Mexican GP: Dominant Norris takes title lead as Hamilton penalised after Verstappen incident

Lando Norris as wrestled the championship lead from teammate Oscar Piastri after a dominant drive to victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen has reduced his margin with third after a scrap with Lewis Hamilton that left the Ferrari driver penalised, while Piastri could do no better than fifth behind Oliver Bearman.

Lando Norris takes title lead after thrilling Mexico City GP

Norris headed Charles Leclerc to the flag in an anticlimactic finale to a thrilling race with a late Virtual Safety Car.

Bearman was a sensational fourth, his best F1 result and equalling the team’s best performance, with Piastri on his gearbox as they saw the chequered flag.

At the race start, the front row got away evenly, Leclerc sweeping across to tuck in behind Norris who in turn moved to the inside line.

Verstappen moved to the outside but couldn’t pull up his Red Bull at Turn 1 and took to the grass, rejoining third.

Leclerc had also taken to the grass, briefly moving into the race lead as he rejoined at Turn 3 but quickly ceded the lead back to Norris.

Verstappen also quickly gave up the positions he’d gained while Piastri had a poor opening lap to fall to ninth after he ran wide at Turn 1.

At the end of the opening lap, the order was Norris from Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, George Russell, Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Yuki Tsunoda, Piastri, and Esteban Ocon.

It was almost worst-case scenario for Piastri, not only had he lost ground but he found himself behind the second Red Bull – which was fitted with medium compound tyres versus the softs on the McLaren.

The pair were in a DRS train, headed by Hamilton, however, that was soon broken up.

At the start of Lap 6, Verstappen and Hamilton both off the road in the first complex and again at Turn 4 as the Dutchman slipped from fourth to fifth behind the opportunity Bearman.

Verstappen had dived up the inside of Hamilton, clouting the apex kerb and pushing Hamilton off the road in the process. The Ferrari was four wheels off the road, coming back on such that Verstappen was pushed off at Turn 2.

A corner later, Hamilton snatched a brake and skid into the escape road, while Verstappen also ran wide. The former was obliged to use a return chute that feeds drivers back in at Turn 6, which Hamilton didn’t do and left him under investigation.

So too was the Hamilton-Verstappen clash at Turn 1.

On Lap 11, Piastri finally found a way by Tsunoda. The Japanese driver had fallen out of DRS range of Russell ahead, allowing Piastri to open his own rear wing and ease by the Red Bull into eighth.

The medium rubber looked to be giving up, with Verstappen slipping back from Bearman ahead, both Red Bull drivers having opted for the yellow-walled rubber.

For his off-track moment at Turn 4 in the battle with Verstappen, Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He was cleared of failing to follow the race directors’ instructions, so too was Verstappen for his opening lap trek across the grass, and moment at Turn 4.

Behind them, Piastri has closed in on Russell, who had dropped out of DRS range of Antonelli in sixth.

The Italian pitted on Lap 22, the first of those towards the front of the race to take to the lane.

Hamilton was in next time by, the team waiting 10 seconds before servicing his car, which was stationary for 13.5 seconds.

It was then Piastri’s turn, stopping at the same time as Bearman at the end of Lap 24.

Following Hamilton’s penalty, Bearman was in an effective third place, the Haas driver rejoining ahead of Antonelli who was his nearest rival for a maiden podium.

A slower stop for Piastri fed him out behind Alex Albon, hindering his chances of an undercut and allowing Russell to box and rejoin while remaining ahead of the championship leader.

It was Lap 32 before Leclerc pitted from second, rejoining ahead of the Tsunoda-Bearman battle, which was resovled with DRS at the end of the pit straight and the help of far fresher tyres in favour of the Haas.

Tsunoda then quickly fell back into the clutches of Antonelli, Russell, and Piastri, the first Mercedes breezing by with DRS a lap after Bearman.

Russell wasted no time, making the move on the run to Turn 4 on the same lap, leaving Piastri stuck behind the Red Bull until the start of the following lap.

Holding a 29-second advantage as he pitted at the end of Lap 34, Norris swapped onto a set of medium tyres to rejoin without ever leading the lead.

It left Verstappen in second as the only front runner yet to stop, Red Bull extending the soft tyre stint as the mediums had proved a weaker race tyre.

Running towards the back of the pack, Fernando Alonso became the race’s third retirement on Lap 35, Liam Lawson having been the first after contact on the opening lap, and Nico Hulkenberg the second with a power unit issue.

Tsunoda pitted after 36 laps, Verstappen in next time by as he fell to eighth, behind Hamilton.

That left the order Norris from Leclerc, Bearman, Antonelli, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, and Verstappen. Sainz had found his way into ninth, though had a five-second penalty looming over him for pit lane speeding, with Ocon 10th by seven seconds back.

