F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton eyes first win of 2022 at Mexican Grand Prix

Hamilton shares the record of seven titles with Michael Schumacher, but speaking ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Alonso, 41, suggested both men owed their success to only having to beat their respective team-mates.

Alonso won consecutive championships in 2005 and 2006 with Renault – bringing Schumacher’s era of dominance to an end – while Verstappen saw off Hamilton in last season’s deeply contentious title fight. The Dutchman followed that up by securing this season’s title with four rounds to spare in his superior Red Bull machinery.

Hamilton beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to win his maiden title in 2008 with McLaren. He also saw off Sebastian Vettel – in a Mercedes, which at times was not as strong as the German’s Ferrari – to win the 2017 and 2018 championships.

“I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but it is different when you win seven world titles and you only had to fight with your team-mate,” said Alonso in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

“A championship has less value when you have fewer titles, but have had to fight against other drivers with equal or even better material. In 2005 and 2006, I had a good start to the year myself and was able to create a lead. Then others might have had a better car, but I was able to manage that gap.”

Verstappen refused to address the broadcaster when he put his Red Bull on pole position for Sunday’s race after he was made aware of Sky Sports’ pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz saying Lewis Hamilton was last year “robbed” of an eighth world championship.

But the entire team – including Christian Horner – will now subject Sky to a boycott after growing increasingly frustrated with its coverage. Sky Sports declined to comment when contacted.

Hamilton finished runner-up to Verstappen at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin after he was passed by the Red Bull driver with six laps remaining.

Following the race, Kravitz said: “(Hamilton) doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him.”

Lewis Hamilton has said his sole focus is on delivering a record eighth world championship after he declared: “I am not in a relationship, I don’t have kids, my car is my baby”.

Ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Hamilton confirmed for the first time that he will race in Formula One beyond his 40th birthday by signing a new multi-year contract at the conclusion of the season.

Hamilton has only three shots left at retaining his remarkable record of winning at least one race each year he has been on the grid, starting in the breathless Mexico City air on Sunday.

But the seven-time world champion seems revitalised, rather than deflated, by a season which leaves him sixth in the championship entering the 20th round of 22. He has not finished lower than fifth in his previous 15 campaigns.

“There has been this lingering narrative of winding down towards the end,” said Hamilton. “But I am just in a happy place in my life. I am a lot more grounded. I have my home in the UK when I come to see the team, for example, and my family come down so I just have a better setup all round and I feel like I could take this team to more championships.”

Today, the FIA proved to the world once again that they do not have what it takes to adjudicate over their own sport.

Red Bull Racing, found to be guilty by an FIA investigation of a “minor breach” of the budget cap last season, have been punished under the terms of an ‘Accepted Breach Agreement’ (ABA) with a $7m fine and a minor development penalty on next season’s car.

Red Bull fans have been quick to point out what they believe to be the key word – “minor”, meaning that the team overspent by 5 per cent or under of the total budget cap. Whilst this is easily written off for some, others (including myself) are not so easily distracted from the fact that this is blatant cheating.

A reminder: the budget cap for the 2021 season was a massive $145m, with this “minor” breach seeing Red Bull having used an extra $2.2m denied to other teams. It begs the obvious question – why have a cost cap if you can break it and face such minor penalties?

Now, within the wider context of the cash-soaked sport, it is a fairly menial sum of money by which Red Bull have overspent, but F1 is defined by the tightest of tight margins and milliseconds. Few will need reminding that Max Verstappen won the 2021 championship on the final lap of the final race by a little over two seconds. I can scarcely believe I’m having to spell it out, but in my book (and evidently and rather dumbfoundingly, not in the FIA’s), cheating is cheating.

Who knows how many hundredths of a second those extra millions shaved off that car’s times last season? Any competitive advantage gained by any extra spending should be scrutinised by the penny and punished under one clear and coherent set of guidelines.

The FIA confirmed in Mexico City on Friday that Red Bull – the team which carried Verstappen to the most contentious title in the sport’s history – overspent by £1.86m. Red Bull have entered into a so-called Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with F1’s governing body. In addition to the fine, Red Bull have had their wind tunnel time reduced by 10 per cent over the next 12 months – a punishment Horner called “draconian” and claimed will cost his team up to half-a-second in lap time.

