It was a dream start for championship winner, Max Verstappen as he held off the Mercedes going into turn 1.
A tyre compound battle made it interesting with the silver arrows opting for the slower medium tyre contrary to the rest of the field.
Sergio Perez made the home fans roar with a swooping move up the inside of George Russell leaving Hamilton in a Red Bull sandwich.
While the Ferraris, that found themselves in the unusual position of being only the third best team, sat in 5th and 6th with a lack of pace putting them out of the podium running.
Further down the Alpines looked strong yet again with Fernando Alonso continuing to defy his age with brilliant performances – even if he can come across bitter in the press conferences.
While the Flying Finn appeared to have found his form following a tough few races running 8th in the early stages.
The race settled into a rhythm with the tight Autodromo Herman’s Rodriguez proving a difficult place to overtake.
Pierre Gasly has done wonders since rejoining the Alpha Tauri – formerly known as Torro Rosso – team with that win in Monza instantly springing to mind.
However his end to the season is fizzling out with an uncompetitive car by the teams lofty standards.
Things didn’t get much better with a 5 second penalty dished out to the Frenchman after it was judged he impeded Lance Stroll when going past the Aston Martin.
Lap 24 and it’s far to say this race hadn’t been a world so far.
Some pit stops were needed to get us back on our feet again and Sergio duly obliged.
A slow stop did nothing to appease the adoring fans that want him to win here so badly CHANGE FOR TENSE.
He came out behind the Ferraris on a set of medium tyres with a team radio message suggesting he was moving to a two stop strategy.
His teammate followed him in soon after and it now remained to be seen how the Mercedes could respond and how far they could take the tyres.
Perez began pumping in the purple sectors and blasted past Leclerc to get up to fifth.
The cheers reverberating all around Mexico no doubt.
Whether the two stop will be fastest remained to be seen, although it certainly provided the home fans with some aggressive driving from their main man.
Hamilton was in and predictably opted for the hard compound that would seem him through to the end of the race.
While the Ferraris came in confirming they were running a two stop and continued to try and make up ground on the leaders.
The Scarlet red car has been formidable in all conditions this season but it seemed the Mexico circuit was not gelling with the car as other tracks have.
The battle for the last few points positions wars hotting up with a number of teams in contention/
Alonso, Bottas and Ocon were yet to pit but all had the pace to do something special and were waiting in the wings if any of the front runners slipped up.
As lap 45 approached in the race we were waiting to see what would happen following the second round of pit stops.
Hamilton was now 10 seconds behind Verstappen as he continued to control the race out front.
Perez hustled and harried in third just outside of the DRS zone while Russell was some way behind.
The Ferraris were in a race of their own. A comfortable 5th and 6th without ever looking likely to move forward.
The Alpines looked strong in 7th and 8th while Bottas and Norris held onto the final positions.
Another strong showing from the young Brit as McLaren hope to end the season on a high.
It had been a clean race so far with the drivers keeping it on track throughout.
Lap 51 brought some action though as Daniel Ricciardo tried an audacious move down the inside of the Alpha Tauri.
The Australian had the pace and tyre advantage as he tried to get back into the points, but his move seemed lazy rather than the bravery that has characterised his Formula 1 career.
The Australian continued but for Tsunoda his race was over.
A few expletives over the radio and a quick scan from the team back in the pits showed there was no coming back this weekend and confirmed the team would score no points in Mexico.
The penalty seemed to shock Ricciardo back to life.
Suddenly he was flying on the soft compound and found himself up in 7th – albeit with the 10 second penalty.
Alonso lamented more car troubles over the radio as it slipped down the field with some mechanical problems.
There’s no doubt he’s been one of the quickest drivers this season, but his points tally shows that he could have achieved more if the car was more reliable.
Heartbreakingly, the Spaniard got to lap 65 before pulling over. The second DNF of the race.
Out in front the Red bull’s second stop never came, and as a result, neither did the action.
It was another easy win for Verstappen who proved he had no intention of giving wins to his teammate with the championship wrapped up.
With that he overtakes legends Schumacher and See Vettel with the most wins in won season.
This was the Dutchman 14th win in a dominant season for driver and team.
Hamilton did all he could but holding onto second was the most he could hope for in the end with Perez delighting the home crowd in third.
Russell took the fastest lap after pitting under the VSC following Alonso parking up his Alpine.
Ricciardo did a stonking job to overcome his 10 second penalty and claim 7th. Some much needed points for the Aussie.
F1 heads south in two weeks for the penultimate GP of the year in Brazil.