Rosberg holds off Hamilton to end wait for win

2015 Mexican Grand Prix summary

Posted on

| Written by

Nico Rosberg ended a five-month victory drought after withstanding race-long pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the Mexican Grand Prix.

The Mercedes pair clinched another one-two as Rosberg was only headed during the pair’s two visits to the pits. A late Safety Car period, triggered when Sebastian Vettel crashed out, allowed Hamilton to draw back within range but Rosberg kept him at arm’s length.

Valtteri Bottas finished on the podium for the second time this year after clashing with Kimi Raikkonen for the second time in three races. This time the Ferrari driver was the one who came off worse, retiring after their turn five clash.

The Red Bull pair finished fourth and fifth ahead of Felipe Massa. The two Force Indias were next, Sergio Perez losing out to team mate Nico Hulkenberg but entertaining the crowd at the Foro Sol stadium by passing two cars there during the course of the race.

Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean completed the points-scorers.

2015 Mexican Grand Prix

Browse all 2015 Mexican Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

87 comments on “Rosberg holds off Hamilton to end wait for win”

  1. Fantastic race today.. Loved the crowd! Amazing race by Perez too..

    1. Apart from the amazing crowd I don’t know which race you have been watching? Maybe the 1992 highlights video on their site as it had more action than this entire race.

      Rosberg did earn this one on pace, or because you simply cannot pass the same car.

      1. Ah, so when Lewis does it he’s god-like driver, gifted with divine talent, “carrying the baton” for Ayrton..
        But when Nico wins, you can’t pass the same car. With two HUGE DRS zones.

        I’m not ranting, really, but you gotta admit-Nico drove a superb race today.

        1. Second that! Nico didn’t let Hamilton a chance. That, was awesome to see.

        2. Nico has been having a hard time passing Lewis on tracks that are easy to pass on so let’s not go that way. Nico indeed had very good pace today but the way Lewis was able to stay so close the entire race for me means he could’ve gone faster had he been able to pass.

          Also ‘so when Lewis does it he’s god-like driver, gifted with divine talent, “carrying the baton” for Ayrton..’, not my words.

          With two HUGE DRS zones.

          One was useless and the s/f was pretty useless too.

          1. @xtwl

            Nico has been having a hard time passing Lewis on tracks that are easy to pass on so let’s not go that way. Nico indeed had very good pace today but the way Lewis was able to stay so close the entire race for me means he could’ve gone faster had he been able to pass.

            No idea how you came to that conclusion. The gap was consistently 2-3 seconds before the safety car. Even after the SC, Hamilton never got within a second of Rosberg despite having tyres that were two laps fresher.

            At best, they were evenly matched. If anything, Rosberg was a tad faster.

          2. drs was useless for lewis because he couldn’t get in to drs range, he couldn’t get in to drs range bc he was slower.
            Nico was the better driver today like he was in Barcelona & austria

          3. @kingshark Not quite true – Hamilton got within a second twice after the safety car, only for him to immediately (ie, before getting to the DRS zone) throw it away with a mistake increasing the gap back to 1.6-1.8s again. On numerous occasions Hamilton was able to close the gap, and either hold it or continue to close when Rosberg responded. But each time he dropped back – whether due to a mistake or attempting to save tyres or cool I don’t know. But each time the gap opened up again is wasn’t because Rosberg upped the pace, but because Hamilton slowed down a bit. On clean air pace, I think Hamilton had the edge today, but rarely got to show it. The only real chance he would have had was just before the first stops – but as the Sky commentary mentioned (pointed out by Kravitz I think) the very long first stint meant there was nothing left in the tyres for Hamilton to try it.

            I don’t want to take anything away from Nico here – he deserved this win fair and square. But have no doubt that Hamilton had the better fundamental pace.

