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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Mexican Grand Prix. --- 13:02: Rosberg takes his place on pole position and the rest of the pack filters in behind him. Another very slow formation lap from the Mercedes boys in front. --- 13:00: The top ten all on the soft tyre compound, as always. Raikkonen on the medium compound after taking another penalty. --- 12:57: If there is impending doom heading into Turn 1, Vettel and Kvyat on the second row are perfectly placed to pick up the pieces. --- 12:56: And to think, there were showers forecast for this afternoon. As it stands, there are only a few clouds scattered around the place. Otherwise it's a rather glorious day for a grand prix. --- 12:54: Five minutes to go. --- 12:52: Niki Lauda admits to Sky Sports he's a little worried about Rosberg and Hamilton going into Turn 1. That one could get rather spicy. --- 12:49: The crowd is in great voice this weekend, it's been a great return to the calendar from that perspective. Let's hope they get a race of similar excitement. --- 12:47: We have a choir of children singing the Mexican national anthem before this race, which the drivers are sat at the front of the grid for. Perez sings heartily. --- 12:44: Graeme Lowdon and John Booth on the grid for Manor but neither are saying much to TV about the recent news they are both set to resign at the end of the year. --- 12:42: So what can we expect from strategy this afternoon? Here's what Pirelli said: "The strategy is a complex one for the Mexican Grand Prix, with weather conditions expected to be at the forefront of calculations for the 71-lap race. As wear rates are low, one stop is possible, but two stops could well be quicker. The fastest two-stop strategy is: start on soft, change to soft again on lap 23, then medium on lap 46. For a one-stop strategy, it makes no difference to the overall time whether you start on soft or medium. Those starting on soft should change to medium on lap 30, while those starting on medium should change to soft on lap 40." 12:40: Brakes are going to be a huge problem for the teams this afternoon. Over twenty percent less air than usual for cooling this weekend due to the high altitude, 2200m above sea level. --- 12:38: It's pretty hot out there, with an eir temperature of 22 degrees -- we've already had a grid girl faint before this race. --- 12:30: The pit lane is open and cheers greet Sergio Perez as he makes his way around to the grid. |
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Lap 1 |
Rosberg immediately moves across to cover Hamilton, who moves onto the outside to have a look but Rosberg holds firm into Turn 1. Kvyat has got ahead of Vettel into P3. Vettel seems to be really struggling and has lost a load of places, seems he's got a puncture in contact with Ricciardo on the run down to Turn 1! Game over for Vettel? That has moved Ricciardo up to fourth. |
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Lap 2 |
Alonso reporting a loss of power and he's already retiring from the race. Oh dear. It just doesn't get any better for McLaren. Vettel pits and takes on medium compounds and has to wait for Alonso's McLaren to pull in and retire, before driving out of his pit box. Vettel now needs a safety car to have any sort of chance of a strong finish in this race. Rosberg's lead 0.6s at the start of the lap. "He gave me no room at all," Ricciardo tells Red Bull about that earlier collision with Vettel. |
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Lap 3 |
Rosberg's sets a fastest lap of 1:25.195 and has opened up a 1.3s lead over Hamilton. |
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Lap 4 |
Hamilton responds with a personal best but it only chops a tenth off Rosberg's lead. Bottas has a look on the outside of Ricciardo into Turn 1 but can't get close enough to genuinely. Raikkonen being told his brake temperatures are getting hot. That will an issue for all the drivers across the grid at the moment. |
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Lap 5 |
Fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:24.889, to move him just inside DRS range of race leader Rosberg. Massa has a little look down the inside of Verstappen in the battle for sixth but isn't close enough for a pass. Replays of the start show Vettel immediately get stuck between the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo. Ricciardo then gets on the inside of Vettel as they enter Turn 1 and it seems Vettel just turned into the Red Bull man. Massa also had to lock up heavily to avoid the rear of Vettel's Ferrari, while Bottas put a huge flat spot into his tyres as he locked up himself. |
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Lap 6 |
