Lewis Hamilton insisted that he had no doubts that Mercedes team-mate George Russell would race cleanly in their battle at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
Hamilton finished the race in fourth, one place ahead of Russell, the seven-time world champion's best finish since winning the Belgian Grand Prix back in July.
The pair started fifth and sixth respectively, but swapped places on the opening lap, before Russell regained the initiative on Lap 14.
They each moved up a place through the pit stop phase, with Max Verstappen losing ground by serving two 10-second penalties, and Hamilton then closed in on Russell.
Hamilton shadowed Russell before eventually making the move stick into Turn 1 on Lap 65, climbing up into fourth position.
“It’s pretty straightforward, I don't think either of us are silly,” Hamilton said on his battle with his team-mate.
“George is really smart, and is fair, and he's just really good at where he places his car, and I think for me too.
"So when [the team] comes on the radio and says, keep it clean, it's like, ‘of course.’
"It's not really different to when you're fighting anyone else, except for it is your team mate, so you have to be double careful because you both want to finish.”
“It was fun, I had fun today,” Hamilton added. “I had a good start, I had a really bad first stint, took too much front wing out of the car, I had massive, massive understeer.
“After my stop, I was able to rectify it, and then after that I had a much better pace, and I was able to push and keep going.
"We stopped a little bit early as well, compared to what I had planned and stuff. We got good points.”
Hamilton will, however, hope to do better in Brazil this time around, having scored more points (185) than any other driver on the current grid around the Interlagos circuit.
Russell, meanwhile, ensured Mercedes claimed a double top-five finish and was happy with his finish after crashing in FP2 on Friday.
“I mean the pace looked pretty strong in the first stint but when I came out the pits behind Piastri, I pulled out down the straight and my front left flap just collapsed,” Russell said.
“I hit this bump so that probably cost me three or four tenths for the remainder of the race, so it was tricky to hold on for 40 laps. P5, probably would have taken that after Friday.”
Norris calls for 'cleaner battle' with Verstappen ahead of Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Lando Norris has called for a “cleaner battle” with title rival Max Verstappen ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen received two 10-second penalties for incidents early on in last Sunday's race in Mexico, which was won by Carlos Sainz.
He was awarded the first penalty for forcing Norris off the track at Turn Four on the 10th lap, while the second was given for leaving the track four corners later.
It meant the Dutchman finished in sixth position while Norris capitalised to finish second. Now, the McLaren driver wants to see fairer racing from his rival at Red Bull.
"It's what I said going into Mexico, I want clean, fair racing," Norris told Sky Sports.
"And that's what I do, that's what I provide and that's how I race. That's how I've always raced in my career. It's not for me to change, it's for the other side to change."
"I stayed out of trouble and did my job also, which is that. But every weekend is a new weekend. I don't know what to expect this weekend.
"Obviously, I hope, I expect a cleaner battle than what we had. But it's not up to me. I don't make the rules, I don't decide the penalties, I didn't do it. I just drive. The stewards see the race and they did a good job."
The result left McLaren in the lead in the Constructor’s Championship, ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull. While in the individual driver standings, Verstappen’s lead was cut to 47 points by Norris.
The 24-year-old was unfazed by how the nature of the rivalry might impact his personal relationship with Verstappen, however.
"Some of this is not personal," said Norris when asked if his relationship with Verstappen has changed.
"He wants to win the championship, I want to win the championship. But the way he can win the championship is a very different way to how I need to win the championship.
"Whether that changes how we are personally, it probably will a little bit, but this is not my concentration or place for concern at the minute."
Norris last took the chequered flag in September at the Singapore Grand Prix and has finished on the podium in one of the two races since. Verstappen, meanwhile, has failed to win a race since June when he finished first in Spain.
It leaves Norris feeling confident he can clinch his maiden title with four races left due to a number of reasons.
"My team, how we're performing every weekend. I think I'm driving very well, both in qualifying and races,” he explained.
