The 2018 Mexican Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de México 2018) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 October 2018 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The race was the nineteenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 20th running of the Mexican Grand Prix, and the 19th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in .
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 70-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship. Vettel's team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen, was in third, a further 55 points behind. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of 66 points over Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing a further 160 points behind in third place.
The race was won by Max Verstappen (his second win of the season), while Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth position, thereby taking his fifth Drivers' World Championship.
Qualifying Daniel Ricciardo took pole position from teammate Verstappen and with Hamilton in third. This was Ricciardo's last pole position.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q313 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:15.8661:15.8451:14.7591233 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:15.7561:15.6401:14.7852344 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:15.6731:15.6441:14.894345 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:16.0891:15.7151:14.9704577 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:15.5801:15.9231:15.160567 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:16.4461:15.9961:15.3306727 Nico HülkenbergRenault1:16.4981:16.1261:15.8277855 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault1:16.8131:16.1881:16.0848916 Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1:16.8621:16.3201:16.1899109 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1:16.7011:16.6331:16.513101131 Esteban OconRacing Point Force India-Mercedes1:16.2521:16.844N/A111214 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault1:16.8571:16.871N/A121311 Sergio PérezRacing Point Force India-Mercedes1:16.2421:17.167N/A131428 Brendon HartleyScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda1:16.6821:17.184N/A141510 Pierre Gasly1:16.828No timeN/A20168 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:16.911N/AN/A18172McLaren-Renault1:16.966N/AN/A151820 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:17.599N/AN/A161918 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1:17.689N/AN/A172035 Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes1:17.886N/AN/A19 107% time: 1:20.870 Source: Notes – Pierre Gasly received a 20-place grid penalty: 15 places for exceeding his quota of power unit elements and 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change. – Romain Grosjean received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the previous round.
Race Max Verstappen won the race after taking the lead on lap 1, his teammate Ricciardo bogged down badly at the start. The two Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen completed the podium. Lewis Hamilton's fourth-place finish was enough for him to claim the World Drivers' Championship with two rounds to go. Pole sitter Ricciardo retired on lap 61, his eighth retirement of the year. Nico Hülkenberg finished a fine 6th place ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Stoffel Vandoorne equalled his best finish of the season in 8th place.
Post race In the immediate aftermath of the race, Ricciardo insisted that his car was cursed and said that he "didn't see the point" in doing the final two races of the season.
Race classification DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 71 1:38:28.85122525 Sebastian VettelFerrari 71 +17.3164 1837 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari 71 +49.914615444 Lewis HamiltonMercedes 71 +1:18.738312577 Valtteri BottasMercedes 70 +1 lap5 10627 Nico HülkenbergRenault 69 +2 laps7 8716 Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari 69 +2 laps9 682McLaren-Renault 69 +2 laps15 499 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari 69 +2 laps10 21010 Pierre Gasly 69 +2 laps20 11131 Esteban OconRacing Point Force India-Mercedes 69 +2 laps111218 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes 69 +2 laps171335 Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes 69 +2 laps191428 Brendon Hartley 69 +2 laps141520 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari 69 +2 laps16168 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari 68 +3 laps18 3 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 61 Hydraulics1 11 Sergio PérezRacing Point Force India-Mercedes 38 Brakes13 55 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault 28 Clutch8 14 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault 312 Source:
Notes – Brendon Hartley received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings DriverPoints1 Lewis Hamilton 3582 Sebastian Vettel 2943 Kimi Räikkönen 2364 Valtteri Bottas 2275 Max Verstappen 216Source:
Constructors' Championship standings ConstructorPoints1 Mercedes* 5852 Ferrari* 5303 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 3624 Renault 1145 Haas-Ferrari 84Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text indicates the 2018 World Drivers' Champion. Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
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