Replays also show Perez taking good evasive action to avoid Vettel's slow-moving Ferrari into Turn 4. Stewards investigating that clash between Vettel and Ricciardo. |
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Lap 7 |
Vettel sounds annoyed with Ricciardo on race radio, asking "Where the hell was he going to go?" To me it looked like Vettel could have given him more space. Hamilton has another fastest lap but only dips inside DRS range. |
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Lap 8 |
Rosberg restores his lead to 1.3s. Kvyat a further five seconds back. Raikkonen in 13th -- keep an eye on the Ferrari man as he's on a different tyre compound to the cars in front. |
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Lap 9 |
Bottas pits for the medium compound -- that's very early. Medium tyres from Williams, potentially to push Red Bull into a pit stop. Hamilton has dropped to two seconds off Rosberg's lead. Perez also telling Force India he is struggling with his rear tyres. replays show Bottas' stop, not the quickest one as they struggled a bit with the front right. |
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Lap 10 |
Massa and Hulkenberg pit for medium tyres. |
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Lap 11 |
Raikkonen already up to ninth. He's in a good position at the moment. Ricciardo says he's "really struggling" with his rear tyres. Maldonado pits to release Raikkonen into eighth position. We see Bottas ease past the Honda-powered McLaren of Button on the straight. No awards given out for doing that this year. Bottas then passes Nasr nicely on the inside of Turn 4, that's exactly the start he would have wanted on that fresh compound. That's moved him to tenth. |
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Lap 12 |
Fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:24.256, to move back to a second behind Rosberg. Hamilton knows his team-mate has the choice of optimum strategy as he leads on track. Grosjean pits in the other Lotus car. Verstappen and Perez have moved up to fifth and sixth with the pit stops around them. Perez being asked if he can do five more laps on the current tyres, he replies "at this pace, yes". He's got Verstappen for close company. |
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Lap 13 |
The Mercedes boys are exchanging blows out in front, as Rosberg sets a fastest lap of 1:24.012. Replays show Massa getting past Nasr in exactly the same fashion as his Williams team-mate a lap earlier, with a nice move down the inside at Turn 4. It's actually Sainz all over the back of Perez. Verstappen in front. Red Bull tells Ricciardo it will "stick to the original plan", which will be a one stop strategy. Grosjean has got the jump on Lotus team-mate Maldonado in the pit stops. |
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Lap 14 |
Sainz pits from sixth for medium tyres. Raikkonen up to seventh, Bottas on those fresh mediums up to eighth. Rosberg's lead out in front now 1.5s. |
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Lap 15 |
Another fastest lap from Rosberg, a 1:23.634. The lead now up to 1.8s. "Solid lap, keep it up," Red Bull tells Kvyat. His lap times currently four tenths off Hamilton's at the moment. |
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Lap 16 |
Rosberg sets a fastest lap but its immediately beaten by Hamilton behind, the world champion setting a 1:23.499. The lead 1.7s. Replays show Vettel diving down the inside of Sainz for 12th. Button next up for Button and he shouldn't have to wait long to get past that McLaren. |
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Lap 17 |
Raikkonen getting very optimistic about his race and are already radioing him about what Kvyat is doing in third. He's a man in desperate need of a podium, isn't he? Vettel gets a stab of DRS and that just doesn't seem fair on a McLaren, helping the Ferrari man fly past as the pass the pit exit. Interesting that Vettel had to wait for a complete lap to get past, however, suggesting McLaren has some chassis-related strength through the twisty middle sector. Vettel spins at the Esses! Disaster for the four-time world champion. |
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Lap 18 |
That has dropped Vettel down to 16th position. Replays show him just dropping it on the entry to the first of those twisty corners. The rear just stepped out on him. Sainz has passed Button for 11th, both men benefiting from Vettel's spin by gaining an extra position. Replays show Vettel struggling to slow the car down in the final sector. Clearly not all quite right there. |
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Lap 19 |