          4. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
            2nd November 2015, 11:01

            Had to go the bed almost immediatelly after the race yesterday, so couldn’t follow the conversation.
            Anyway, here it goes:

            @xtwl “Carrying the baton”, of course not your words, that was something Hamilton said himself for himself, and repeated by many fans. Also, if you re-watch the race, you’ll actually see that many overtakes were done in the DRS zones (both of them).

            @mark adams Hami didn’t really got within 1 sec. of Rosberg in the race, so that’s why DRS in this track might seemed useless, because Hami didn’t had the chance to use it.

            @fluxsource Not sure how can you say that Lewis had the better pace, when, at the same time, stating that it was Lewis himself who either did mistakes, or backed off.

          5. @keisalex I believe, if you removed the effect of the dirty air, Lewis would have had faster pace. It was consistently the final sector where he would lose time when close, a sector where it was particularly difficult to follow. Nico didn’t have to deal with that dirty air, meaning Lewis couldn’t get close enough. But if he’d been released, I think he would have been faster than Nico and been able to pull a gap.

      2. What I like may not be exactly something you would so that’s okay. The second half of the race for me exciting and then it was the crowd that were simply awesome. You may have higher expectations than I do, so fair enough! ;)

      3. @xtwl and yeah one more thing is when Lewis can overtake the same car, Nico can too. Lewis was no match for Nico today, lets admit that. Lewis didn’t even come close to even create a challenge.

      4. Apart from the amazing crowd I don’t know which race you have been watching?

        There was plenty of action throughout the race

    2. How was it an amazing race for Perez? He was quite comprehensively beaten by his teammate.

  2. Glad to see Rosberg finally having a good race in a pretty woeful season.

    1. +1
      Nico drove a great steady race today, one of those races you need to add distance to your championship foes. Maybe good practice for his 2017 campaign into the Honda?

  3. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
    1st November 2015, 21:09

    Maybe we didn’t saw a wheel-to-wheel action between Ros and Lewis, but we had a prime example of racing in the limit between the Merc boys, trading FL’s in the WHOLE race… absolutely mega. Maybe Hami wasn’t pushing 100%, but he was certainly as close to that as possible. Gongratulations to both!

    1. We didn’t see it ’cause FOM have a blackout on Merc.

      1. Lewis never got within DRS zone of Nico, except one lap at the first third of the race, and at another lap during the closing stages. While i agree that spending the final 4 laps watching the Lotuses disputing 10th place, with not even a single move attempted, is suspiciously ridiculous, there wasn’t much else to see at the front.

        1. “Lewis never got within DRS zone of Nico”

          Pretty hard to do when you cut the corner and floor the throttle to break out of DRS. Rosberg upto his old Canada tricks still.

          1. Pretty hard to do when you cut the corner and floor the throttle to break out of DRS.

            I assume you have proof of this baseless accusation?

          2. It was Hamilton himself that threw himself out of DRS range by a mistake at the entry to the stadium section.

          3. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
            2nd November 2015, 11:15

            @N Eh? Show me one lap, one single occasion Nico cut a corner in this race. Really.

            I really don’t know what’s going on with Rosberg. When he loses, Hami fans are like “Yeah, we’re the bosses, Hami won, he rules”. When Nico wins, they seem to try and find the most ridiculous excuses their minds can conjure. Look, i’m not a fan either of Nico or Lewis (although a have massive respect for the latter’s speed). But watching fans reacting like this, well, that doesn’t bodes well for the sport’s health.

            And Nico had had to win since June. I wonder, if his 2ns half of the season was better, would we see again the ‘German team=German WDC’ stuff, all over again..

          4. “@N Eh? Show me one lap, one single occasion Nico cut a corner in this race. Really.”

            Just after the SC, go and watch it again.

            “It was Hamilton himself that threw himself out of DRS range by a mistake at the entry to the stadium section.”

            No, Hamilton was trying to hard to close up the gap that Rosberg had just opened up by cutting the corner, go watch it again and look at the timing screen.

            “I assume you have proof of this baseless accusation?”

            Yes, i have a pair of eyes and a timing screen.

