MEXICO CITY, 31 Oct: It quickly became clear this would be the season that Max Verstappen set the record for most wins in a Formula One season.
\nIt was never a question of if the Dutchman would win 14 races.
\nIt was only a question of when.
\nAnd now? By how much will Verstappen ultimately shatter the mark he shared with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel?
\nVerstappen set the F1 record for wins in a season Sunday at the Mexico City Grand Prix with his 14th victory of the season. It broke the record set by Schumacher in 2004 and tied by Vettel it 2013.
\nVerstappen only shared the mark with the Germans for all of one week following his victory last Sunday at Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Paired with wins at Miami, Montreal and now Mexico City, Verstappen swept the North American portion of this year\u2019s F1 schedule.
\nJust another day for Verstappen.
\n\u201cI was never really interested in stats,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cI always just live in the moment. I try to do the best I can every single weekend. I try to win races and that is the most important thing. I am not that interested in keeping up with every stat. It is amazing season and we are happy to be winning.\u201d
\nVerstappen retained his F1 world championship with four races remaining in the season, clinched the constructors championship for Red Bull with three races remaining in the season, and has two races left to thoroughly demolish the wins-in-a-season record.
\nRed Bull has won nine consecutive races, tying the team record set in 2013. The team has won 16 of 21 F1 races this season with Verstappen and Sergio Perez, winner at Monaco and Singapore.
\nLewis Hamilton finished second for the second consecutive week. He might have had a shot at his first win of the season, but Mercedes made the wrong call on a tire change that gave Verstappen control.
\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t choose the right tire strategy in hindsight,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cNonetheless, to be this close to Red Bull makes me very proud of my team. We\u2019re getting closer to the front, and we will continue to push. The last couple of races, we\u2019ve taken a big step forward with the car and I hope we will continue like this for the final two.\u201d
\nPerez finished third on his home track for the second consecutive year \u2014 earning deafening cheers even though a Mexican driver has yet to win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
\nPerez has been mobbed by adoring fans all week in his return. It began with a demonstration run in his hometown of Guadalajara before he arrived at the circuit, where Perez has been swarmed by crowds as soon as he enters the paddock.
\nHe had to use a back route to get to the Red Bull garage each on-track session as drivers and teams complained most of the weekend that the spectators who had purchased paddock access were too aggressive.
\nBut the fans love their native driver and, before the race, Perez took a ride around the track on the back of a convertible Volkswagen. He often held his hand to his heart to show his appreciation to the 120,000-plus fans.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible, honestly,\u201d Perez told the crowd in Spanish after the race. \u201cThank you for all the support you\u2019ve given me this weekend. You\u2019re incredible, the best fan base. Thank you.\u201d
\nThe three-day weekend sold out in two minutes earlier this year, and the three-day crowd of 395,902 broke the mark set last year of 371,779. F1 also said ahead of the race that it had extended its contract with the race \u2014 often voted most popular among fans \u2014 through 2025. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEXICO CITY, 31 Oct: It quickly became clear this would be the season that Max Verstappen set the record for most wins in a Formula One season. It was never a question of if the Dutchman would win 14 races. It was only a question of when. And now? By how much will Verstappen ultimately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-203730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}