Perez pits from what was sixth position. Rosberg has got a 2.4s cushion out in front. Perez re-joins just in front of Sainz and the Toro Rosso driver has to react quickly to move to the left and pass the Toro Rosso man. Looks like a slightly slow stop from Toro Rosso and it's cost Perez. Replays show Sainz had moved to the inside in anticipation for the first corner but managed to take Perez on the run down to the first corner. |
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Lap 20 |
Vettel reporting a bad flat-spot from that spin. Says he can continue but that it's pretty serious. He's 15th. Ream-mate Raikkonen currently sixth. |
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Lap 21 |
Hamilton cuts the gap to 2.6s with a 1:23.008, a new fastest lap. The Manors have already been lapped, with Stevens having got the jump on Rossi in the early part of this race. Kvyat and Ricciardo will have surprised their rivals by these current stints. |
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Lap 22 |
Kvyat pits from third, taking on medium tyres. Very tidy stop, a 2.3s. He re-joins in fifth with Raikkonen lurking in the distance. Bottas has a go into Raikkonen into Turn 1 and the Ferrari driver does well to hold the position through the next sequence of corners. Bottas is still in play and locks up on the outside, they go into Turn 5 side-by-side and there's contact! This time Bottas clatters into Raikkonen and that's destroyed the Ferrari driver's rear right tyre. The complete opposite of Sochi, that one. Looked like Bottas was going for a small gap on the inside, as Raikkonen did in Sochi. Need to see a replay first. |
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Lap 23 |
Seeing a replay of Raikkonen and Bottas again. Bottas had run deep into Turn 4 and came into Turn 5 alongside Raikkonen's Ferrari and you could argue Raikkonen needed to give him more space. However, Bottas was never ahead of Raikkonen at any point. Williams asking if Bottas is okay to continue. "There was no space inside," Bottas tells Williams. "Copy that, you had the line," is the reply from his race engineer. That incident is being looked at by the stewards. |
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Lap 24 |
Ricciardo pits from third for fresh mediums. |
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Lap 25 |
Verstappen, who is yet to pit, up to third. Ricciardo has emerged behind both Williams drivers. Mercedes tells Rosberg to start pushing as he will be pitting soon. An impressive long stint by both drivers. Vettel all over the back of Maldonado's Lotus. Still nothing to choose between the Mercedes drivers' lap times. Rosberg will pit this lap. |
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Lap 26 |
Verstappen pits from third and has re-joined behind Hulkenberg in eighth. |
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Lap 27 |
Race leader Rosberg pits. Big laps needed now from Hamilton if he wants to wrestle the lead from his Mercedes team-mate. Nice tidy pit stop from the world champions, 2.5 seconds in the box. Will Hamilton stay out a bit longer on the softest tyre? Stewards decide there is no further action required for the Raikkonen/Bottas collision from earlier. Radio confirms Rosberg's current set of tyres will take him to the end. Replays suggest he didn't quite get into his box properly. |
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Lap 28 |
Vettel having a very ragged race and dives down the inside of Maldonado at Turn 1 but can't slow down in time to make the corner. He slides wide and Maldonado reclaims the position. Hammertime in full swing for the world champion as he stays out for another lap but Rosberg is immediately onto a quick lap on the prime tyre, suggesting he will not be leading once he's finished this pit stop. |
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Lap 29 |
Hamilton pits from the lead. Another nice tidy stop and Rosberg moves back into the lead of the race. The two Silver Arrows are all on their own out in front. Rossi pits from 15th, meaning only Button hasn't pitted. "Tyres are really not in great shape now," Vettel tells Ferrari after that wide moment earlier. He's still got those flat spotted tyres from his earlier spin. Hamilton will need to catch and pass his team-mate on track if he wants to win this race. |
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Lap 30 |
Vettel opens the DRS again but can't get much closer to Maldonado's Mercedes-powered Lotus. Rosberg sets a fastest lap but that's immediately beaten by Hamilton behind. Hamilton now trailing by 3.1s. Radio message to Rosberg says his last tyres were worn down to 10 percent -- did he push his stint out as long as possible knowing Hamilton would have to go for another lap. |
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Lap 31 |
Button finally pits, meaning everyone has stopped once. |
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Lap 32 |