          5. Oh, you mean the bit where Rosberg went off and lost time, then Hamilton also went off and also lost time?

            If you really think that going off and losing time is cheating, then you really need a new dictionary.

  4. Great drive from Rosberg, although I am not fan of the conspiracy theories but these new engines enable the team to turn them up, or down ….
    Overtaking in the same car seems very difficult on this track.

  5. Pretty disgraceful how we saw virtually nothing of the Mercedes. Bernie has so much contempt for the paying punter it beggars belief.

    1. @f1bobby I would not recommend it but rewatch the race and count the minutes mate. There was nothing wrong, Mercedes were shown plenty enough.

      1. +1. Not much happened for them to be shown that what was actually.

    2. Pretty disgraceful how we saw virtually nothing of the Mercedes.

      What were you talking about? The Mercs were on screen plenty!

  6. Great drive from Rosberg. Shame Vettel had incident at T1 after which his race got uglier and uglier. Both the spin and crash were really strange. Looking forward to the explanation by him/ Ferrari engineers.

    Hamilton should get down his high horse. Yes, he deservedly won the championship, but his questioning of pit decisions once in a while is really annoying. If he thinks that pit wall are making are bad decisions, then probably he should just race alone without anyone’s help from pit wall.

    1. To be fair, they did tell him a bare faced lie to get him to do what they wanted “Your last set of tyres were down to the canvass and so are these” – Why should he trust them when they have just proven beyond a doubt that they are untrustworthy?

      Remember, if he had stayed out, he would have pitted under the safety car and stood half a chance of emerging ahead – so it’s arguable that the team order cost him his best chance at a win.

      He may be on a high horse, but he was correct, and thus earnt his place on it.

      Your comment about racing without the pit wall is just you being overly dramatic, and aside from this line of riddicule, I shall ignore it.

      1. “Your last set of tyres were down to the canvass and so are these”

        I heard the first bit of the message not the last part…So race transcription will clear that for me.

        Remember, if he had stayed out, he would have pitted under the safety car and stood half a chance of emerging ahead

        Remember, Mercedes has a policy of getting same strategy for their drivers in most of the races and the races in which they change occur only when the 2nd driver is vulnerable from dome other team’s driver. Either Mercedes should get separate strategist for both of them, or both drivers should follow the instructions from pit without questioning them. You cant have it both ways.

        As for the pit stop being in discussion, had there been no SC, there were chances of tyres getting down to canvas and resulting in safety issue. This is F1, ifs and buts don’t work here.

        Your comment about racing without the pit wall is just you being overly dramatic, and aside from this line of riddicule

        I am not getting over dramatic, its the way Hamilton behaves. He probably would have got the message to pit just after Rosberg made his pit stop. But he still chose to continue doing another lap and later told “bad idea but I am pitting” .What does he wanted to prove by saying this? He won’t even think for a second before blaming the pit for any screw up.

        Its not ridiculous comment by myself. Let him drive one race without pit communication, he will know the importance of it.

        Lastly for ignoring part, If you wanted to ignore my comment you could have done in first place but you didn’t. You can ignore this comment as well :) @williamjones

        1. Fudge Ahmed (@)
          2nd November 2015, 1:53

          Fully agree with you William. After Monaco, Hamilton has every right to question the pit wall.

          On a semi related note, don’t you appreciate drivers actually speaking their minds in and out of the car? Every driver gives basically the same interview after the race (great effort by the team / we have to analyse the data / the fans here are great / for sure blah blah blah)

          And finally it wasn’t petulant at all, he even said CAN I ask why and PLEASE look at the data. This driving to delta’s and pressing buttons in a certain order when told and not having input on their own race cr*p is one of the biggest flaws in modern F1, let them feel the tyres out and race and take the gamble if they feel that’s the right call for petes sake!

