Lewis Hamilton made an excellent start at the Mexican Grand Prix which ultimately saw the seven-time World Champion hold on to second place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, despite coming under some pressure from Sergio Pérez.
It’s safe to say Sunday’s race in Mexico City won’t be making its way onto the list of the most exciting races in the modern history of the sport; in fact, it was quite the opposite.
Following the opening sequence of corners, where Hamilton and Pérez both got ahead of George Russell for second and third, very little happened.
In regard to the top four, nothing else happened, as the drivers struggled to follow one another consistently.
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Pérez did close to almost within a second of Hamilton at times, but then had to back off as a result of overheating concerns.
It made for a bit of precession in all honesty, one which still saw Max Verstappen claim another lights-to-flag victory.
Hamilton might have had more say in the race had it not been for being on the wrong tyre strategy, after Mercedes opted for a conservative Medium-Hard strategy, whereas Red Bull went for an ultra-aggressive Soft-Medium strategy.
Tyre wear ended up not being an issue on Sunday, making the aggressive strategy very doable, something Toto Wolff apologised for after the race.
Despite this, Hamilton claimed back-to-back second place finishes and moved to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship.
He was quick to thank his team after the race and insisted that “we’re getting closer”.
“Mega job everyone,” the Brit said on the team radio after crossing the line in second.
“Great job with the pit stop and thank you for continuing to push. They were just too quick today but let’s keep pushing. We’re getting closer.”
What happened after the race, though, wasn’t nice.
Whilst approaching an interviewer to complete his post-race interview, Hamilton was met by an onslaught of boos and jeers, similar to what Verstappen experienced at the United States Grand Prix just the week before.
Home hero Pérez even wagged his finger in the air in a bid to get the fans to stop the disrespectful behaviour, which is becoming an unwelcomed theme at most venues this season.
Hamilton actually admitted to having faced “awkward” boos during the weekend, something he was clearly surprised at.
“This has been an amazing crowd, but definitely a bit awkward this time around,” Hamilton started saying in his post-race interview.
“Boos all day, but nonetheless I have so much love for Mexico and for the people here – and what a great race event they put on this weekend.”
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“But I think the Red Bulls just clearly too fast today and ultimately they had the better tyre strategy,” he explained.
“I’m not sure it was the right tyre at the end. I thought we should have started on the soft, but obviously we had the opposite tyre.
“It was OK in the first stint, but that hard tyre was just the opposite. Congratulations to Max. It’s great to be here and to separate the two Red Bulls.”