The 2022 Mexican Grand Prix will be remembered for what happened off the circuit rather than on it, after Max Verstappen cruised to yet another lights-to-flag victory in a race where very little overtaking took place.
Verstappen’s fourth victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was also his 14th of the season, meaning he eclipsed Sebastian Vettel’s and Michael Schumacher’s joint record for most wins in a single season.
The race was largely uneventful due to an inability for the drivers to run close together, or risk overheating.
Mixed strategies also saw little action take place, as Lewis Hamilton struggled to match Verstappen’s lap-times on his harder rubber.
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Mercedes went for a more conservative strategy, unlike their Austrian rivals, who went for an aggressive approach on the softer compounds.
It ultimately meant that Verstappen was able to manage his softer tyres whilst matching Hamilton’s lap-times, resulting in another victory.
The pair’s on-track rivalry certainly appears to be as present as ever, with the duo having endured an awkward silence with each other in the cooldown room; however, Hamilton did actually defend actions taken by Verstappen in regard to the media.
Red Bull announced that Verstappen wouldn’t speak to any of Sky’s networks during the Mexican GP, with the Dutchman having become unhappy with the broadcaster’s handling of the 2021 season finale and the ‘Cashgate’ scandal.
The main issue appears to be Sky F1 reporter Ted Kravitz, who during his post-United States Grand Prix show, ‘Ted’s notebook’, mentioned many times that Hamilton was “robbed” in 2021.
The experienced reporter also called the Mercedes driver an eight-time World Champion during his show in Mexico.
“[Hamilton] gets robbed, comes back, his next year’s car is rubbish… doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him,” Kravitz said during ‘Ted’s Notebook’ after the US Grand Prix.
“What a script and a story that would have been. But that’s not the way the script turned out, was it?”
Red Bull supported Verstappen’s decision to boycott any Sky interviews, which saw no member of the Austrian side speak to the broadcaster.
Verstappen took aim at the situation after the race, where he revealed that he doesn’t want to talk to the company who continue to be “disrespecting me”.
“At the moment, social media is a very toxic place,” Verstappen said after claiming yet another victory.
“And if you are constantly being like that, live on TV, you make it only worse instead of trying to make it better in the world.
“You keep being… You keep disrespecting me, and one point I’m not tolerating it anymore, so that’s why I decided to stop answering.”
Hamilton, who is always the first to hit out at social media trolls and abuse, appeared to defend his fierce rival, after admitting himself that social media is “getting more and more toxic” and that the platforms need to start “doing more to protect people”.
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“Yeah, I think social media is getting more and more toxic as the years go on,” Hamilton said to the media.
“I think we should probably get off it, ultimately. So many people… mental health is such a prominent thing right now. I know so many people reading their comments and the stuff that people say and it is hurtful.
“Fortunately, I don’t read that stuff but the media platforms definitely need to do more to protect people, particularly young kids and women. But at the moment, they’re not doing that so I think it will just continue.”