          The same strategist system at Merc really winds me up, let them have separate strategists for each side of the garage, this dilutes the excitement for us in favour of the best result for Mercedes. Great for them but fans are far more interested in the driver’s championship than the constructors. Thank god this by-the-numbers race had no bearing on either.

        2. “This is Formula One, if’s and but’s don’t work here”

          literally the line after

          “There was a chance”

    2. Trenthamfolk (@)
      1st November 2015, 21:30

      A bit late in the day for Rosberg, don’t you think? And last time HAM got told to pit for no apparent reason (Monaco) it didn’t work out too well.. he was right to question… and right to seek clarification. You just don’t like Hamilton.

      1. Actually Hamilton made the call to pit
        He was complaining about his tyres and that he was worried that Nico and Seb would pass him at the restart, so it was for a reason

        1. ??? Not sure what you heard, but I heard that a) he didn’t want to pit yet and b) his lap times were not suffering on the old tires.

          1. @justafan He was talking about Monaco…

      2. @trenthamfolk

        Monaco wasn’t 100% fault of Mercedes. Hamilton had his share in that decision as well like Fanie mentioned above. But obviously, Hamilton fans won’t agree to it and blame Mercedes for it.

        1. Of course Monaco was 100% the team’s fault @mjf1fan. Changing tyres was a good idea if there was time, for the reasons Hamiton said. If there wasn’t time it was a disastrous idea, and the timing was 100% the team’s call and that’s why they apologised, because an engineer got his arithmetic 3 seconds wrong.

          Today Lewis questioned the call and he was technically correct to do so, as we saw with other cars, then he did the correct thing by obeying the instruction. Drivers think in the car, as we hear all the time. It’s not something for you to get annoyed about.

        2. Fudge Ahmed (@)
          2nd November 2015, 1:57

          Actually the team got their calculations wrong. Hamilton asked to pit but the team didn’t do their sums properly, so yes it is 100% their fault.

          Or do you expect drivers to glance at the big screen as they drive past and do some quick arithmatic of comparitive lap times while going at 200mph @mjf1fan ?

        3. According to me these were the reasons why Monaco debacle happened.

          1. Team asked Hamilton to stay out, but he told about his tyres conditions not good for restart.
          2. Hamilton getting paranoid that Rosberg and Vettel had pitted before him and he would be at a disadvantage when the race restarts.

          Hamilton was leading with a comfortable margin before the VSC and SC. I know drivers can not get accurate information about the gap behind , just by themselves. But to be paranoid that Rosberg and Vettel pitted, he must have thought he had a bigger gap then it actually was. [ somewhere about 25 seconds was the original gap]

          This thing even Hamilton admitted that he thought Rosberg and Vettel pitted , thus he also wanted to pit.

          3. First there was VSC for few seconds and then SC was deployed. This is where team made a huge error and miscalculated the gap. Hamilton lost the race.

          Actually Monaco was a lesson for both the team that they should be firm in their decisions and for HAmilton – not to second guess team’s decisions and to trust them.

          I wouldnt call it 100% team’s fault, coz their driver is second guessing their decisions and due to so much happening in the race, VSC,SC, Hamilton car near pit entry…they called him. I would take a 80-20 with Mercedes getting the 80%.

          @lockup, @offdutyrockstar, @fluxsource

          1. Still @mjf1fan it was entirely correct for the driver to feed into the decision those aspects that he knew about – the tyres. Your argument is emotive, with ‘paranoid’ and ‘second-guessing’, but his information was 100% correct. Not 80% but 100%.

            Then it was for the team to add in the timing data and make the final decision. The timing data was 0% correct, because as Toto told us an engineer made a 3s error with his arithmetic. So it was 100% a team error.

            And this time again Lewis was 100% correct, because 6 other drivers drove a 43-ish lap stint on the primes, and that is all he was saying. The team didn’t explain, so for all he knew Nico could have had a puncture.

      3. @trenthamfolk HAM triggered Monaco so if anything Monaco was probably a lesson in obeying, not questioning, team orders.

