Verstappen sets a new record for most wins in a season, Red Bull equal their longest win & podium streak and Bottas scores for the first time in 11 races. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN SETS A NEW RECORD FOR MOST WINS IN A YEAR
Max Verstappen won the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix, extending his record of most wins in Mexico to four. This was Verstappen’s 14th win of the 2022 season, setting a new record for most victories in a single season. Verstappen currently holds the joint-third largest winning percentage (70%) in a single season, behind Alberto Ascari (75%) and Michael Schumacher (72.22%). This was Verstappen’s eighth win in the last nine races.
For the second time in their history, Red Bull have won nine consecutive races. They last won nine races in a row in the last nine races of the 2013 season. This is the longest winning streak for any team since Mercedes took ten victories in a row between the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2019 French Grand Prix.
Red Bull recorded their fourth win in Mexico, overtaking Lotus as the team to have won the most races in Mexico. This is the first time in Mexican Grand Prix history that Lotus do not hold the record for most wins in the country. They had held the record since the first World Championship Mexican Grand Prix in 1963.
This was the 19th race in a row at which Red Bull have finished on the podium. That saw the team equal their longest streak of podium finishes. They also finished on the podium at 19 races in a row between the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2011 Indian Grand Prix.
Verstappen became the first polesitter in Mexico to win, or even finish on the podium, since Lewis Hamilton did so in 2016.
This was only the second time that a driver has won consecutive races in Mexico. Verstappen is the only driver to have previously achieved the feat, having done so in 2017 and 2018. This was the sixth time that a team has taken back-to-back victories at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Verstappen’s victory took his points tally for 2022 to 416 – a new record for most points scored in a single season. He currently leads the championship by 136 points, which is the third largest points lead in F1 history.
ON THE PODIUM
Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez joined Max Verstappen on the podium. The 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix podium was identical to the 2021 race. This was only the sixth time in F1 history that two consecutive races at a circuit have had the same podium. It last happened at the 2020 and 2021 Spanish Grands Prix.
Hamilton recorded his 190th podium finish. This was his fifth podium in Mexico City, making him the first driver to finish in the top three on five occasions in Mexico.
This was the first time Hamilton has finished on the podium in consecutive races since his streak of five top three finishes between the Canadian and Hungarian Grands Prix.
Finishing as runner-up for the third time in Mexico, Hamilton equals Jack Brabham as the driver to have finished second on the most occasions at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Perez recorded his 25th podium finish, equalling Jacky Ickx for 41st in the all-time list of top three finishes.
IN THE POINTS
George Russell became the first driver since Riccardo Patrese in 1990 to start second in Mexico and fail to finish on the podium. Fourth place marked Russell’s best result since his podium at the Italian Grand Prix.
Having led five laps in Mexico, Russell has now led 92 laps in his career without winning a race. He’s now 16 laps short of equalling Jean Behra for second in the list of most laps led without taking victory.
Both Hamilton and Russell led five laps of the Mexico City Grand Prix, making it only the second race of the season – after the Hungarian Grand Prix – in which both Mercedes drivers have led.
Ferrari finished in fifth and sixth place just as they did last year – although this year, it was Carlos Sainz who finished ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz finished in fifth place, reaching the end of a Grand Prix for the first time since the Singapore Grand Prix. This marked his best result in Mexico to date.
Coming home in sixth place, Charles Leclerc failed to finish on the podium for the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix. He has finished in sixth place in all of the last three races in which he did not finish on the podium. Leclerc is still yet to finish in the top four in Mexico.
For the first time since 1990, both McLaren drivers finished in the points in Mexico. Lando Norris finished ninth, scoring points for the tenth time in the last 11 races, while Ricciardo’s seventh place was the sixth time that the Australian has picked up points. This was the fourth time in 2022 that Ricciardo has finished ahead of his team-mate.
Ricciardo was voted Driver Of The Day for the tenth time. It was the first time he’s won the vote since his drive to victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. This was Ricciardo’s best result in Mexico since his 2016 podium.
Having previously picked up a solitary point in Mexico, ninth place marked Norris’ best result in the country to date.
Esteban Ocon finished in eighth place, scoring in Mexico City for the first time since his fifth place finish in 2017.
Valtteri Bottas ended the longest active point-less streak in Formula 1, scoring for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix. With tenth place, the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix was the 140th race in which Bottas has scored. He equalled Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have scored in the ninth most races.
RODRIGUEZ RECORDS FALL
A number of Pedro Rodriguez’s Mexican Grand Prix records fell or were equalled over the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix weekend. Verstappen and Hamilton extended their record for most points-scoring appearances in Mexico and overtook Rodriguez as the drivers with the most top ten finishes at the track.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas all set a new record for the most occasions on which a driver has reached the finish line in Mexico.
Rodrgiuez had held the record for most laps raced in Mexico (457) since 1970 – but his record was finally overtaken in 2022 by Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez. The new record for most laps raced here is 497, held by Verstappen.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
For the first time since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, no drivers starting outside of the top 11 picked up points. If you only count Grands Prix in which any racing took place, this was the first since the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to not feature any drivers who started outside of the top 11 in the points.
With Pierre Gasly finishing 11th, this was the first time that the Frenchman failed to pick up points in Mexico since his first appearance at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2017.
Alex Albon finished in 12th place, ending his 100% points-scoring record in Mexico.
Sebastian Vettel finished in 14th place, ending a streak of three consecutive top eight finishes. This was the first time Vettel failed to score in Mexico since his 2015 retirement.
Lance Stroll finished 15th, recording his worst Mexico City Grand Prix result to date.
With both Vettel and Stroll failing to score, this was only the second time that the Silverstone-based team has failed to pick up points in Mexico since the country returned to the calendar in 2015.
Kevin Magnussen equalled his worst Mexico result to date, finishing in 17th. He also finished 17th with Renault in 2016.
THE RETIREES
Yuki Tsunoda became the first retirement of the race following contact with Daniel Ricciardo. Tsunoda retained his 100% retirement rate at the Mexico City Grand Prix, having also failed to reach the chequered flag last season.
This was the first time that every driver who started the race reached Lap 50 of a Formula 1 race held in Mexico. The 1990 and 2019 Mexican Grands Prix are the only other races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in which no drivers have retired in the first ten laps of the race.
Fernando Alonso was the second and final retirement from the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix. This was his third retirement in the last five races.
