Fourteen wins marks new record for Max Verstappen in Mexico

A new Formula One record was achieved at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday as the world champion Max Verstappen completed his 14th win of the season, the entire Red Bull team ignoring any off-track drama to continue total dominance of the sport.

Oftentimes during the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix, such was the dominance of Max Verstappen as he cruised to victory that it was difficult not to believe that the sport had been transposed back to the dullest days of Mercedes dominance. Verstappen’s 14th win in one season surpassed the record set by Michael Schumacher himself in 2004 at Ferrari, the best evidence yet for the landmark performance of the Dutchman in 2022.

Impressive performances in free practice and qualifying led Mercedes to believe if it could be anywhere, it would be Mexico that would see a knocking of Red Bull of their perch – a prediction at peril as soon as they were the outlying team not starting on soft compound tyres. Hamilton and Russell were unable to make an impact from second and third on the grid on the pole sitter Verstappen, while Ferrari continue to slide further off the pace and remain unable to seriously challenge in the latter half of the season.

The complexion of the race itself was unexciting and overly tactical, as the pit stop battle was won by a long stint on mediums by Verstappen that negated the early Mercedes’ switch to the hard compound. Therefore, the champion spent much of the driving closer to 20 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, and late drama from the mechanical failure of Fernando Alonso did not add any jeopardy into the situation. The race weekend in Mexico will better be remembered by the ongoing fallout over the Red Bull budget cap overspend and a parochial spat between the Austrian outfit and Sky Sports. For anyone other than Red Bull fans, the 2022 season is almost petering out as the field is so singularly dominated.

Results

1 Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

3 Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4 George Russell, Mercedes

5 Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

6 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

7 Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

8 Esteban Ocon, Alpine

9 Lando Norris, McLaren

10 Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

11 Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri

12 Alexander Albon, Williams

13 Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

14 Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

15 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

16 Mick Schumacher, Haas

17 Kevin Magnussen, Haas

18 Nicholas Latifi, Williams

19 Fernando Alonso, Alpine

DNF Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri