"The Red Bull's were just clearly too fast today" - Lewis Hamilton questions Mercedes' strategy after P2 finish in 2022 F1 Mexican GP

Lewis Hamilton questioned Mercedes' tire strategy following his P2 finish in the 2022 F1 Mexican GP behind Max Verstappen.

The seven-time world champion started the race in P3 behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen and his Mercedes teammate George Russell. Both Mercedes cars opted to start on yellow-walled medium tires, while Red Bull had Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez start on the softs.

Many expected Verstappen to go for a two-stop strategy but the Dutchman was able to extend the life of his medium tires to see the checkered flag and keep Lewis Hamilton at bay.

The Silver Arrows had looked rapid all weekend at high altitudes of Mexico City. This appeared to be Mercedes' best chance to finally grab a win in 2022 and break their duck but their tire strategy ended up playing into Red Bull's hands.

In his post-race interview with Marc Gene in parc fermé, the 37-year-old spoke about Red Bull having better pace and tire strategy choices on the day. Hamilton said:

"Yeah, well first, this has been an amazing crowd. Definitely a bit awkward this time around, boos all-day but nonetheless, I have so much love for Mexico and for the people here and what a great race and event they've put on this weekend. I was so close in that first stint but I think the Red Bull's were just clearly too fast today and ultimately, maybe they had the better tyre strategy."

Hamilton was not on board with the hard tires he went onto after his first stop and let his feelings be known to the Mercedes pitwall more than once during the course of the race. When asked about his team's choices following the race, he said:

"Yeah, I'm not sure it was the right tyre at the end and I thought we should have started on the soft but obviously, we had the opposite tyre. It was okay in the first stint but that hard tyre was just an offset. So, congratulations to Max [Verstappen] and it's great to be up here and separate the two."

The result was probably a difficult one to swallow for Hamilton, who saw his record for most points by a driver in a single season broken by Verstappen. The Dutchman also became the first driver in F1 history to claim 14 wins in one season, breaking the record held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

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Where do Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes go from here after missing out on a win in Mexico?

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes probably squandered their best remaining chance for a win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Now, their quest for a first win of the season has become all the more difficult with only two rounds of the 2022 season left.

Next up on the calendar is a trip to Interlagos, a high-speed track that could favor Red Bull given the way the season has played out thus far. It will also be the final Sprint weekend of the year.

Lewis Hamilton put on a magisterial performance at the track last year, overcoming a 25-place grid penalty to win as the 2021 title battle went down to the wire. An encore of the same caliber this year seems increasingly doubtful, but one can never write the Briton off.

Lewis Hamilton is still trying to keep alive his record of claiming a pole and a win in every season he has participated in F1 since his rookie year.