2019 Mexican Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix from the second row of the grid, using a one-stop medium-hard strategy. This tactic, used by all of the top three, was predicted to be possible but tricky in the demanding conditions of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The higher temperatures on race day, compared to the rest of the weekend, helped to make this practicable due to reduced graining of the tyres.

KEY MOMENTS

• Hamilton was among the first drivers to stop and switch to hard from medium tyres. Nonetheless, he was able to manage the hard tyres perfectly over the 48 laps of his final stint to claim the race win.
• He wasn't the only driver to complete a long stint on these tyres. Renault's Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver to start the race on hard tyres, and he completed 50 laps on this compound before switching to mediums and finishing eighth.
• Red Bull's Max Verstappen went even further. He did 66 laps on the hard tyres following an early pit stop to change his starting set of mediums, which had been punctured by contact with another car. He finished sixth, having been last in the early stages of the race.
• Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was the highest-placed driver to use a two-stop strategy, adopting the medium-medium-hard tactic that was predicted as theoretically the fastest. He led the race but finished fourth, having also been slightly delayed in the pits.
• In total, only seven drivers went for a two-stop strategy, including those who started on soft tyres.
• Weather conditions were much warmer than they had been on previous days, which had been affected by rain. The peak track temperature was 49 degrees centigrade, while ambient temperatures were higher as well.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: This was key to the race, with many drivers completing long stints on this compound, which proved to be well-suited to the race day conditions, and showed low degradation.
• MEDIUM C3: The most popular choice to start the grand prix, with all but five drivers selecting them for the first stint.
• SOFT C4: Used very little during the race; only by four drivers in the top 10 of the grid, who were obliged to use them for the first stint.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

"There were a number of different strategies at work during the race, with drivers also reacting to what the others were doing. The one-stopper was helped to be made possible by track temperatures that were warmer than previous days and no more rain, meaning that there was less sliding and reduced graining, which tipped the balance back towards one or two stops, rather than two or more. The hard tyre was the crucial one for the race and we saw some very long stints run on this compound. Lewis Hamilton in particular made the very most of it in order to seal another win, despite not being on the front row of the grid, on a track where overtaking is always quite tricky."

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND

LONGEST STINT OF THE RACE

PIT STOP SUMMARY

Source: Pirelli