Mexican Grand Prix driver ratings

The Mexican Grand Prix was a potentially significant weekend for the world championship, as Max Verstappen extended his points advantage for a third race in succession. But beyond his race-deciding first corner move, there were other noteworthy performances in the midfield, including from a soon-to-depart figure

Alex Kalinauckas Nov 8, 2021, 10:34 AM

Max Verstappen – 9

Verstappen is marked down for his role in Red Bull's qualifying underperformance, where the slower Mercedes package snuck ahead. But he was sensational in the race. He was brave going around the outside when that line opened at the start and kept it on the track masterfully. Nailed the restart and was simply never headed thereafter. Trying to slow the lapped Bottas's late fastest lap attempts showed his spare bandwidth.

Lewis Hamilton – 8

Can't score higher because of his qualifying defeat to Bottas when pole was there for the taking as Red Bull messed up, but little else he could have done in the race. Bizarrely, his better reaction at the lights played a part in Mercedes dropping behind Verstappen as he couldn't get a tow from Bottas. Kept his pace up and tyres alive when Perez was coming at him late on.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.