There was a battle developing for third.

Bearman held a small gap to Antonelli, who held an even smaller advantage to Russell, but without the pace to challenge the Haas ahead. Behind Russell was Piastri, who was an increasing threat, which led to an animated Russell over the team radio.

The Brit had called for a position swap between the two Mercedes drivers, which happened on the run to Turn 4 on Lap 41. He’d been complaining for several laps that he had more pace, and asked to be let through on the proviso that, should he not clear Bearman, he’d hand the place back to Antonelli.

Bearman had escaped up the road to hold a two-second advantage over Russell, who hadn’t sprinted clear of his teammate, who had Piastri in his wheel tracks.

Russell did eventually break free of DRS as Antonelli found himself having to defend from Piastri as McLaren considered swapping the Australian onto a two-stop strategy.

Stuck behind the Mercedes, it would lose him track position but give him time to make ground on the faster soft tyres – evidenced by Verstappen’s recovery as the Dutchman locked onto the rear wing of Hamilton’s Ferrari for eighth.

Having caught his former title nemesis, Verstappen made the move on Lap 47 to claim seventh.

At the end of the lap, Antonelli, Piastri, and Hamilton all dived into the lane. McLaren turned the stop around fastest, stealing the place from Antonelli as Piastri rejoined seventh – a loss of one position with Esteban Ocon 2.3s ahead.

Bearman and Russell reacted, the latter feeding out just ahead of Ocon who had Piastri tucked under his rear wing. The championship leader duly mugged the Frenchman with a surprise move at Turn 6 as he promptly lost out to Antonelli too. Piastri’s pass was noted by officials for causing a collision, though was subsequently deemed worthy of no further action.

The strategy change saw Norris well clear out front with Leclerc in a comfortable second. Verstappen had moved up[ to third with the fresh-booted brigade of Bearman, Russell, Piastri, Antonelli, and Hamilton then following.

Ocon remained ninth with Isack Hadjar having moved into 10th after 50 of 71 laps.

After their stops, Bearman found himself under pressure from Russell, the pack behind having broken apart with Piastri 2.7s back from Russell, and Antonelli 2.8s back and 1.5s clear of Hamilton after 54 laps.

Norris held an advantage of 25.7s over Leclerc, with Verstappen 9.5s away in third and 14.2s up from Bearman.

Piastri soon closed in to be within DRS range, diving up the inside to take the place at Turn 1 on Lap 60.

It was a bold move, with Russell looking to immediately fight back only to back out of the move in a hard but fair racing incident.

That Piastri was able to pass raised questions about the timing of Mercedes swapping its drivers earlier in the race, and whether it should have been done earlier.

Antonelli was quickly on the radio to call for the places to be reversed once Russell fell behind the McLaren, having never cleared Bearman which was the deal in inverting the Mercedes pair earlier in proceedings.

That eventually took place on Lap 62, Antonelli moving through on the run to Turn 4.

Up the road, Verstappen had moved to 3.2s off the back of Leclerc as the Red Bull driver hunted down the Ferrari.

There was a battle developing for fourth, too, with Piastri honing in on Bearman with 6 laps remaining.

With three laps remaining, Piastri was within DRS range of Bearman as they encountered the two Alpine to put them a lap down.

A double yellow flag at the end of the lap saw Verstappen close in and begin attacking Leclerc, only for a Virtual Safety Car to be thrown to allow Carlos Sainz’s Williams to be cleared.

The Williams had been stopped in the stadium section, seemingly behind the barrier and therefore with no need for the race to be neutralised.

Thankfully, it ended with half a lap remaining for Verstappen and Piastri to improve their positions.

As they did, Norris flashed across the line to take a dominant win.

Verstappen couldn’t do anything about Leclerc as he took second from the Dutchman, then came Bearman and Piastri.

Rounding out the top 10 were Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Ocon, and Gabriel Bortoleto.

The result sees Norris move into the championship lead for the first time since Saudi Arabia, his advantage just a single point over Piastri.

Mexico City Grand Prix results

1. Lando Norris, McLaren,
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, + 30.324
3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 31.049
4. Oliver Bearman, Haas, + 40.955
5. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, + 42.065
6. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, + 47.837
7. George Russell, Mercedes, + 50.287
8. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, + 56.446
9. Esteban Ocon, Haas, + 75.464
10. Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, + 76.863
11. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, + 79.048
12. Alex Albon, Williams, + 1L
13. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, + 1L
14. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, + 1L
15. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, + 1L
16. Franco Colapinto, Alpine, + 1L
17. Carlos Sainz, Williams, + 4L
18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, + 37L
19. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, + 46L
20. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, + 66L