F1 Paddock Notebook - Mexican GP Sunday

- Some things only happen in Mexico: Lewis Hamilton said he felt uncharacteristically engaged by the parade lap, and decided at that moment he needed to win this Sunday’s race. Of course, it wouldn’t be that simple, nor it looked likely after the first corner when he dropped to fifth, but Mercedes understood early enough that the Hardtyres would last and made the call that would save his race. But the visible veins in Lewis’ head after the podium made it clear he had to fight for it.

- Hamilton used the chance to have a bit of a dig at Max Verstappen, after they touched in the first corner. “Was it Max?”, he asked the first reporters he met after the podium. “Torpedo Max, no surprises there…” and later would say that, with Max, you have to leave more room than normal. As for the Dutchman, he didn’t seem to regret his Saturday actions in qualifying, and Red Bull were determined to escape any questions about it. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it happened again.

- While listening to Hamilton’s interviews in the press conference, Sebastian Vettel seemed to realise that the Brit had a much more eventful afternoon than he first thought. And, straight on, he changed his speech from the “they were slower so could risk more in the strategy” to the classic “they were faster than us.” Interestingly, he said he asked the Mercedes drivers if they also had gone into the race thinking about doing two stops. And was relieved to hear they did.

- Walking around the paddock with his son, Eduardo, who raced in the feeder categories in Mexico this weekend, Rubens Barrichello sort of defended Max by saying that “it’s very hard to lift in qualy, because racing drivers are selfish. But the rules are the rules.”

- Even with the tough race, Verstappen was in a good mood in the pen, and even interviewed Daniel Ricciardo, another smiley face after going to 13th on the grid to 8th with a massive first stint on the hards. Ricciardo joked that he did "120 laps" before pitting - not quite, but still an impressive stint...

- Still talking about the accident in Q3, Valtteri Bottas joked that he felt a bit dizzy in the morning and didn’t know “if it was because of the crash… or the tequila." It was probably, then, the same feeling many of his team members felt after “invading” the paddock bar - which didn’t have tequila, but mezcal - after the race.

- This was before a huge thunderstorm washed out the paddock around 1h30 after the checkered flag. It was one of those that would probably have red-flagged the race.

- The grid in Mexico was packed as always, with local celebrities, a torero with a helmet on, another guy dressed as death (because it’s Mexico and why not?) and DJ Tiesto, who at least managed to play his full podium set after the race, unlike Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, recently voted the best DJs in the world, who had to interrupt their set due to a power cut in the Italian GP.

- The race mascot Mario Atchi was also prominent on the grid, and even appeared on the podium, only to be pushed out of the top three's photo by Sebastian Vettel. "I didn’t like the selfie guy when he tried to push into the picture so I pushed him away," he explained.

Additional reporting by Luke Smith.