Verstappen sets F1 record for most wins in a season

MEXICO CITY: Red Bull's double world champion Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday (Oct 30) to set a Formula One record of 14 victories in a single season, as well as the most points scored.

The Dutch driver led from pole position at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, stopping on lap 26 of 71 to switch from soft to medium tyres and taking the chequered flag 15.19 seconds clear of Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton.

"It's been an incredible year so far, we are definitely enjoying it and we'll try to go for more," said Verstappen, who clinched his second title in Japan on Oct 9 and had an untroubled afternoon.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez finished third in front of his cheering home crowd after a race that was low on thrills and all about tyre strategy.

Verstappen's win was the 25-year-old's fourth in Mexico and the podium was the same as last year.

In Austin, Texas, last weekend he had pulled level with German champions Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) on 13 wins in a season.

There are more races now than then, however, with the 2022 season featuring 22 compared to 19 in 2013 and 18 in 2004.

Verstappen also took his points tally to 416 - 136 more than Perez who moved up to second overall and three more than the previous record set by Hamilton in 2019.

It was also the ninth win in a row and 16th from 20 races for Red Bull, who wrapped up the constructors' title in Texas with three rounds to spare, but Mercedes showed they were getting closer.

"I was so close in that first stint but I think the Red Bull was clearly too fast today and ultimately, maybe they had the better tyre strategy," said Hamilton, who felt he should have started on softs instead of mediums before switching to hards.

"I'm not sure (hard)