F1′s Mexican mess: How Vettel finished third, fourth AND fifth

It’s going to be a pub quiz question for years to come: Which F1 drivers finished in three different positions, in a single race?

Step forward quadruple World Champion Sebastian Vettel (pictured), a man famous in the sport for wanting to hold as many records as possible and who has now set a particularly unusual record for occupying three different finishing places at the Mexican Grand Prix.

To be absolutely accurate, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo also finished in third, fourth and fifth places, though in a different order.

Vettel may also have set a record for the most offensive tirade ever broadcast in F1. And it’s just possible that, if there’s a record for the most recorded whinges in a race, he’s utterly smashed that too.

How Vettel finished fourth (and other words beginning with F)

Easy one, this. He crossed the line behind race winner Lewis Hamilton, championship leader Nico Rosberg, and Red Bull wonderkid Max Verstappen (pictured).

But he was less than happy with this finishing position, even though it represented one of his lacklustre season’s better results.

His anger was directed, initially at least, towards Verstappen, who ran wide over the grass while defending third place against Vettel on lap 68, but still retained third place on track.

Verstappen had certainly benefitted from driving over the grass but, as there were only three laps remaining, the stewards announced they would examine the incident after the race. Red Bull initially told Verstappen to give Vettel third place but, in the absence of a stewards’ ruling, Verstappen remained in third position.

Vettel was utterly apoplectic and, for F1 bosses, it was pit radio gold dust. Vettel shouted to his team: ‘He (Verstappen) has to let me go, he has to let me go,’ and was urged to stay calm by Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene.

Maybe ‘calm down’ doesn’t translate into German (though sich abregen is a pretty good approximation) because Vettel just got more agitated at Verstappen and more obscene.

He shouted: ‘Moooove, moooove. He’s a [obscenity] that’s what he is.’

As the race neared its end, Vettel turned his vitriol on Race Director Charlie Whiting, telling his team: ‘Here’s a message to Charlie: **** off. Honestly, **** off.’

Credit to Vettel where it’s due, he’d also put in some good, solid moaning earlier in the race, berating back markers for having the temerity to be on the same track as him. As usual.

Oh, and there was this nugget: ‘I mean, honestly, I’m going to hit someone.’

On the cool-down lap, Vettel drew up alongside Verstappen and wagged his finger in a most disapproving way. Verstappen replied with a gesture that suggested Vettel might enjoy his own company too much…

If you didn’t mind the swearing and allusions to physical violence, it was all good entertainment, and on that basis alone Vettel probably deserved to finish fourth, if not on the podium. Probably.

How Vettel finished third

The stewards didn’t waste much time looking at the Verstappen excursion which so riled Vettel.

But Verstappen’s car was parked in front of the podium, in the third-place slot. Verstappen himself was in the cool-down room with the Mercedes drivers, awaiting the podium ceremony.

Meanwhile, Vettel (pictured) and a phalanx of Ferrari types were seen marching and running towards the presentation area. Was Vettel actually going to punch someone?

Then, the stewards’ decision was announced – a five-second penalty for Verstappen, which dropped him to fifth position and promoted the still raging Vettel to third, while nudging Ricciardo up to fourth.

Verstappen seemed nonplussed when he received the news, cheerily saying ‘Seeya guys’ to the Merc pair before briefly explaining to them why he wasn’t going to be on the podium after all, then heading off to face the media.

Vettel then appeared in the cooldown room, still muttering and clearly agitated, despite his promotion to third place.

It didn’t stop him celebrating enthusiastically on the podium, and making light of his outbursts when he was interviewed.

There was one slight problem, a bizarre twist that was to come after the podium ceremony was long over…

How Vettel finished fifth

The problem for Vettel was that, while he was swearing at the Race Director and berating other drivers for their lack of racecraft, his own racecraft was leaving a little to be desired.

In particular, he was moving in the braking zone when defending against Ricciardo.

This is a no-no – it’s dangerous and the rules surrounding it were clarified before last week’s US Grand Prix in response to complaints about Verstappen’s habit of changing direction at the last moment to block overtakes.

Perhaps the loudest voice calling for a crackdown on moving in the braking zone had been … one Sebastian Vettel’s.

Oops.

Vettel was given a ten-second penalty (and a couple of penalty points on his licence) which dropped him down to fifth position, promoting Verstappen back up to fourth and Ricciardo to third. He thus entered the record books as being the first driver penalised under the current braking regulations, which he’d been instrumental in introducing.

Did you follow all that? It was a bonkers series of events, and I’ve never seen anything like it in F1 (or any other sport, for that matter).

The final placings were vindication for Ricciardo, who had insisted in no uncertain terms that Vettel didn’t deserve to be on the podium after his braking shenanigans.

‘He’s smiling now… for me he doesn’t deserve to be up there,’ he said.

Later, Red Bull arranged a happy little photo call (pictured) in which Verstappen presented the third-place trophy to Ricciardo.

Third and fourth was an excellent result for Red Bull. As for Ferrari, it was ultimately yet another uninspiring end to an uninspiring weekend.

How Hamilton started first (and finished first)

Ricciardo raised concerns about Hamilton’s approach – or lack of approach – to the first corner, where he careered across the grass and held on to first place in the process.

On the slow-down lap, Ricciardo told his team there should be ‘a ****ing wall there’ to punish drivers who made mistakes.

Later, he told reporters: ‘I didn’t understand the start: how can you be leading the race, defend, lock your wheels and go off track, and still stay in the lead?

‘Lewis deserved a penalty – anyone in that position deserves a penalty.’

Verstappen echoed the comments, saying: ‘Lewis ran off – he gained a massive advantage. I didn’t even gain an advantage [when I ran off], so I think it’s ridiculous.’

Aside from the first-corner drama, Hamilton’s was a textbook weekend, qualifying strongly, leading from pole and managing the race from the front.

The championship is still Nico Rosberg’s to lose but, again, Hamilton (pictured) did what he had to do to stay in with a chance of another world title.

Some other records

In the midst of all the weirdness at the beginning and end, there were some other notable statistics from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Mercedes had their 18^th pole of the season, equalling that particular record.

They also became the first constructors to record 17 race wins in a season, having been beaten only twice so far this year.

Valtteri Bottas powered his Williams through the speed trap at 372km/h (231mph), breaking Kimi Raikkonen’s F1 speed record – the 1.6litre engines are producing a remarkable amount of power.

Hamilton’s victory meant he had taken first place at 23 different tracks ­– that matched the record set by Michael Schumacher.

It also meant he had matched Alain Prost’s career record of 51 wins – only Schumacher has more.

Prost tweeted: ‘51 and not the end . Well deserved.’ For his part, Hamilton said it was an honour to match Prost’s achievement.

Finally, from F1 records to an F1 stuck record. Fernando Alonso (pictured) was back on fine form, roundly abusing his car yet again for failing to be up to scratch.

On lap 16, he was told to push, and responded angrily: ‘I’ve been pushing from lap 1 … with a car that should not be in the race.’

On days like these, who’d be a McLaren engineer? Or, for that matter, a race steward? Or even Sebastian Vettel’s stress ball? Who indeed…