F1: Hamilton Blames Mercedes Teammate Bottas After Falling Further Behind Verstappen In Title Race

Reigning F1 champion Lewis Hamilton blamed his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas for letting Max Verstappen pass them at the start of the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday.

Red Bull racer Verstappen, who started second on the grid in Mexico, went on to win the race and went clear of Hamilton by 19 points in the drivers' championship of F1 2021. The Dutchman, who is aiming to deny Hamilton a record eighth drivers' title, now has won nine races this season with four races and a total of 107 points remaining.

Hamilton claimed P2, while Verstappen's Mexican teammate Sergio Perez finished third at his home Grand Prix, which was his third straight P3 finish and overall, a fifth podium finish in this campaign.

Despite Mercedes locking the front row in the qualifying with Bottas at the pole, Verstappen wasted little time after the green lights went off at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. He took the lead at the first corner, slotting into a gap left by Bottas.

"I had envisaged it differently, naturally, in the sense that Valtteri maybe would get a better start and I would have tried to get into his tow. But obviously, I was alongside him, which was good. And then I was just covering my side of the track, trying to make sure no one could come up the inside so I was trying to keep whichever Red Bull I could see in my mirror behind," Hamilton said in a post-race interview Sunday.

Hamilton has won the drivers' title in each of the seasons since 2017. He has not triumphed in the last three races in the underway season, with Verstappen winning the last two in the U.S. and Mexico.

"I thought Valtteri would be doing the same but obviously he left the door open for Max. And Max was on the racing line so he did a mega job braking into turn one and because I'm on the inside in the dirt there was no hope for me," added Hamilton.

Even Verstappen has credited the braking that put him in the winning position at the very start of the race in Mexico City. "It was all about braking late. I kept it on the track and that basically made my race," Verstappen was quoted by BBC Sport as saying after his victory.

After Bottas lost his lead at the first corner, Mercedes' vows further increased when he was hit by Daniel Ricciardo and as a result, the Finnish racer fell at the back of the grid. That left Hamilton trying alone to see off the threat of both the Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

"That made the race a lot harder, naturally. Having one car ahead just means they can play on the strategy. Sergio I think was super-close within that first stint and I couldn't really pull away from him. So it was a moment where they were either going to undercut us or we were going to undercut them. So we stopped and I think the team did a great job – it was just we didn't have really much left on the tyres at the end. But where there's a will, there's a way. We managed to keep them behind. One more lap and I think it would have been over," added Hamilton.

Meanwhile, a one-three finish moved Red Bull to just one point behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship.

The upcoming Grand Prix is in Brazil and the main race is scheduled to take place on Nov. 14.