Hamilton sets a massive 1:22.100, seven tenths quicker than Rosberg. The race leader has been told to look after his tyres early in this stint but Hamilton clearly didn't get the same memo. |
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Lap 33 |
Rosberg responds with a personal best but it's two tenths slower than Hamilton's latest. Bottas told Kvyat ahead of him is lifting and coasting, which could be to help cool his brakes or could be to preserve a bit of fuel for later in this race. Perez baring down on Sainz and can't get close enough in the DRS range. He's still not close enough at Turn 4 and Sainz runs completely wide and across the grass! He keeps the position initially but Sainz eventually lets Perez through in the middle of the stadium section, much to the delight of the fans. |
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Lap 34 |
Sainz gets an immediate flip of the DRS switch and has a sniff into Turn 1 but Perez holds on to the corner. The crowd love it again and you can hear the cheers over the grumbles of both their V6 engines. Race control had told Sainz to let Perez through after his earlier off at Turn 4. Great replay of fans jumping to their feet and celebrating as Perez got by. |
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Lap 35 |
Ricciardo being told current set of tyres will be on the limit at the end of the race, but will be possible if he manages them well. |
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Lap 36 |
The lead out in front has settled down a bit and remains at 2.4s. Vettel pits from 13th. On-boards showed his left mirror shaking quite heavily as he came through the Esses. He takes on a new set of medium compound tyres. |
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Lap 37 |
Not something we've been used to be seeing this season - Vettel being lapped by the Mercedes drivers. This race really got away from him in a hurry, yesterday he was joking with Mercedes about them making contact into Turn 1 to let him gallop off into the distance. He might not even score a point now. |
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Lap 38 |
Rosberg's lead around the three-second mark. The Mercedes drivers still exchanging fairly similar lap times, this time its Rosberg a tenth quicker than his team-mate. |
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Lap 39 |
I feel sorry for anyone just tuning in and seeing Rosberg - Vettel - Hamilton running on the track. The red one is a lap down. This reminds me of Melbourne a lot. The Mercedes drivers in a world of their own -- third placed Kvyat 25 seconds down the race track.
The real fight of note now is between Red Bull and Williams for the final spot on the podium. Red Bull won't think Williams can get to the end on these current tyres, given that they stopped on laps nine and ten. |
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Lap 40 |
Vettel reporting debris on the exit of Turn 10. Ricciardo also getting the same message from Red Bull. Could trigger a neutralising Virtual Safety Car. The piece of debris in question is off the racing line, but only just. |
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Lap 41 |
Rosberg looking incredibly comfortable out in front. Vettel being told to let Hamilton past him after ignoring several waved blue flags. "But I'm faster than him!" Vettel complains before letting the Mercedes past. Thems the rules, I'm afraid, Mr Vettel. |
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Lap 42 |
Not quite the classic we had in Austin but the battle for the final spot on the podium far from over. Bottas 1.6s behind Kvyat, Massa then 3.8s behind. |
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Lap 43 |
Perez still stuck behind Verstappen and has the disadvantage of pitting several laps later than the Toro Rosso driver. Still no action on that piece of debris on the race track. Vettel sets a purple middle sector to show his pace is still there despite his messy race so far. |
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Lap 44 |
Rosberg won't appreciate race control asking Vettel to move out of the way as its freed Hamilton. Replays show a marshal scamper out on track and gather that piece of debris, briefly slipping over in the process. Rosberg comes flying through the corner several seconds later on what is effectively a blind corner. |
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Lap 45 |
Rosberg sets another fastest lap, a 1:21.932. Rosberg has the answer to every little push we see from Hamilton this afternoon. This is the sort of race Rosberg needed this afternoon. Far from over yet but he needed an afternoon like this. Rosberg asks Mercedes to stop telling him the gap to Hamilton. |
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Lap 46 |
Hamilton responds with a personal best lap of his own to reduce the lead to 2.9s.
