Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 on Mexico's return to F1

Nico Rosberg converted pole position into race victory for the first Mexican Grand Prix since 1992. Lewis Hamilton was 2nd, having run closely to his Mercedes team mate for most of the race. Unlike the previous race in Austin, Rosberg kept Hamilton at bay at the start and controlled the race from there.

The track was hotter than it had been all weekend, so it was a dive into the unknown for the teams in terms of strategy. Mercedes were expected to make just one stop, but Rosberg surprised with a second which the team said was for safety reasons.

Hamilton initially questioned the decision to pit, insisting that his tyres felt fine. He eventually obliged to the team’s request, but wanted to have his tyres studied after the stop to see if he could indeed have managed to finish the race on that set.

Meanwhile it was a torrid day for Ferrari. Having fancied their chances at pushing Mercedes for victory, Sebastian Vettel was compromised almost immediately after contact with Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner, leaving him with a puncture. He later had a spin at the esses before crashing at turn 7 to end his race.

Kimi Raikkonen also struggled having started from 19th place. He had to change to an older spec engine yesterday, but the team were confident of getting the Finn into the top 4 by the end of the race. His race ended, though, when he collided with his countryman Valtteri Bottas at turn 5 in a role reversal scenario from Russia. He was left with left-rear suspension damage. It marked the first time that neither Ferrari was a classified finisher since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.

Bottas went on to finish on the final step of the podium. Williams pitted both cars very early, which indicated a two stop strategy. They came under pressure from the Red Bulls later in the race, but a safety car for Vettel’s stricken Ferrari handed them a lifeline. They pitted and Bottas only lost out to Daniil Kvyat, and was past him with ease down the 1.2km pit straight on the restart.

Kvyat can still be happy with his performance, well and truly out-performing team mate Ricciardo for 4th, with both managing to hold off Felipe Massa in 6th.

The safety car also helped Nico Hulkenberg in his intra-team battle with the home favourite Sergio Perez. He, like the Williams, had pitted early whilst Perez was going for a one-stop. But he was given the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres to secure 7th place. Both Force Indias kept themselves ahead of Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso.

Romain Grosjean completed the points after coming under pressure from team mate Pastor Maldonado in the later stages of the race, but the Venezuelan could not find a way past. They were just ahead of Marcus Ericsson in 12th. His Sauber team mate Felipe Nasr, however, retired with overheating brakes; a concern for most of the field given the hot temperatures and thin air making cooling a challenge.

Carlos Sainz was 13th with Jenson Button 14th on what has been yet another difficult race for McLaren given their lack of straight line speed. His team mate Fernando Alonso could not even complete one lap after the team found an issue with his MGU-H after qualifying which they were unable to fix. They decided to start the race in a vain attempt to see if they could at least get some laps in.

Alexander Rossi was once again ahead of Will Stevens in 15th for Manor. The American has just one more race with the team in Brazil before he returns to GP2 for the championship finale in Abu Dhabi.

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