Lewis Hamilton took a lights to flag victory to claim his first ever Mexican Grand Prix victory and his 51st career win, putting him joint-second on the all time winners list alongside Alain Prost.
The Mercedes driver got a good start but came under pressure at Turn 1 and locked-up, forcing him to cut across the grass, but the Briton didn't gain an advantage as team-mate Nico Rosberg also cut the corner as he made brief contact with Max Verstappen's Red Bull.
Rosberg went on to finish second to keep his championship hopes in good form, but he came under intense pressure throughout the race from Verstappen who at one point got past before running wide, allowing the German to get past again.
That move allowed Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to close up on Verstappen and the pair jostled over third for the final six laps.
Two laps from the end Vettel attempted a move at Turn 1 but Verstappen kept the position by cutting the corner to eventually finish third to claim the final podium spot…or so he thought.
Come the conclusion of the race, Verstappen was handed a five-second time penalty and removed from the cool down room ahead of the podium and quickly replaced by Vettel.
The penalty pushed Verstappen down to P5 behind his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen sixth.
Nico Hulkenberg kept Force India's hopes of finishing ahead of Williams in the championship alive as he claimed seventh, though Williams were eighth and ninth with Valtteri Bottas finishing ahead of Felipe Massa, who kept home favourite Sergio Perez behind for almost the entire race.
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