‘They should call it the Maxico Grand Prix!’ - Verstappen revels in sixth Mexico City win

Max Verstappen joked the Mexico City Grand Prix should be renamed the ‘Maxico Grand Prix’ after taking his sixth win in the event.

The Red Bull driver first won at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2017 and has gone on to achieve a further five victories, including Sunday’s race as he took advantage of infighting between the Ferrari drivers. No other driver has won a world championship event in Mexico more than twice, but Verstappen says he doesn’t have an explanation for his ongoing success.

“They should actually call it the ‘Maxico’ Grand Prix!” Verstappen said. “That would be great. I honestly love being here. I love the city, I love the environment, I love the fans, but I have no idea why you win six here and maybe only one [somewhere else].

“It just happens. Sometimes your car just comes alive, and you've had good races and not a lot of bad luck sometimes as well. So, yeah, it's just always come together for me here, and, of course, I happily take that.”

Despite now winning three of the last four races, Verstappen admits his latest victory was a surprise as he started from fifth on the grid, but highlighted the opening lap battle between the Ferraris as key to his hopes.

“It’s something that I didn't expect heading into [the race],” he said. “But I think the first start already made my race a bit better, getting into Turn 1, and then, of course, the battle that I saw unfold in Turn 4 put me in a quite nice spot.

“Then it was a bit tough, to be honest. I think Charles [Leclerc] just pulled away. I could not really stay with him. I did not have the pace to follow him, but at the same time, I was still within that around five-second window. So, then the team did a really good job to follow him in, and it's always very tough when you have a five-second penalty to actually make it exactly five seconds. So, I jumped him, and honestly, after that, it was quite tough.

“Kimi [Antonelli] was flying, still, out there on the first set of tires, and I just did not really have the grip for whatever reason. So Charles was very close, but at the same time, it's very hard to follow around here because everything overheats, and that probably helped me as well because I think at one point Charles had to back off just for cooling, and that was quite nice for me.

“But at the same time, when I saw the safety car come out just out of the last corner and I couldn't box, I was like, ‘There's no way this is happening now,’ because that was then probably game over for me. Then, of course, it ended up being a red flag, so then it reset everything. I was a bit worried because our starts this year have not been amazing, but luckily today, twice, they have actually been good, and that then made my way till the end.

“But it was not made easy. I mean, Lewis [Hamilton] was in my gearbox, pushing hard. It was basically a qualifying lap till the end. Yeah, it was tough out there. It was a tough race to the end, just to not make any mistakes.”