Over his illustrious career, Lewis Hamilton has broken so many of the greatest records in Formula 1 – many of which once seemed unreachable.
From the career wins and pole positions record to the most laps led in history and matching Mick Schumacher for the ultimate accolade of most championships, Hamilton held a near-monopoly as the highest-achieving driver F1 has ever seen. Only the record of most wins in a season eluded him – joint property of Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
That was, until Max Verstappen blitzed the competition in 2022 to firmly establish himself as the driver to beat in the sport’s new ground effect era, winning 13 of the first 20 races to put him within reach of a new benchmark.
How fitting it was, then, that the world champion achieved something no driver has ever done before by beating none other than Hamilton to do so.
As Verstappen parked his car on the pole position spot at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – the first time he had done so at this particular circuit – it was not Hamilton’s Mercedes which was sat alongside him on the front row, but George Russell’s. Verstappen’s three tenths advantage in qualifying flattered him, as Russell had been neck-and-neck with the Red Bull through 11 corners in his final Q3 effort before throwing it away in the 12th.
With a 900-metre sprint to turn one, a good start was essential. But Mercedes raised eyebrows before the formation lap when they removed their tyre covers to reveal their cars were the only ones in the top five starting on the medium tyres. Hamilton later admitted he knew they were in trouble as soon as they saw the Red Bulls were on softs.
As the field made its way through the Foro Sol stadium and received the salutations of the roaring Mexican crowd, it was clear the thousands in the stands would be in for a fascinating opening stanza to the race, whichever car reached them first after the start.
When the lights extinguished on the gantry, Verstappen and Russell made equally decent getaways. Russell tucked into the Red Bull’s slipstream which kicked in once he breached 250km/h, pulling to the outside as they approached the braking zone for turn one. With the superior position, Verstappen swept through the chicane with his lead intact, but Russell’s line left room on the inside which Hamilton snatched without hesitation, taking second as they exited the chicane.
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