Hamilton went into the Mexican race with a substantial points buffer over Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel. Such was the margin that Vettel needed to win with Hamilton scoring little or no points in order to retain a realistic hope of stealing the crown.

Indeed, Hamilton’s ninth place was exactly the result for the Mercedes driver that Vettel needed – if only Vettel himself had been able to finish higher than fourth place.

The two title rivals had ended the opening lap in the pits, a distant last and second last after they had clashed in the opening series of corners. Vettel needed a new front wing after it smashed against Hamilton’s right rear tyre, which was punctured in the process.

With the title contenders relegated to the back of the field, Verstappen had no trouble pulling a substantial gap over Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes.

While most of the other Renault-powered cars – including that of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo – Verstappen sailed on untroubled to score the easiest of wins.

Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari, a position he surely would have been asked to relinquish to his fourth-placed team-mate had there been any possibility of Vettel snatching a second-place result that would have been enough to keep the German in the title fight.

But with Bottas nearly 20 seconds further down the road, there was never any realistic chance of Vettel finishing second.

Vettel reduced the points deficit to Hamilton to 56, but with only 50 points still to be won in the final two rounds.

Hamilton now joins Vettel and Alain Prost as the only four-time world drivers’ champions. Ahead of them are Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher with five and seven crowns respectively.