Mexican F1 Grand Prix 2017 Results: Lewis Hamilton Wins 4th World Title

Lewis Hamilton won the fourth world title of his career on Sunday during the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix, despite enduring an eventful race and finishing ninth. The victory went to Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel collided during the first lap and spent the rest of the race catching up. Vettel finished fourth, behind Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull retired in the pit lane.

Formula 1's official Twitter account confirmed the title race is over:

Here's a look at the results:

Recap

Most pundits assumed Sunday's race would be relatively free of drama, as Hamilton needed just a fifth-place finish or better in his reliable Mercedes to win the title.

The tactical plans for Ferrari and Mercedes went out of the window during the opening lap, however. Vettel and Verstappen made contact in the very first corner, while the Englishman was tagged by the former two corners later and suffered a puncture. Fans couldn't believe it, and WTF1 loved it:

Three laps into the race, Vettel and Hamilton were both at the back of the field and onto the soft tyres. The German had to finish in the top two to stop Hamilton from winning the title.

Verstappen held the early lead ahead of Bottas, but all was not well for Red Bull, either. Ricciardo parked his car in the pits just a few laps into the race with what appeared to be an engine failure. Per Autosport Live, he later said it was related to the turbo:

Vettel had to move up the field in a hurry but struggled to get past Williams' Felipe Massa, running wide to eventually make the pass. Hamilton's pace was well below the expectations, meanwhile, as his Mercedes still appeared to be suffering from the early contact.

He was eventually lapped by Verstappen and Bottas, and per Mobil 1 The Grid, that's not something he's used to:

Nico Hulkenberg was told to stop the car, as his Renault team it deemed unsafe, while Vettel slowly started to move up the field but was still behind Bottas by more than a minute approaching the halfway point. With 38 laps still to go, the Ferrari man took the bold decision to pit again for supersoft tyres.

Vettel's rise up the field continued and he soon had only Raikkonen and the top two ahead of him, with his team-mate expected to move over if anything happened to Bottas or Verstappen. The Finn was way up the road, however:

Hamilton moved past McLaren's Fernando Alonso and into ninth place, all but ending the title race barring some late drama. Verstappen cruised to the finish line, and when Bottas took second, Mercedes could pop the champagne for Hamilton.