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Lap 47 |
Rosberg pits again from the lead! That wasn't expected. It's a 2.7s stop for the Mercedes man... We heard Mercedes tell him earlier that he needed to go to the end of the race. Mercedes tells Hamilton they are switching to plan B. This is Mercedes playing it absolutely safe now they have nearly 30 seconds in hand over Kvyat. |
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Lap 48 |
Well then, Hamilton stays out despite Mercedes waiting out in the pit lane for him! Well then. Has the world champion ignored his team's orders? "Can I ask why?" "Lewis we're just worried about wear. We're down to the canvas." Seems he stayed out to ask that question. Peter Bonnington tells him its for safety. "Bono my tyres feel good," Hamilton tells his race engineer. This time he heeds the message and goes into the pit lane. Mercedes had told him his tyres were down to the canvas -- I doubt that's quite true in either case. |
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Lap 49 |
Hamilton re-joins behind Rosberg. "Please check those tyres and let me know," says Hamilton. He doesn't sound too happy about that and why would he be? During all of that, Ricciardo has closed up to Massa's gearbox in the battle for fifth. |
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Lap 50 |
Rosberg nails a fastest lap, a 1:21.367. Hamilton still asking Mercedes whether his tyres needed a stop or not. Massa looking in both mirrors and holds Ricciardo at bay through Turn 4 but the difference in the tyres on either car are so clear to see. Massa stopped 16 laps earlier than Ricciardo. |
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Lap 51 |
Hamilton sets a 1:20.853 but still trails Rosberg by 3.5 seconds. Ricciardo gets the DRS down the straight and that's a lovely move from the Red Bull driver down the inside of Turn 1. Replays show Perez passing Verstappen for eighth in the middle of the stadium section to the delight of the fans. |
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Lap 52 |
Another fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:20.815, moves him to within three seconds.
This makes the battle at the front very interesting. "I'm ok ... sorry," says Vettel. He's struggled at that part of the track all day. The skid marks on the tarmac shows he's swapped ends. |
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Lap 53 |
Vettel's car being recovered at Turn 7. Bottas has completed 44 laps on those prime tyres. He's up to third momentarily but surely has to stop again. |
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Lap 54 |
Bottas finally pits for new mediums and it will be interesting to see where he feeds back out. Replays show Vettel going straight on at the fast left-hander but his car was having none of it. Not an afternoon that will live long in the memory for Vettel, this one. Bottas has re-joined in fourth, in between the Red Bull drivers, if the driver tracker is correct. Perez asking about a pit stop but is being told he would lose out to Verstappen and possibly Grosjean if hedid now. The safety car stays out but Vettel's car has nearly been cleared from the barriers, which are now being pushed back into place. |
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Lap 55 |
Another replay shows Vettel's accident -- very strange. He just went straight on before spinning off the circuit. Amusingly, he picked up a few of the pieces of his destroyed front wing and placed them in a neater position next to his car before walking away from it. Bottas told Kvyat will struggle at the restart with the Red Bull on options, which will take a while to warm up. Fair play to Williams, that call didn't cost Bottas much as it turned out. |
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Lap 56 |
Looks like we're going to get at least one more lap under the safety car. |
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Lap 57 |
"Use those ten car lengths," Rosberg is being told, a reference to how far he is allowed to drop behind the safety car. He's weaving a lot -- tyre and brake temperatures could make this one a fascinating restart. I wouldn't mind being in Kvyat or Bottas' position right now.... Safety car in this lap, but Button reports Nasr has a fire in his brakes... Hamilton right behind Rosberg as they go through the stadium section! |
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Lap 58 |
Rosberg floors it and seems to wobble through the final corner but that's a nicely managed restart. Bottas gets the jump on Kvyat for P3. Sainz locks up into Turn 1... Kvyat now has team-mate Ricciardo all over his rear. |
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Lap 59 |
Rosbeg's lead back to 1.5s. We have another yellow flag - Nasr has gone off the track at the slow Turn 13. We heard Button reporting a brake fire in the Sauber earlier and he reports "My brakes are finished" Replays show Rosberg running very wide through the Esses, while Hamilton almost nearly puts it into the Tec-Pro barriers at the start of the stadium section. Both the Mercedes drivers pushing. Nasr pulled into a slip road so there is no need for a safety car. Williams tells Massa both Red Bulls are vulnerable. |
