Lando Norris claimed a dominant lights-to-flag victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix, moving to the top of the Drivers’ Championship by a single point after finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in a dramatic race.
Norris made an excellent start amid a chaotic run into the first corner, where four drivers battled for the lead and several ran wide. The McLaren driver retained control and gradually edged clear, building an advantage that went unchallenged for the remainder of the Grand Prix, eventually taking the chequered flag by a commanding 30.324s.
The closing laps delivered a tense fight for second place as Verstappen hunted down Leclerc, but the Ferrari held firm, crossing the line just 0.725s ahead and forcing the Red Bull driver to settle for third.
Further back, Ollie Bearman impressed with a strong drive to fourth, resisting late pressure from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Piastri’s fifth place, however, means he concedes the championship lead to Norris—though only by a single point.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli claimed sixth ahead of the other Silver Arrows car of George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton following in eighth for Ferrari on a day where the seven-time World Champion received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in a battle with Verstappen.
Esteban Ocon added to Haas’ points haul in ninth, while Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point on offer in 10th. Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was 11th, ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin.
The two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto completed the order in 15th and 16th respectively, while four cars did not see the finish in Mexico. Liam Lawson was the first to record a DNF following early damage to his Racing Bulls, with Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso later retiring in the pits due to mechanical issues on their respective Kick Sauber and Aston Martin cars.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, came to a stop in the stadium section with just a few laps to go.
AS IT HAPPENED
One day on from Norris claiming a commanding pole position – beating the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Hamilton to P1 – the paddock reconvened on Sunday in preparation for the highly-anticipated Mexico City Grand Prix.
Saturday’s Qualifying had set up a fascinating scenario in terms of the Drivers’ Championship; while Norris had put himself at the front of the grid, his title rivals Verstappen and Piastri would line up in fifth and seventh. Should they each finish where they started, Norris would leave the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as the new championship leader.
While Piastri had actually qualified in eighth, the Australian had been promoted a place due to Sainz – who claimed seventh in Qualifying – serving a five-place grid penalty handed to him after the United States Grand Prix, dropping the Williams driver down to 12th. This also moved Hadjar, Bearman, Tsunoda and Ocon up by one place each.
In a continuation of the conditions seen during the weekend so far, the drivers and teams were greeted by warm and dry weather as they began to assemble for the 71-lap event, with air temperatures even higher than during previous days at around 26 degrees Celsius, while the track temperature stood at 52 degrees Celsius.
Once all 20 cars had lined up on the grid and the tyres blankets had been removed for the expected one-stop race, it was revealed that more than half of the field would start on the C5 soft compound. However, Verstappen, Hadjar, Tsunoda, Sainz, Bortoleto and Gasly had instead opted for the C4 medium, while Albon and Colapinto were sporting the C2 hard rubber.
Entering into the final five laps, Norris was a whopping 29 seconds up the road from Leclerc – but Verstappen was now just 2.5s behind the Ferrari. Piastri also looked to be gaining as he tried to catch Bearman in the fight for P4 – a position that could be crucial in terms of taking back the championship lead from his team mate.
The yellow flags were waved when Sainz came to a halt in the stadium section on Lap 70 – just as Verstappen was right on the tail of Leclerc. Moments later a Virtual Safety Car was deployed, putting a stop to both this battle and that between Bearman and Piastri.
But with around half a lap remaining, the VSC period came to an end, meaning that those fights could resume. None of this affected Norris, however, who crossed the line to take his 10th career victory with a staggering margin of 30.324s.
Behind him, Leclerc ultimately held onto second – by only 0.725s from Verstappen – and Bearman also kept Piastri at bay to keep fourth place, the strongest result of the young driver’s time in F1 so far.
Piastri had to settle for fifth, meaning that the Australian loses his championship lead to Norris by only one point. Antonelli led home team mate Russell in sixth and seventh for the Mercedes pair, followed by Hamilton, Ocon and Bortoleto to complete the top 10.
Tsunoda, Albon, Hadjar, Stroll, Gasly and Colapinto rounded out the classification, with Sainz failing to take the finish after his late-race stoppage while Alonso, Hulkenberg and Lawson recorded retirements earlier in the Grand Prix.
F1 will next travel to Interlagos for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which takes place over the weekend of November 7-9.
