Shortly after making the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix race results official, Formula One race stewards made them “official-er” by moving Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel out of third and replacing him with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo after it was determined that Vettel broke the racing series’ newly-instituted blocking rules in the last laps, thus preventing Ricciardo from passing him for the third and final podium position.
Initially, that position was held by Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen – but Verstappen himself was assessed a five-second penalty after his egregious late-lap short cut through the grass on a turn preserved his lead over Vettel.
Ricciardo then attempted to pass Vettel, only to have Vettel maneuver his car in front of Ricciardo and the two cars touched sidepods before Ricciardo backed off and finished in fifth.
Immediately after the conclusion of the race, F1 race stewards handed Verstappen a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, demoting him to fourth and Vettel to third behind the 1-2 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Shortly after that decision, however, Vettel was handed a 10-second time penalty for under-braking while Ricciardo was attempting to pass, giving Ricciardo third and putting Verstappen in fourth with Vettel in fifth.