      4. Fanie, @mjf1fan, @davidnotcoulthard – Hamiltons query regarding a stop in Monaco was clearly based upon him thinking the cars behind had also stopped. Mercedes should have cleared that up, before making the call to box. After that incident, I don’t blame Hamilton in the slightest for querying an odd and seemingly unneeded call.

        1. @fluxsource I’m pretty sure Mercedes’ mistake was actually miscalculating whether he had a pitstop of a lead (they thought he did…..and he didn’t).

    3. Hamilton should get down his high horse. Yes, he deservedly won the championship, but his questioning of pit decisions once in a while is really annoying.

      So it annoys you when a driver thinks for themselves?

      1. Your comments annoy more than anything.

        1. Ack! Thy rapier wit hath cut mine self down in my prime!

      2. Oh, he can think all about himself as much he wants. But when the team says they treat their drivers equally then both drivers have to fall in line with the team’s decision. He knows this thing and despite that he behaves in such way, annoys me.

        Maybe Hamilton should try to convince Toto to hire a separate strategist for himself from next season onwards. This way there won’t be any such conversations like we are having right now.

        1. A driver asking his team ‘are you sure?’ annoys you? Maybe you’d be happier if the drivers were all replaced by unthinking automata.

        2. @mjf1fan

          But when the team says they treat their drivers equally then both drivers have to fall in line with the team’s decision.

          Doesn’t make much more sense than “Japan lost WW2 so the Netherlands have the rights to their land” to me – what has equal treatment got to do with discussing with your team regarding decisions?

          yeah, you’re right, it’s not like teams are filled with humans capable of making mistakes….

          1. @mjf1fan Case in point: VES a few races ago and what STR said after the race.

  7. Fair play to Rosberg, he won the weekend on merit.

    The Renaults kept going. Deitrich.

    If Ferrari had a driver coach he’d have to be sacked omg.

  8. When Rosberg has no pressure he is clearly as fast if not faster then Hamilton. Once he learns managing pressure better, look out!

    1. I don’t think he is as fast as Hamilton across a race distance, as he struggles to make the tyres last. But he is clearly very fast in qualifying and track position is king because of Mercedes’ strategy philosophy.

      1. @kingshark Even the best horse on the track has an off-day. It’s up to the other horse to make that their on-day.

        1. saying Hamilton had an off day is an insult to Nico, Hamilton was “clearly” beaten, you can’t seem to get to grips with that can you.

      2. @xtwl
        I don’t really see a reason to believe why Hamilton had an off-day. It was not like Hungary. Hamilton basically drove the same way he’s been doing all season. The only difference was track position. After yesterday in qualifying, Lewis was confident that he would have better race pace, and it simply didn’t happen.

        1. I got the impression Lewis had noticed that Rosberg was chewing through his tires trying to keep out of DRS range, forcing Rosberg onto a 2 stop strategy. Lewis looked like he was saving his to make a move later in the race, with nothing to lose, it was worth the gamble. Sadly never got to see if it would have worked.

          1. @emu55 – I agree, which I think also contributes to his irritation with the late pit call.

          2. Won’t know for sure until the radio quotes are adding on here, be interesting to see what Rosberg was saying. If it was this though, that does look like Mercedes were influencing the result, trying to avoid a conflict at the end with rosberg hunting down a single stopping lewis. Though with the week rosberg has had, a win was what he needed to perk himself up. just feels false.

    2. Once he learns managing pressure better

      Rosberg is 30 years old and has been in F1 for 9 years. This is his peak, right here.

      He’s a fast as Hamilton, sometimes. That’s quite impressive.

    3. He is there or there abouts… Not fast enough over a season… If he gets his head sorted, he could win if lewis doesnt have a great year. They are close enough. He certainly can dominate a race.

    4. Fudge Ahmed (@)
      2nd November 2015, 1:59

      Faster? Have you watched this season at all? That pole trophy was wrapped up months ago.

      Clean air as opposed to hot exhaust air is the only reason Rosberg was faster today.