“I feel like I've done a strong job over the last few months. I've still made mistakes and I've still not been perfect, but there's also times when we shouldn't have won and we shouldn't have had pole position and certain things.
"We did because I've been doing a good job - which is rare, but the confidence I've had in myself recently has helped me to keep believing.
"Probably the lack of performance that Red Bull have at the minute - both of them need to go together.”
Verstappen cannot turn Norris title fight into 'demolition derby', says Hill
Max Verstappen cannot turn an enthralling end to the Formula 1 season into a "demolition derby".
Those were the words of former world champion Damon Hill, who criticised Verstappen for his driving at a controversial Mexican Grand Prix last weekend.
The Dutchman received two 10-second penalties for incidents early on in Sunday's race, which was won by Carlos Sainz.
Reigning champion Verstappen was given one penalty for forcing Lando Norris off the track at Turn Four on the 10th lap, and then another for leaving the track four corners later.
Subsequently, Verstappen finished in sixth, while McLaren's Norris finished in second, closing the gap to 47 points in the drivers' championship with four races to go.
"It can't just be a demolition derby just to keep your place, or deny everyone getting a place just because you don't want to be overtaken," said Hill on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.
"So there needs to be a way of disciplining the driver.
"I think Max, if he carries on like that, there will be long-term questions over whether or not it was wise for him to drive like that.
"He's got so much talent, he's got so much ability. He could always use that skill to defeat his opponents. It shouldn't just be a dodgems race."
The incidents came a week after the pair's contentious battle in Austin, where Norris lost third place to Verstappen after being penalised for an overtake.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggested the penalties Verstappen received were "very harsh", using data to back up his claims shortly after the race.
Horner also added that Verstappen will "always drive aggressively" within F1's regulations,
"There's never any attempt to publicly describe his driver in a way that other people would recognise it," Hill continued.
"It is always a protective comment from Christian about Max. It almost appears as though Max is free to do whatever he likes.
"His team will never criticise the way he drives. And I think if you're in a competition, that's probably fine to do that publicly.
"But really, at some point, there has to be a conversation. It's the responsibility of the team to also contribute to the driver's attitude."
Verstappen will, however, look to increase his advantage at the summit of the drivers' standings at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, a track he knows well.
The 27-year-old won the last race at Interlagos in 2023, though there has not been a winner in two consecutive races at the Brazil circuit since Nico Rosberg in 2014 and 2015.
Alonso 'hurting' after milestone race ends early in Mexico
Fernando Alonso said he was left feeling hurt after being forced to retire at the Mexican Grand Prix in what was his 400th race in the competition.
Alonso qualified in 13th and started well in Mexico City, moving up a couple of places following Yuki Tsunoda's crash on the opening lap of proceedings.
However, after just 15 laps, the Spaniard was forced to retire from the race due to a suspected brake cooling issue caused by some debris stuck in his car.
Alonso has only missed four races since his first entry at the Australian Grand Prix in 2001.
Of the 1120 races in the history of the competition, the 43-year-old has competed in 35.7% of them.
"It was okay, the start was good," Alonso said. "Obviously, there was a lot of action in front of us, so we capitalised on that, but apparently, there was a bit of debris on the front brake ducts and the temperatures were over the moon.
“We tried to mitigate that, moving the brake balance rearwards and different actions, but it was still not under control so unfortunately we had to retire the car."
It was a familiar feeling for Alonso, who has suffered similar issues on his landmark occasions in the sport.
He also failed to finish at his 300th race back in 2018, as well as his 200th at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.
“It hurts always the same, to be honest, when you don’t see the chequered flag. It doesn’t matter which number," Alonso added.
“We are here to compete. In a way, when you have to retire the car it’s better when you are not in a super competitive weekend.
"It was maybe unlikely to score points today, so hopefully more luck will come, and we come back stronger in the next race and next year here.”
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