The Mexican GP dominated from start to finish, Carlos Sainz gets his fourth career win and his second of the season. Norris e Leclerc complete the podium, with the McLaren driver reducing to 47 points the gap from Verstappen in the drivers' championship. With the double podium, Ferrari overtakes Red Bull in second place in the constructors' standings, moving to 29 points behind leader McLaren. Nervous race for Verstappen, who tries to push Norris out twice and is given a 20-second penalty, finishing sixth behind the two Mercedes.
Race report
Off you go, Max Verstappen It has a great shot and is easy to carry ahead, coming alongside and then overtaking Carlos SainzIn true Verstappen style, the Dutchman forces the brakes at Turn 1 and pushes the Spaniard out, who cuts the chicane to retake the lead, only to then cede the lead to the world champion.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton surpasses his companion George Russell for fifth place, while Alex Albon and Yuki tsunoda are the protagonists of a big accident which forces both of them to training camp. Fortunately, however, both the pilots are ok. Behind, Sergio Perez (climbed up to 13th position) comes Penalized 5 seconds for false start.
Verstappen and Norris: Here we go again
After the period of safety car, Verstappen maintains the lead Sainz, but after 2 laps the Ferrari driver he takes back the lead of the race with a textbook braking in curve 1. After a lap, Lando too Norris try to overtake Verstappen (which complains about battery problems), but number 1 he escorts him out as per tradition twice in two corners (punished with two penalties of 10 seconds each). He takes advantage of it Leclerc, which from fourth moves into second position.
The first laps of the Mexican GP seem to be a repeat of Austin: Verstappen and Norris go to war, while Ferrari thanks and gives itself another 1-2. Meanwhile, a couple of positions further back, Russell reclaims position from Hamilton, while the points zone is concluded by the two Haas, Gasly and Lawson. Difficulty for Perez (11th) and Piastres (15th) to recover after yesterday's poor qualifying.
Leclerc, what a thrill at the end!
After Albon and Tsunoda at the start, Alonso joins the list of retired for a mechanical problem: not the best gift for his 400th weekend in Formula 1. On lap 19, Perez try to overtake Lawson, but the New Zealander defends himself tooth and nail and Perez comes out of the battle defeated and with damage to his Red Bull.
After a central phase of the race without any dramatic twists, in the last 20 laps the backmarkers mix things up a bit and Norris gets closer to Leclerc. On lap 63, Leclerc loses the car before the straight and is overtaken by Norris, thus dropping down to third positionWith nothing to lose, the Monegasque returns to the pits to set the fastest lap, thus earning an extra point.
Thus ends the Mexican GP. The top 10 reads: Sainz, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Magnussen, Piastri, Hulkenberg and Gasly.
