Hamilton ended up being 15 seconds behind Verstappen at the chequered flag

Mercedes are still unsure whether a change of strategy would have helped them to beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen took the chequered flag at the Mexico City Grand Prix 15 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen claimed a record-breaking 14th win of the season.

The Dutchman started on the soft tyre, unlike Hamilton starting on the medium. The 25-year-old then took the soft tyre until lap 25 to then go on to the medium tyre.

From there, Verstappen was able to manage the medium tyre to go to the end of the race, pulling off a simple one-stop strategy.

Elsewhere, Hamilton opted to start the race on the medium tyre. The Briton then ran four laps extra than the Dutchman, pitting for hards on lap 29.

Mercedes believed that Verstappen would struggle on the medium tyre towards the end of the race. However, this was not the case, showing that the medium tyre was better than the hard.

What was Ricciardo’s strategy?

Ricciardo started the race like most drivers on the medium compound tyre. The Australian could have easily followed Mercedes’ strategy to go on to the hard tyre for a simple one-stop.

However, McLaren saw Sebastian Vettel’s first stint on the soft tyre. The German was able to take his soft tyres for 38 laps before pitting onto the medium tyre.

Therefore, McLaren opted for Ricciardo to go longer on the medium tyre, taking them to lap 44 before pitting. The Australian then pit onto the soft tyre, showing incredible pace in the last phase of the race.

Despite receiving a 10-second time penalty for a collision that ended Yuki Tsunoda’s race, Ricciardo was able to finish in seventh and earn driver of the day.

The 33-year-old overtook drivers on the hard tyre with ease, such as: Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.

“Always easier to judge in hindsight”, says Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that it is “always easier to judge in hindsight”, regarding Mercedes’ strategy. George Russell was the first driver to ask the question to the team whether he could go long on the mediums to go on the softs later on in the race.

However, the Silver Arrows opted against the idea and pit the Briton onto the hard tyre on lap 34. Russell then complained about the hard tyre not being as good as the medium tyre with Hamilton doing the same.

Despite the obvious error, the German said that the medium-hard strategy was the best according to their pre-race data:

“I think the one-stop, medium-hard, looked like the right strategy,” said Wolff. “That the medium held on for so long at the end came as a surprise.

“But hindsight is the thing. If we were to restart the race, maybe we would choose a different tyre.”

Wolff still believes that the medium-soft strategy would still have not been enough to beat Red Bull and Max Verstappen. The German believes that it would have still been difficult to overtake the Dutchman for the win, speaking to Motorsport.com.

“I don’t think we could have overtaken them, because [with] the gaps, that would have been basically the reverse strategy,” believes Wolff

“Even the soft-medium, that would have been a bit of an advantage into Turn 1. Lewis was on the outside, so you never know how it would have come.

“But we would have been even closer on a different strategy.”