record 65th front-row lock-out – earned after Verstappen’s pole demotion on Saturday – while Hamilton’s getaway from third was searing. As he swept left, though, his progress was arrested by a rather cheeky squeeze from Vettel. As Leclerc led Vettel into Turn 1, Verstappen and Hamilton went through the corner behind side-by-side. As they both struggled for grip, their cars swinging wildly, they made light contact, both running off the track and allowing Albon and Sainz to sweep past into third and fourth, Hamilton re-joining in fifth, Verstappen eighth. There was brief contact, too, between the Ferrari pair, Vettel lightly running into the back of his team mate as the Monegasque appeared to dawdle on the apex on Turn 3. Further back, meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen found himself ina George Russell/Kevin Magnussen sandwich, with the resulting debris from that and Hamilton vs Verstappen briefly bringing out a Virtual Safety Car.

MEXICAN GP: Watch the F1 race start in Mexico City

If Verstappen had been annoyed by losing pole and then his contact with Hamilton, he would have been livid on Lap 4 when, with racing having resumed, he nailed Bottas into the Foro Sol stadium, only for the Finn to lightly tag his right-rear. The resulting puncture only manifested after the Dutchman had passed the pits, meaning a whole lap around for Verstappen with his tyre delaminating, the eventual pit stop bringing him out plum last. His third successive win in Mexico was clearly not to be… Having comfortably run in third – the first time he’d ever