Sainz surges to Mexico victory ahead of Norris and Leclerc as Verstappen hit with two penalties for Norris moves

Carlos Sainz has sealed an assured victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver bouncing back after initially losing the lead to Max Verstappen to score a stunning fourth win in Formula 1.

Verstappen had initially moved into first place during an eventful start, but Sainz snatched the position back on Lap 9. Drama then unfolded in the laps that followed as Verstappen engaged in a scrap with title rival Lando Norris – leading to Verstappen receiving two 10-second penalties for his moves on the Briton.

That melee allowed Charles Leclerc through into second, and from there the Ferrari duo enjoyed a mostly unchallenged drive at the front – until Norris managed to chase Leclerc down in the latter stages and take second place after a wide moment for the Monegasque.

While Norris tried to cut into Sainz’s lead, the Briton ultimately ran out of time and had to settle for second as his former team mate claimed the win by 4.7s. Leclerc made it a double Ferrari podium in third, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, the seven-time world champion winning out in a late-race intra-team fight.

After that 20-second penalty, Verstappen put in a recovery drive to cross the line in sixth on what was a tough day for Red Bull. Behind him, it was a better Sunday for Haas as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg ended the event in seventh and ninth respectively.

Sandwiched between them was Oscar Piastri, the McLaren man having climbed through the field from P17 on the grid, while Pierre Gasly claimed the final point for Alpine in P10.

Lance Stroll was Aston Martin’s sole finisher in 11th, ahead of Williams’s Franco Colapinto in 12th. The Argentinean was hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision in a battle with Liam Lawson in the latter stages, but that didn't affect his finishing position.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon followed in 13th for Alpine, with the Kick Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in 14th and 15th respectively.

Lawson ended the race down in P16 for RB, while it was a disappointing home event for Sergio Perez, the Red Bull driver ultimately crossing the line as the last classified racer in P17.

Fernando Alonso was forced to retire his Aston Martin, marking a disappointing end to his 400th Grand Prix weekend, while Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda were early casualties after making contact on the opening lap, leading to the RB crashing out at Turn 1 before Albon’s Williams also subsequently limped off the track.

AS IT HAPPENED

After an action-packed qualifying session on Saturday – which saw Sainz claim an impressive pole amid changes at the top, a red flag in Q2 and some shock exits in Q1 – it was time to prepare for race day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez ahead of the 71-lap Mexico City Grand Prix.

One small alteration had been made to the starting order prior to the event, with Ocon – who had originally qualified down in 19th – set to start from the pit lane after Alpine changed power unit elements in his A524 under parc ferme conditions.

As the cars assembled on the grid in warm and sunny conditions and the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that most of the field had opted to start on the medium compound, while Lawson, Bottas, Colapinto, Perez, Zhou and Ocon were running the hard.

When the lights went out it was Verstappen who had the stronger launch than Sainz, the Dutchman getting ahead as the pair went side-by-side into Turn 1 while Norris tucked in behind them. The Spaniard subsequently cut across the grass to retake the lead but handed the position back to Verstappen.

Meanwhile there was drama unfolding behind as Tsunoda spun out and into the barriers at the first corner after making contact with the Williams of Albon, the latter having been squeezed by Gasly. As Tsunoda fortunately emerged unharmed, the Safety Car was called to remove his stricken RB, while Albon limped on briefly before also finding himself out of the race.

There was trouble for Perez when it was confirmed that the Mexican was under investigation for a false start, a far from ideal scenario for the home hero who was running down in P13. Meanwhile Verstappen led the pack around behind the Safety Car, followed by Sainz, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton and Russell.

The news followed that Perez had been handed a five-second penalty due to being too far forward in his pit box, just as the Safety Car prepared to peel in on Lap 6. Verstappen made another solid getaway at the restart, the world champion trying – and succeeding – to build a one-second gap in order to avoid being within DRS range of Sainz.

Elsewhere, Alonso was hot on the tail of Aston Martin team mate Stroll in a battle for P11, while Piastri had as of yet failed to make ground from P17, the Australian having suffered a nightmare qualifying on Saturday.

A thrilling scrap ensued at the front on Lap 9 as Sainz closed in on Verstappen before lunging into the lead at Turn 1. While Verstappen tried to fight back into Turns 2 and 3, Sainz held off the challenge – and just one lap later Norris joined the action, with the Red Bull struggling with battery.

Cue another tense duel between the title contenders as Norris looked to make a move before having to take to the grass after being run wide by Verstappen. The pair then both had a wide moment and all of this allowed Leclerc to sneak through into second, creating a Ferrari one-two.

“I was ahead the whole way through the corner,” an unhappy Norris reported over the radio. It was soon confirmed that the stewards were investigating two incidents in the fight at Turns 4 and 8 – and the decision then came that Verstappen would receive a 10-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track in the Turn 4 incident.

Behind the leading four cars, the Mercedes duo were fighting over fifth, with Russell snatching the position from Hamilton. Meanwhile Alonso pulled into the pits on Lap 16 to retire the car, an unfortunate end to his 400th Grand Prix weekend.

Despite his time penalty, Perez was continuing his charge through the field and got involved in a feisty battle with Lawson for P10. The Mexican overtook into Turn 4 before being forced wide by the RB, and after further wheel-to-wheel action Lawson ultimately stayed ahead.

