Lewis Hamilton didn't have the race he might have imagined when he climbed into his car on the grid ahead of Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, but he did enough to claim a fourth world championship, ranking him alongside Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
Max Verstappen was the victor as he dominated the Mexican GP from start to finish, thanks to the drama that happened behind him at the start.
As the lights went out, Sebastian Vettel got away from pole position well to lead into Turn 1, but he was forced to defend from an aggressive Verstappen and the pair made brief contact. Verstappen got his nose ahead at Turn 2 as Hamilton got involved in the fight.
A slight mistake for Vettel put Verstappen and Hamilton ahead come Turn 3, but the Ferrari driver made contact with Hamilton's right-rear tyre, causing a puncture which dropped the Briton down to last place and forcing him to make an early stop.
Vettel meanwhile had to stop too with front-wing damage. The pair were forced to fight back through the field with Vettel eventually finishing fourth, but with victory required to keep his title hopes alive, Hamilton need not worry about where he finished, although he pushed hard in the closing laps to finish ninth.
His Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was a distant second, almost 20 seconds behind Verstappen, with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium.
Behind Vettel was Esteban Ocon, cementing Force India's fourth-place in the standings as Lance Stroll crossed the finish line sixth ahead of local hero Sergio Perez and Haas' Kevin Magnussen.
Fernando Alonso completed the top ten after a crowd-pleasing battle with Hamilton, as McLaren enjoyed a rare double finish with Stoffel Vandoorne in P12, behind Felipe Massa.
It was a race of attrition with the high altitude hitting the engines hard, particularly those powered by Renault. Four retirements for the French manufacturer with Daniel Ricciardo dropping out early on despite going from 16th to ninth in the opening few laps.
He was joined on the DNF list by Nico Hulkenberg, Bredon Hartley, Marcus Ericsson and Carlos Sainz.
