The 2017 Mexican Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2017) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 October 2017 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The race marked the nineteenth running of the Mexican Grand Prix, and the eighteenth time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in .
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen won the race, while Lewis Hamilton secured his fourth world title with two races remaining after championship rival Sebastian Vettel finished fourth.
Report Hamilton came into the race with a 66-point lead over Vettel and requiring a fifth-place finish to claim his fourth world title. Sebastian Vettel needed to outscore Hamilton by 17 points to keep the championship fight alive.
Driver changes Pierre Gasly returned to Toro Rosso after sitting out the United States Grand Prix. Gasly replaced Daniil Kvyat, while the team retained Brendon Hartley (now considered a regular driver and using number 28) in their second car.
Qualifying Vettel pipped Verstappen to pole position, the two ahead of the two Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas with the Mercedes cars yet again struggling in high downforce circuits but were much closer to Ferrari and Red Bull than in the previous high downforce track in Singapore. Kimi Räikkönen qualified in 5th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo, who had problems heating up his tyres, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez.
Race Ricciardo took a 20 place grid penalty after replacing a part on his power unit before the race.
Verstappen managed to get himself past Vettel at the second corner and in doing so allowed Hamilton to overtake Vettel. However, Vettel, on the entry to the third corner, clipped Verstappen's right rear tyre and then made a larger impact to Hamilton's right rear tyre. This greatly damaged Vettel's front wing and he had to pit on the first lap to get it replaced. While Verstappen survived the contact with Vettel and minor contact with Hamilton, Hamilton obtained a puncture from the collision with Vettel and had to limp back to the pits and replace his tyres. This left both championship contenders in last with Vettel 19th and Hamilton in 20th, 24 seconds further behind. After the first lap, the running order was Verstappen, Bottas, Ocon, Hülkenberg, Sainz, Pérez and Lance Stroll. Sainz then spun in the high speed section and had to pit for new tyres and came out in 19th place. With Hamilton now out of the points, Vettel needed to finish 2nd in order to keep his championship hopes alive and he swiftly made his way through the field, while Hamilton, with rear diffuser damage, struggled to make his way past Sainz. In the 24th lap, Hülkenberg retired with an engine problem in what was his fourth retirement in five races and his third in a row. Brendon Hartley's Toro Rosso ground to a halt on the 31st lap and brought out the Virtual Safety Car, allowing Räikkönen to jump Ocon into 3rd place and Stroll to jump Pérez into 5th place. Vettel, by the flag, had managed to battle his way to fourth place, but it wasn't enough to stop Hamilton, who finished 9th, from winning the World Championship. Ricciardo (who had retired after a few laps while running in the points), Sainz and Marcus Ericsson, having been running the points for a long time, were the other retirees. Verstappen won for the third time in his career ahead of Bottas and Räikkönen.
Classification Qualifying DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q315 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari1:17.6651:16.8701:16.4881233 Max Verstappen 1:17.6301:16.5241:16.5742344 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes1:17.5181:17.0351:16.9343477 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes1:17.5781:17.1611:16.958457 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:18.1481:17.5341:17.2385631 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes1:18.3361:17.8271:17.437673 Daniel Ricciardo 1:18.2081:17.6311:17.44716827 Nico Hülkenberg Renault1:18.3221:17.7921:17.4667955 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault1:18.4051:17.7531:17.79481011 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes1:18.0201:17.8681:17.80791119 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1:18.5701:18.099101218 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes1:18.9021:19.159111328 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso1:18.683No time171414 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda1:17.710No time18152McLaren-Honda1:18.578No time19169 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari1:19.176121794 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari1:19.333131820 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:19.44314198 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari1:19.47315107% time: 1:22.944—10 Pierre GaslyToro RossoNo time20Source:
Notes – Daniel Ricciardo received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components. – Brendon Hartley received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components. – Fernando Alonso received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components. – Stoffel Vandoorne received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components. – Pierre Gasly failed to set a time within the 107% requirement, but received permission from the stewards to start the race; he also received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
Race DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints133 Max Verstappen 71 1:36:26.552225277 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes71 +19.67841837 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari71 +54.00751545 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari71 +1:10.078112531 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes70 +1 Lap610618 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes70 +1 Lap118711 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes70 +1 Lap96820Haas-Ferrari70 +1 Lap144944 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes70 +1 Lap321014 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda70 +1 Lap1811119 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes70 +1 Lap10 122McLaren-Honda70 +1 Lap191310 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso70 +1 Lap201494 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari69 +2 Laps13158 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari69 +2 Laps15 55 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault59Steering8 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari55Engine12 28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso30Engine17 27 Nico HülkenbergRenault24Power Unit7 3 Daniel Ricciardo 5Turbo16Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings DriverPoints1 Lewis Hamilton3332 Sebastian Vettel2773 Valtteri Bottas2624 Daniel Ricciardo1925 Kimi Räikkönen178Source:
Constructors' Championship standings ConstructorPoints1 Mercedes5952 Ferrari4553 3404 Force India-Mercedes 1755 Williams-Mercedes76Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for the sets of standings. Bold text indicates the 2017 World Champions.
References