The Mercedes driver’s hopes of a victory were ended following a crazy first lap collision with Sebastian Vettel after his title rival’s Halloween horror show.
As Mexican’s celebrated their Day of the Dead, it was the last rites that were read over the German’s challenge as he smacked into Hamilton’s tyre with the race just a few corners old.
Hamilton furiously questioned Vettel’s motives as he suffered the ignominy of being crowned champ having been lapped as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to victory.
But if it was a deliberate act straight out of countryman Michael Schumacher’s old copybook, the tactic did not work.
In reality, the collision just summed up Vettel’s and Ferrari’s collapse in what Sir Alex Ferguson described as squeaky bum time just when they needed steady nerves and a bullet-proof car.
The incident left Vettel needing to charge through the field to at least finish second – and hoping Hamilton finished 10th or lower – to prolong the title battle.
But the four-time champ could only come home fourth while Hamilton battled back in the later stages after struggling with the performance to finish ninth after a late, thrilling scrap with his old McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.
That gave him an unassailable points lead with just the races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi left.
So 44 years after walking away from the grid having won his third and final drivers’ crown, Sir Jackie Stewart finally saw a successor beat his record.
Hamilton could arguably claim to have been Britain’s best even before he took the grid, having racked up 62 wins in his career compared to the Scotsman’s
The Herts-born racer had only needed to finish fifth to secure his fourth drivers’ crown even if Vettel won the race given his commanding 66 points lead.
But the 32-year-old was determined to claim the trophy in style with victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez.
The long 890m blast to the first corner when the red flights went out offered him his best chance to grab the lead from third on the grid.
But it was Verstappen who made the best start getting alongside Vettel, starting on pole for the 50th time in his career, at the first corner.
The duo made contact allowing Hamilton, starting third, to nip ahead of his only title rival coming out of the second corner.
Vettel hit the right rear tyre of Hamilton’s Mercedes sending shards of his shattered front nose flying into the hot Mexican air.
But it had also punctured Hamilton’s tyre forcing him to limp around the track to pit at the end of the first lap in last place.
It was a longish stop as Hamilton’s car was checked and he only emerged back into the pit lane just ahead of the safety car.
Vettel had also been forced to pit for a new nose coming back in 18th spot and knowing he needed to finish at least second to take the championship battle to the next race in Brazil.
Hamilton questioned on the radio whether Vettel had deliberately tried to hit him, but stewards ruled the early corners incidents were part of the rough and tumble of racing.
But Hamilton seemingly has suffered further damage to his car and was struggling for the pace at the back of the field, unable to overtake any cars.
As Hamilton was told not to get too close to the car ahead, he was lapped for the first time since Barcelona in 2013 as Verstappen swept past.
Hamilton used a Virtual Safety Car period when rookie Brendon Hartley parked up his Toro Rosso to dart into the pits for the quicker super soft tyres.
But he was still back in 16th spot as Vettel – surviving a scrap with Felipe Massa’s Williams – had moved into eighth place.
Vettel did progress through through the field as Hamilton repeatedly asked his race engineers their respective track positions.
But it was never going to be enough with Vettel admitting ‘Mama mia, it it too much’ as time and laps quickly ran out.
Verstappen triumphed from Valtieri Bottas in the other Mercedes with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third.
But as Olympic track champ Michael Johnson said beforehand, Hamilton had proved he is ‘the man’. If not in the manner he craved.