Max Verstappen, as a man at the top of his game, had barely broken a sweat as he wrote his name into the Formula 1 record books. Impassive and calm after climbing out of his car, he could have enjoyed an excursion of Sunday afternoon by the sea. It was a picture that could sum up his season. He took an unrivaled campaign win record and the race in his stride, just as he has already sealed his second world championship for good.
The Dutchman’s victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez was another dominant display, albeit in a low-profile race, a procession with Verstappen leading the way and undisputed in beating the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton into second and his teammate of Red Bull, Sergio Pérez, in third, but with that. the magic number arrived.
With his 14th win this year, Verstappen has taken the record for most wins in a single F1 season. In 20 races he has surpassed the number of Michael Schumacher, who took 13 of 18 in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel, who took 13 of 19 in 2013. Verstappen has achieved this with two races remaining.
Afterwards, standing in the amphitheater in the stadium section in front of a roaring crowd, he enjoyed the moment but, unsurprisingly for the 25-year-old who has such high F1 ambitions, he was already looking towards bigger things
“I never thought I’d be able to win 14 races in one year, I’m incredibly proud,” he said. “We are definitely enjoying it and will try to go for more.”
It would be foolhardy to bet against it at this stage. After a weekend in which Mercedes had presented their best challenge of the season, Verstappen and Red Bull faced it with nonchalance. In the open air of Mexico City, Mercedes’ drag problem wasn’t as bad, but Verstappen still had a real advantage on race pace and he took advantage of it ruthlessly, managing his tires to the perfection
For Red Bull, too, the numbers also rose to formidable effect in Mexico. They have now won nine straight races and are 16 of 20 this season, both team records. The furore over their budget cap breach overshadowed the weekend, with their protests of an unfairly harsh penalty and other teams deriding the punishment as wholly inappropriate, but on track their primacy remains undisputed , a point that undoubtedly fuels the dissatisfaction of rivals.
Lewis Hamilton (left) was second, with Sergio Pérez (right) third. Photograph: Luis Licona/EPA
That sense of the team feeling settled was further intensified on Sunday. Verstappen and Red Bull are understood to be boycotting speaking to Sky Sports for an indefinite period in reaction to Sky presenter Ted Kravitz’s comment at the US GP that Lewis Hamilton had been “robbed” of an eighth world championship last year.
Verstappen confirmed that despite all the success, he had run out of patience. “It’s been constant digging this year, no respect, especially with one particular person and enough is enough, I don’t accept it,” he said. “If you continue to disrespect me, I won’t tolerate it anymore and that’s why I decided to stop replying.”
He had already done his talk on the way. Mercedes had tried their best with a valiant effort in the alternative tire strategy which did not yield against the Red Bull’s pace. Mercedes’ bid to take hard rubber over Red Bull’s medium was a hopeful move but, with the degradation not as severe as expected, they could do nothing to take the fight to the world champion.
Mercedes, then, will be disappointed, but are already looking ahead to next season, while Verstappen clearly intends to close this one by extending a number of victories that will surely be difficult to match.
George Russell was fourth for Mercedes and Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc fifth and sixth for Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris were seventh and ninth for McLaren, Esteban Ocon eighth for Alpine and Valtteri Bottas 10th for Alfa Romeo.