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Lap 60 |
Kvyat pulls out into some cleaner, cooler air but is nowhere near close enough to try for third position. Hamilton chips away two tenths at Rosberg's lead. Button being told Perez, who didn't pit under the sa14th.fety car, is on 44-lap old primes and could hold up a number of cars behind. Button currently 14th. |
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Lap 61 |
Massa puts in a personal best but is just not close enough to have a go at Ricciardo. Patience the key for Massa at the moment as Williams looks quicker at this stage on the race despite being on the quicker compound. Verstappen all over Perez's rear wing at the moment. Don't think he'll be too popular if he punts Force India driver off around here. |
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Lap 62 |
Rosberg hits a personal best lap but Hamilton still takes two tenths off his lead. He's just outside DRS range. |
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Lap 63 |
No big change in the lead but Rosberg will see the other Silver Arrows looming very prominently in his rear mirrors. Maldonado nearly clobbers the wall at Turn 12 as he runs a bit wide but the Lotus man does well to avoid contact. |
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Lap 64 |
Williams tells Massa to keep creeping up on the Red Bulls. He's 1.5s down on Ricciardo. Hamilton chipping every so slightly away at Rosberg's lead before a horrible middle sector sees him drop to 1.8s. No traffic around there so possibly a mistake from the world champion. |
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Lap 65 |
Hamilton lost nearly a second in the middle sector on that last lap. That might be enough for Rosberg. Verstappen has dropped 2.2s behind Perez, is he saving his tyres for a late charge on the local boy for eighth? |
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Lap 66 |
Hamilton quicker again but this gap looks pretty comfortable for Rosberg. He's not taking enough out of him at this point. Massa isn't getting much closer to the Red Bull of Ricciardo, who is doing everything he can to stay out of the slipstream of Kvyat in front. Clearly struggling with brake temperatures in that car. Simon Rennie encouraging Ricciardo to keep up with Kvyat so he retains DRS. |
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Lap 67 |
Fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:20.772, but he's still not within DRS range. Tyres and fuel won't be an issue for either man. |
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Lap 68 |
Another fastest lap from Rosberg. He's three laps away from an overdue fourth win of 2015. Significantly, it will put him 21 points ahead of Vettel in the battle for second. |
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Lap 69 |
Rosberg will hope for no more pesky gusts of wind.... Hamilton just outside the DRS zone but is tantalisingly close to his team-mate. Maldonado has a look down the inside of team-mate Grosjean at Turn 1 but opts against what would have been a very optimistic overtake attempt. |
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Lap 70 |
Rosberg starts the penultimate lap 1.6s ahead of Hamilton. The world champion's last few laps have been fairly scrappy and he needs a fairly remarkable turn of events to win this one now. |
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Lap 71 |
Rosberg starts the final lap of the grand prix. This has been a top drive from the German. Answered every bit of pressure Hamilton threw at him and held firm into Turn 1. The crowd applauds the race leader as he completes the Esses for a final time. Nico Rosberg wins the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix A tenth one-two for Mercedes this year, one off their tally from last season. Bottas makes it an all-Mercedes-powered podium with third position. Kvyat and Ricciardo cross in fourth and fifth, with no charge from Massa materialising at the end. "Yeaahhh!" Rosberg celebrates. It's been a long time since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, hasn't it? |
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Rosberg parks up at the stadium section, which is a nice place to stop with 33,000 fans there! This is quite a great way to end a race. The German climbs on his car and acknowledges the applause of the crowd. "Nico! Nico! Nico!" are the chants from the crowd. You imagine that will mean a lot to him after his struggles this season. Hamilton and Rosberg shake hands. Looks like the top three get some funky Pirelli sombreros for the podium. Great podium here, facing out to the stadium section. Rosberg all smiles as he celebrates the win on the podium. |
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We've got Vettel in the wall! He's gone off at the start of the Esses and that's triggered a safety car.
