Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after placing second after the Formula One Mexico Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack in Mexico City on October 29, 2023. (Photo by Alfredo ESTRELLA / AFP)
Lewis Hamilton said he felt “incredibly proud” of his Mercedes team on Sunday after bouncing back from his disqualification in Texas to finish a strong second in the Mexico Grand Prix.
Seven days after that disappointment at the United States Grand Prix, where Hamilton came home 2.2 seconds behind Red Bull’s three-time champion Max Verstappen, he repeated the result at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that today,” he said. “And it’s a great feeling to be putting one foot in front of the other and progressing.
“Last weekend, we hit the ground running, but this time we had to dig deep to get the set-up right and we did a great job to progress so well in early phases of the race and then to charge for a podium and second place is amazing.
“I am very happy and I am incredibly proud of my team and I have total faith in them. I know we have great engineers and we can build a great car even if we haven’t done that for a couple of years.
“So we need to be strategic and clinical if we are to battle those guys (Red Bull) as they are so quick on the straight but I am sure we can have a car to match them and then we will have great battles next year.”
His Mercedes teammate George Russell came home a disappointed sixth and said his car had overheated.
“The last 20 laps were terrible. My brakes overheated and I had to back off. I lost temperature in the tyres and then it was like driving on ice and in the end I was lucky to finish P6. I hope it’s more consistent in Brazil.”