Lewis wins Mexican Grand Prix; Drama for third slot

Vettel was therefore dropped from third to fifth in the final classification, with Ricciardo moving up to third and Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen - who earlier had five seconds added to his race time for going off track and gaining an advantage whilst battling the four-time champion - to fourth.

Thus the Mexican race ended with a lot of podium changes. In addition to a 10-second penalty, Vettel was also handed two penalty points on his license, bringing his total to six points in the last 12 months.  

Meanwhile, victory in Mexico meant Lewis Hamilton was very much in the fight for the 2016 championship crown. He now moves to within 19 points of team mate Nico Rosberg in the title fight - and also level with four-time world champion Alain Prost on 51 F1 victories. The only person ahead of Hamilton now is Michael Schumacher at 91.

According to Formula One news, this was also the 23rd different circuit at which Hamilton has prevailed - a record only Schumacher can match. Of the current venues, there are just two at which Hamilton has never triumphed - Baku (where he has only raced once), and Sao Paulo, where his best finish is second.  For Mercedes meanwhile, this was a 17th triumph in 19 races - breaking their own record of 16 wins in a single season, set in both 2014 and '15. And they still have two races, one in Brazil and the other in Abu Dhabi, to add to the tally.

After the two drivers crossed one saw Max Verstappen finishing third. But taking into account the penalties, the third position finally went to the Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. With this Ricciardo is now assured of third place in the drivers' standings. He now has 242 points to Vettel's 187 - an unassailable advantage.

Force India’s two drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez came seventh and tenth respectively, thus scoring points for the Vijay Mallya controlled company.

For the sixth time this season, the top ten positions were filled by just five teams - and they also happened to be the current top five in the constructors' standings - Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Force India and Williams.

Final positions:

1              Lewis Hamilton               Mercedes

2              Nico Rosberg                   Mercedes

3              Daniel Ricciardo              Red Bull Racing

4              Max Verstappen              Red Bull Racing

5              Sebastian Vettel               Ferrari

6              Kimi Räikkönen              Ferrari

7              Nico Hulkenberg             Force India Mercedes

8              Valtteri Bottas                Williams

9              Felipe Massa                  Williams

10           Sergio Perez                     Force India

11           Marcus Ericsson              Sauber Ferrari

12           Jenson Button                 Mclaren Honda

13           Fernando Alonso             Mclaren Honda               

14           Jolyon Palmer                 Renault

15           Felipe Nasr                      Sauber Ferrari

16           Carlos Sainz                    Toro Rosso

17           Kevin Magnussen            Renault

18           Daniil Kvyat                    Toro Rosso

19           Esteban Gutierrez           Haas

20           Romain Grosjean             Haas

21           Esteban Ocon                    MRT

NC          Pascal Wehrlein               MRT