  9. Well, Kimi at least consistent I guess, calling this a racing incident. Still, both Ferrari’s might have wanted to give a bit more room, and their race would have ended with some good points.

    1. @bosyber Collision between Vettel/Ricciardo was rubbish. Ricciardo had nowhere to go even if Vettel left the space. He would have had to make a 90 degree turn on a square metre of asphalt. Pointless attempt from the Aussie.

  10. For a moment I was hoping Hamilton was going crazy and stayed out at the last tyre change. It would have been such a disaster!!:) but then I guess that the safety car would have given it back to Ros with fresher tires. “No, I am not coming in, no!!” “Lewis, come on, box, box” “I said NO!!” hahhhahha

    1. Nope he’d have pitted under safety car and maybe kept the lead. Lewis maybe was right.

    2. If Hamilton had stayed out he might have been passed and came in second, pitted under the safety car and been in second, OR keep the lead till the end and Won.

      So, heads I break even, tails I win. Anybody wanna bet?

  11. Verstappen cuts a corner, floored the throttle and came out with a bigger gap to the other car, gives place back.

    Rosberg cuts a corner, floors throttle, comes out with a bigger gap (0.9 within DRS to 1.5 out of DRS), nothing happens.

    It’s a shame that Rosberg has to cheat still but whatever, he can have the odd win, Lewis is the one people will remember in 50 years.

    1. Rosberg cuts a corner, floors throttle, comes out with a bigger gap (0.9 within DRS to 1.5 out of DRS), nothing happens.

      Proof?

      1. Fudge Ahmed (@)
        2nd November 2015, 2:01

        It quite clearly happened on camera and was commented on.

        1. Did you accidentally watch that Canada GP by mistake? Because there was no such incident.

          1. Actually that did happen, it was on the same lap that Ham also went off, planted his foot onto the accelerator and came back on.

          2. I remember that; Rosberg went off and lost time, then Hamilton also went off and also lost time.

            Now, can someone please explain how that’s proof Rosberg cheated?

          3. “I remember that; Rosberg went off and lost time, then Hamilton also went off and also lost time.”

            So you don’t remember it then.

          4. Martin Brundle on Nico via Sky:

            “It wasn’t quite a flawless performance because he went off the track after the restart and that incident could have ended very differently for him. Whenever you leave the track like that and keep your right foot in you are entering the great unknown.”

            But ignore me, i’m just a troll.

    2. I assume you are simply a troll as you probably have not seen the race. Otherwise you would know that it was Hamilton himself that ruined his chance to get within DRS by making a mistake at the entry to the stadium section.

  12. Alonso, Button was better than you, again…

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      1st November 2015, 22:47

      @jorge-lardone I usually dont defend Alonso, but your comment today is based on ONE lap. Keep the stab out of the comments please.

    2. Since we’re ignoring circumstances, today Button was also better than me. True, I was 5430 miles away in a different country on the other side of the Atlantic, but it seems that’s not important.

    3. Fudge Ahmed (@)
      2nd November 2015, 2:03

      Yes because those 2 corners of the first lap where Alonso’s car worked really gave us a stonking battle between the McLaren’s didnt it.

  13. Rosberg did drive relatively well today, and indeed throughout the weekend. But truth be told, winning one race does not a World Champion make. (Much less a 3 time World Champion). Just saying.

  14. Really great controlled driving by Rosberg today. Could’ve been undone by Hamilton not wanting to Pit when told and nearly another “multi 21” but Rosbergs start and positioning of his car was much much better in this race. Hopefully he’ll learn something from that.

    The other incidents – racing incidents both but in reality both ferraris could’ve given a bit more room. Shouldn’t need penalties for those – the penalty of losing ground is more than enough.

    Finally – nice to see Maldonado actually save a crash!

    1. I’d say Raikkonen was wholly to blame for his incident, but I agree his retirement was punishment enough.

Comments are closed.