Lewis Hamilton beams after Mexico Grand Prix as George Russell left frustrated

30 October 2023 , 10:58

899     0

Lewis Hamilton secured another podium in Mexico (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton declared he cannot wait to race in Brazil in an upbeat verdict after the Mexican Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion started sixth on the grid after another slightly underwhelming qualifying session. Team principal Toto Wolff made it clear after the race he wants to see his drivers improve in that regard.

But the race itself was a triumph for Hamilton. He avoided the first-corner chaos which claimed home hero Sergio Perez and showed great pace throughout to rise to second place, ahead of the two Ferraris that had started on the front row and behind only winner Max Verstappen.

And his delight was obvious as he spoke to reporters afterwards. "It's a great result considering we started from P6 and amazing day for the team. We pushed hard and I'm proud of the whole team for all their work," beamed the Brit.

"It's been a difficult couple of weeks for us so it's great to finally bounce back. The car felt much better today, and the pace was strong. Today was about the balance of the car and managing the tyres and we managed to do that well.

Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"

"We dug really deep this weekend to improve the set-up and get it right and the result today shows the hard work everyone in the team has put in to achieve that. Now I can't wait to get to Brazil and hopefully continue with the strong pace of the car."

Team-mate George Russell also made progress overall, finishing sixth after starting two places further back. But he was more frustrated with that result having suffered a brakes issue which limited his chances and, in the end, left him feeling slightly relieved that he was able to fend off the challenge of Daniel Ricciardo in the final laps.

"I felt really good in the car today, the pace was there so definitely a positive from this weekend," he said. "I was right behind Carlos [Sainz] wanting to overtake when my brakes overheated.

"We were concerned about making it to the end, so I had to back off and that's where I lost all the temperature in the tyres and didn't manage to get them back into the right window. It was like driving on ice for the last 20 laps so I'm glad I managed to finish in P6.

"Another difficult weekend for us but the car was performing well. We just need to have some clean weekends and show consistency, but I'm confident we'll achieve that. I'm looking forward to Brazil and I hope that we will show some good pace there too and hopefully we will be in a position to fight for the podium."

Daniel Moxon