• Lewis Hamilton is on course to win the world title
• Verstappen is in the lead, with pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo going from first to third
• Hamilton is second, only needing to finish seventh to become world champion
• Sebastian Vettel, who needs to win, is fourth
• Fernando Alonso is the first man out after hitting some debris after Nico Hulkenberg hit Esteban Ocon

"The tyres are quite fragile."

Image source, Reuters

Ocon: "Sainz completely closed the door."

Since pitting for a new front wing, he's now up to 18th.

And we're back. No change in the top five:

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Ricciardo
4. Vettel
5. Bottas

Josh Earl: brilliant start from Lewis!!

Dennis Ethan: Fernando driving through the field like no one is there wow Vamos!

Well... it was good while it lasted for Fernando, eh Dennis?!

Image source, Getty Images

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

The Renaults and Saubers will save about 10 seconds if they come in for a pit stop now.

Yellow flagpublished at 19:20 Greenwich Mean Time 28 October 2018

19:20 GMT 28 October 2018

Bad news for Alonso, he's pulled over - sadly no more Mexico for him.

Early retirement is becoming the norm for him, and it's never his fault, just the midfield shenanigans.

For the Alonso fans, he was following the Force Indias. Hulkenberg hit Ocon, causing him to pit for a new front wing, and Alonso in going off the track to avoid a crash, collected some of Ocon's pink car and has been dragging it around the track since.

Verstappen is first to gain a fast lap of 1:21.091, and he's still leading.

Image source, Getty Images

In that first corner, Alonso went off the track, which he may receive a penalty for later...

Ocon was hit and pits for a new front wing, and Vettel stayed put in fourth.

It's Ricciardo who lost there.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

That was crucial from Sebastian Vettel to stay ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton's team-mate and wingman. The big loser was Daniel Ricciardo, first to third, he just did not get away off the line.

Image source, Reuters

Pole sitter Daniel Ricciardo loses his position to Hamilton, but Max Verstappen puts up a fight with Hamilton and leads.

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Ricciardo
4. Vettel
5. Bottas

Lewis Hamilton barges through the field... up to second

Off we go!

Andy Hargreaves: Pretty good chance of a 4-way carbon fibre smash going into turn 1 I think! Wonder if Lewis will just hang back a bit?!

David McKean: Hopefully this start is going to live up to the hype. C'mon Daniel Riccardo!!

Kayleigh: Mathematicians, can Merc win the constructors today? #BBCF1, external

Yes they can... all they need to do is outscore Ferrari, and it will be their fifth consecutive constructors championship.

The drivers are in their motors. Just two minutes to go...

Excellent work James!

Image source, Twitter

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

The Red Bulls are looking good in Mexico - as expected.

After all, Max Verstappen said on Thursday this was their best chance of a victory before the end of the season.

There are two reasons for this, both related to the altitude of the track, which is at 2,200m above sea level. The first is to do with aerodynamics - the less dense air means the cars produce less downforce.

So although they run with their maximum downforce packages, the downforce produced is more akin to that at Monza. And Red Bull are always strong at high-downforce tracks such as Monaco and Singapore.

The second is engines. All engines lose about 22% of their total power. But because power is lost proportionally, the engines with least power lose less overall. So the performance gaps between the engines are reduced. So Renault engines lose out less to Mercedes and Ferrari than at other tracks.