

The altitude of Mexico City made cooling and aerodynamics unusually difficult, while tyre graining shaped the race. Verstappen managed his tyres and controlled the lead. Hamilton initially ran second, but the Mercedes struggled for grip. Vettel passed Ricciardo and then Hamilton, while Ricciardo later retired after 61 laps. Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium behind Vettel.

The final classification records Verstappen completing 71 laps in 1 hour 38 minutes 28.851 seconds. Vettel finished 17.316 seconds behind, Räikkönen 49.914 seconds behind, and Hamilton fourth at 78.738 seconds. Brendon Hartley received a five-second penalty for causing a collision and was classified fourteenth; the penalty did not affect the podium or the championship.

Fourth place gave Hamilton 358 points to Vettel’s 294. The 64-point margin could not be overturned with only 50 points available in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, so Hamilton secured his fifth Drivers’ Championship. He became the third driver after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to reach five titles.

The race used the clockwise, 4.304-kilometre, 17-turn Grand Prix circuit introduced for Formula 1’s 2015 return. It ran through the Foro Sol stadium before rejoining the surviving final part of the old Peraltada. The accompanying diagram depicts that period layout rather than an incident location or a modern race photograph.

Sources: Formula 1 race result (https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2018/races/997/mexico/race-result), starting grid (https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2018/races/997/mexico/starting-grid), and race report (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-2018-mexican-grand-prix-report.43bcuMZV3i8yk2a8kQw06w); FIA race report (https://api.fia.com/news/f1-hamilton-seals-fifth-f1-title-fourth-place-mexico-verstappen-takes-victory); Motor Sport, “2018 Mexican Grand Prix report” (https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/2018-mexican-grand-prix-report/); RacingCircuits.info, “Mexico City” (https://www.racingcircuits.info/north-america/mexico/mexico-city.html); Wikidata, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Q173099 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q173099).

Image: Pitlane02, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aut%C3%B3dromo_Hermanos_Rodr%C3%ADguez_2015.svg). White-background rendering applied; circuit geometry unchanged.