"What were you doing for the rest of the race?" - Lewis Hamilton's fastest lap comes under scrutiny from F1 pundit

F1 pundit Peter Windsor recently talked about how Lewis Hamilton took the fastest lap of the 2023 F1 Mexican GP but couldn't show that pace throughout the race.

The Mercedes driver secured second place in Mexico and appeared extremely pleased with that. He also, in a way, pulled one over Max Verstappen by bagging the fastest lap of the race.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, however, Peter Windsor critically dissected Lewis Hamilton's last lap.

He first acknowledged that everyone in the Mercedes camp would have been delighted to see their driver take the fastest lap.

“Lewis set the fastest lap [and] that will have irritated Max a bit because he always loves to set fastest lap and, at that point, he had it – and Lewis set it on the last lap. That brought a smile, obviously, to everybody’s face in the Mercedes garage – and certainly Lewis enjoyed that – but it was a weird thing," he said.

Windsor added that it was surprising for Lewis Hamilton to clock in such a fast lap. He also suggesed that Mercedes would have questioned him about not having this type of pace for the rest of the race.

“This is Lewis looking after the tires and going a little bit slower than Max virtually everywhere, apart from one [lap]," he said. "And on the last lap he does a 21.3! It’s a cliché to say: ‘Well, where did that come from?’ – but it has to be asked because I suppose you would say in the debrief afterwards when it’s all quiet: ‘21.3, Lewis! What were you doing [for the rest of the race]?’”

---

Lewis Hamilton expressed delight at his result in the 2023 F1 Mexican GP

Lewis Hamilton was not expecting to finish second at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP. While speaking to Sky Sports about the race weekend, he expressed his happiness at the result.

The Mercedes star explained how hard the entire weekend was for him and the team as they were trying to find the right setup. Thankfully for them, they found a decent setup and strategy that helped them achieve the podium finish.

He said:

"Honestly, I just wasn't expecting that. It's just always a great feeling when you are just putting one foot in front of the other and progressing. The weekend had been really difficult compared to the last race where we had just hit the ground running. This weekend I was really digging deep to try and get the set-up right and I think we did a great job."

Since Sergio Perez retired from his home race, Lewis Hamilton is now even closer to the Mexican in the drivers' championship standings. The two are only 20 points apart.