WATCH: Throwback to Lewis Hamilton winning his 4th world title at the 2017 Mexican GP after collision

In 2017, Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix and secured his fourth-ever world title against his then-rival Sebastian Vettel. This victory put him neck to neck, equalling Vettel’s four world titles. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race, and Hamilton finished in ninth position below Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth, but still, he won the championship. 

Before the race, Hamilton came with a 66-point lead over Sebastian Vettel. To secure the championship Vettel needed to score 17 points ahead of Hamilton. So, Ferrari and he needed a definite win. Vettel was very curious about securing the pole position during qualifying and he secured it.

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The championship fight turns into a collision

Drama at the start of the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix for Lewis 😬

However, it still didn't stop him from clinching his fourth world championship 🏆#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/784R4LHFgO

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2024

But at the start, everything changed for Vettel as he had a terrible start to the race. The P2 driver Max Verstappen overtook him on the second corner. Hamilton also had a good start and he surpassed Vettel but the Ferrari driver managed to get some pace and tried to overtake Hamilton in the third corner and punctured his rear tyre. Hamilton and Vettel went for Pit stops as the Mercedes needed a tyre change while the Ferrari wanted a new front wing.

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Both the championship contenders went back to last with Vettel at P19 and P20. To keep his championship dream alive Vettel needed to finish at least P2 but he managed to only P4 and Hamilton finished P9. So mathematically he won his 4th world championship title at the Mexican Grand Prix without even winning the race.

The top three drivers to finish at the Mexican Grand Prix were Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. Verstappen won his third-ever Grand Prix win, which has now become 60+ race wins for him. He also has the most race wins at the Mexican Grand Prix having won 5 races in the country.

Max Verstappen's evolution as a driver and world champion is very amazing to see, coming as a replacement driver, securing the seat won his first race for Red Bull, and now he is the most successful driver for the Austrian Team.

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