Verstappen is over 14 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Listen again to the start of this race as Max Verstappen takes the lead and pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo drops to third.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

Fair play to Sebastian Vettel, he has been in the wars in the past three races, but that was a decisive move from him, that is what he needed to do. There were no second thoughts.

Daniel Ricciardo talking about backmarkers getting in his way as Vettel then overtook him "What a joke, these guys."

Image source, Getty Images

Vettel has done it - he's past Daniel Ricciardo, on the inside surprisingly.

Since Monza, Vettel has had a problem with overtaking on the inside, losing confidence and spinning, but he executed that perfectly.

On Friday he said that was one thing he needed to do - as well as being confident with the car and what it can do, and he's done it, ended the bad streak of spinning from the inside of a corner.

Clare Long: One Verstappen fan (me) and one Hamilton fan in the house. Hopefully something to celebrate for both of us tonight.

Nigel: As long as Hamilton comes somewhere in the to 7 I don't care if he wins. It would be nice though

Terence Hudson: Three stops for Lewis Hamilton at this rate? Lets race not play tyre games

Image source, Getty Images

Vettel is attacking Ricciardo, with the help of some DRS.

After a three-place grid penalty last week in practice for not slowing quick enough under the red flags, you could see he was biding his time there until the VSC ended.

Hamilton: "Are we coming in?"

Mercedes: "Negative, we are staying out, staying out."

Image source, Reuters

• Lewis Hamilton is on course to win the world title
• Max Verstappen is leading after overtaking pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap.
• Hamilton only needs to finish seventh to become world champion and is second, with Ricciardo third.
• Sebastian Vettel is fourth, Valtteri Bottas fifth and Kimi Raikkonen sixth.

• Fernando Alonso is the first man out after hitting some debris after Nico Hulkenberg hit Esteban Ocon. Carlos Sainz then has to retire with a mechanical failure on lap 30.
• All of the top six are expected to have to come into the pits again

It's a virtual safety car. Carlos Sainz is off the track.

Who will pit? Ocon certainly needs to, he's on used supersofts, and when he pitted for a new front wing earlier, he kept the same tyres.

Mercedes to Hamilton: "Tyre appearance looks similar to others around us, so we will update you in 10 laps time."

For those watching last weekend, Verstappen did a cracking job at managing those tyres, despite the odds.

Christian Horner said all of their data was telling them the tyres wouldn't last, but Max somehow just managed it, and drove an incredible race, from P18 to P2.

So... can he do it today?

Image source, Reuters

Team radio, Red Bull to Verstappen: "This is not going to be straightforward to the end of this race, Max, it is going to be one or two stops.

Look after the tyres, there's a lot of trouble behind."

Hamilton is struggling on the supersofts, Ricciardo is recieving updates on Hamilton's tyre story and Red Bull are making decisions for Daniel since Ricciardo is attacking Hamilton.

But for our Dutch leader, it's not looking so good either.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio 5 live

Fernando Alonso, who is the only man out of this race, tells BBC Radio 5 live: "It was sad today, debris from a crash in front of us, so it wasn't even our crash, it flied and landed in our intake - that is a one in a million chance and it happened today.

"The overall feeling of the day will be good, it has been a very good support now. Sad now, but the results could have been between eighth and 12th so it will not change my life."

Mike Mawby: The sound of the Mexican GP crowd is awesome!

F1 Fanboy: Who else is thinking Verstappen took note of how to defend when overtaking Kimi...

Image source, Reuters

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

I think we are going to see some two-stoppers. The degradation of these tyres is high.

Talk on Hamilton's radio is that he's struggling on these supersofts, but ultrasofts are their only other option for the long-ish game, as hypersofts degrade too quick.

He says: "Struggling man."

Hamilton: "These tyres don't feel great."

Image source, Reuters

• Lewis Hamilton is on course to win the world title
• Max Verstappen is leading after overtaking pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap.
• Hamilton only needs to finish seventh to become world champion and is second, with Ricciardo third.
• Sebastian Vettel is fourth, Valtteri Bottas fifth and Kimi Raikkonen sixth.

• Fernando Alonso is the first man out after hitting some debris after Nico Hulkenberg hit Esteban Ocon