The ABA – which ensures Red Bull lose any right to appeal – avoids the team risking a harsher punishment which might have included the deduction of points and Hamilton being instated as last year’s title winner.

Hamilton was denied a record eighth world crown when former race director Michael Masi fudged the safety car rules at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen took the title by eight points. McLaren boss Zak Brown wrote to FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem earlier this month to say a financial breach “constitutes cheating”.

However, the FIA concluded that Red Bull “did not act in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner” when it broke the £114m budget cap.

“I don’t think it has overshadowed Max’s achievements,” said Red Bull team principal Horner. “Inevitably there was so much noise about last year’s championship anyway. And when this comes up and you hear about it for the first time in Singapore and all the noise comes again.

“But Max Verstappen won last year’s world championship fair and square. He did what he had to do on the day. He did his job. The team did our job. He won the race. He is the world champion. What we are talking about here had no effect whatsoever on the performance of his car last year.”

Lewis Hamilton is set to extend his Formula One career beyond his 40th birthday after he revealed he will thrash out a new deal with Mercedes in the coming months.

Hamilton’s £40million-a-year contract with the team expires at the end of next season. But the seven-time world champion, who turns 38 in January, wants to continue his record-breaking journey in the sport, with a multiple-year extension set to carry him into his forties.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix, Hamilton said: “We are going to do another deal. We are going to sit down and discuss it in these next couple of months.”

Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 after bursting on to the Formula One scene with McLaren in 2007. The Stevenage-born driver, who has the most victories and pole positions in F1 history – and shares the record of seven world championships with Michael Schumacher – has been supported by the Silver Arrows since his childhood.

Hamilton has endured a turbulent campaign in his uncompetitive Mercedes machinery this season, while there were question marks over whether he would even return to F1 following his contentious championship defeat against Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi last year.

However, Hamilton continued: “I want to keep racing. I love what I do. I’ve been doing it for 30 years, and I don’t feel that I should have to stop. I think I am currently still earning my keep. I still want to do better.

“I could stop now and I have lots of other things in the pipeline that I will be super-focused and super-busy with. I’m here for the sheer love of working in the organisation that I’m in. So you are stuck with me for quite a bit longer. My goal is to continue to be with Mercedes. I’ve been with Mercedes since I was 13. It really is my family.”

Hamilton shares the record of seven titles with Michael Schumacher, but speaking ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Alonso, 41, suggested both men owed their success to only having to beat their respective team-mates.

Alonso won consecutive championships in 2005 and 2006 with Renault – bringing Schumacher’s era of dominance to an end – while Verstappen saw off Hamilton in last season’s deeply contentious title fight. The Dutchman followed that up by securing this season’s title with four rounds to spare in his superior Red Bull machinery.

Hamilton beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to win his maiden title in 2008 with McLaren. He also saw off Sebastian Vettel – in a Mercedes, which at times was not as strong as the German’s Ferrari – to win the 2017 and 2018 championships.

“I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but it is different when you win seven world titles and you only had to fight with your team-mate,” said Alonso in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

“A championship has less value when you have fewer titles, but have had to fight against other drivers with equal or even better material. In 2005 and 2006, I had a good start to the year myself and was able to create a lead. Then others might have had a better car, but I was able to manage that gap.”

Russell finished second, 0.304 seconds behind Verstappen, with Hamilton 0.309 secs further back. Home favourite Sergio Perez will line up in fourth ahead of the 811-metre stampede to the opening corner for Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Hamilton finished runner-up to Verstappen at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix before promptly ruling out any hope of ending the campaign with a victory, and keeping his record of winning at least one race of every season he has competed in alive.

But just six days later, Hamilton, armed with a new front wing, suddenly had a machine capable of taking the fight to Verstappen and Red Bull. However, Hamilton had his first lap in Q3 deleted for running off the asphalt at the third corner, and then complained about the lack of speed from his Mercedes machinery.