Another bombshell hit on Lap 20 when it was confirmed that Verstappen had been given another 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 8, meaning that the Dutchman would have to be stationary for a whopping 20 seconds during his pit stop.

“Wow,” Russell responded when told of Verstappen’s penalty, with the world champion running in third around eight seconds ahead of the Mercedes in fifth, while Verstappen’s own reaction was “that’s silly”. Sainz, meanwhile, was continuing to lead with a three-second gap to Leclerc.

Perez became the first to make a pit stop for the medium tyres, emerging back on track in P17, while Piastri had made his way up to P11 after overtaking Stroll. Back at the front, Norris had again closed in on Verstappen, with the latter reporting that his tyres were not holding up well.

On Lap 27 Verstappen headed into the pits, leading to the unusual sight of the RB20 sitting untouched for 20 seconds. After that long wait, the stop totalled 24 seconds and brought him out into 15th place on a set of hard tyres.

Hamilton was another driver to make a pit stop on Lap 30, the Mercedes driver returning to the track in P10 behind Colapinto. Not far behind, Verstappen made a move on Ocon as he looked to embark on a recovery drive from P11 – and one lap later Norris pitted, bringing the Briton out into P4.

Leclerc soon headed to the pits to cover off the McLaren, while Sainz was told to box on Lap 33. The Spaniard did so – despite asking for “one more lap” – and enjoyed a smooth stop, putting him back into the lead.

All of this had left Piastri – the only medium-shod car yet to stop – in the middle of a fight with Hamilton and Lawson for fifth, the Australian ultimately getting the better of Lawson before Hamilton then followed suit on the RB.

Hamilton went on to take P5 from Piastri as he looked to close the gap to team mate Russell ahead – but Russell, meanwhile, was told that he had "asymmetry" in his front wing. Another driver facing issues was Colapinto, who reported steering problems as he tried to hold off Magnussen in a battle for P9.

Lap 40 saw Piastri and Lawson make their pit stops for the hard tyre, leaving only Colapinto, Bottas, Ocon and Zhou to visit the pits. Overhead, the skies looked increasingly grey – and Russell soon reported small rain drops on his visor.

Up ahead, Sainz was leading Leclerc by six seconds, while Norris had a deficit of just under five seconds to Leclerc as the Briton looked to maximise his points with Verstappen back in sixth place. Perez, meanwhile, pitted again for another set of medium tyres, the local hero having a tough afternoon down in 17th.

Norris pumped in the fastest lap of the race on Lap 47, the gap to Leclerc having come down to just over four seconds, and team mate Piastri was busy trying to find a way past Colapinto for ninth – before the Australian was freed up as the Williams finally headed to the pits. A slightly slow stop brought him out into P15.

With Hamilton chasing down Russell in fourth, the latter was told that the duo were “free to race”. The scrap was unfolding 12 seconds up the road from Verstappen in sixth, while Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Piastri and Gasly were the final top-10 runners.

As the race headed into its final 15 laps, Hamilton remained right on the tail of Russell but looked to be struggling to get through. Piastri, meanwhile, had stormed past Hulkenberg into eighth, with Magnussen the next target a further seven seconds ahead, while Norris had closed the gap to Leclerc down to 2.3s.

With the front-runners having to lap the cars behind, Norris benefitted from DRS behind Lawson and managed to eat into that deficit further, putting him just 1.2s away from Leclerc. Behind them, the Mercedes cars were still going wheel-to-wheel but Russell continued his robust defence.

Norris again set the fastest lap on Lap 62, the McLaren now just 0.5s behind. But further drama hit when Leclerc went wide into the final corner, only narrowly avoiding contact with the barriers, which allowed Norris through to try to chase down Sainz.

Another driver making moves was Hamilton, who finally pulled off an overtake on Russell on Lap 66. Elsewhere a battle of the youngsters was taking place between Colapinto and Lawson, but contact between the two forced Lawson to pit after picking up damage to the RB.

While Norris was slowly cutting into Sainz’s lead, the Briton looked to be running out of time to challenge the Spaniard for the win. Red Bull, meanwhile, pitted Perez – running with a damaged car after his early scrap with Lawson – in an attempt to steal the fastest lap point from any of their rivals.

As the chequered flag was thrown, Sainz crossed the line to take his fourth victory in F1, leading the way from Norris by 4.7s. Leclerc followed in third, while the Monegasque also clinched the additional point for fastest lap after a late pit stop for the soft tyre.

Hamilton took fourth ahead of team mate Russell, and Verstappen claimed sixth in what was a damage limitation drive following those earlier penalties. Behind him, Magnussen and Hulkenberg sealed a decent haul of points for Haas, the pair ending the race in seventh and ninth respectively.

Piastri slotted between them in eighth, bouncing back from that lowly grid slot of seventeenth, and the final point on offer went to Gasly in 10th place. Stroll, meanwhile, missed out on adding to Aston Martin’s tally in 11th.

Colapinto was 12th for Williams, though the Argentinian was handed a 10-second time penalty after the race for his battle with Lawson. Ocon finished in 12th, with Bottas and Zhou in 14th and 15th.

Lawson took 16th place ahead of Perez as the final classified runner in 17th – not the result the Mexican would have been hoping for at his home track – with Alonso, Albon and Tsunoda the three retirees.

Key quote

"Gracias Mexico!" said a jubilant Sainz. "It’s incredible to see this crowd, I’ve been feeling their support all week. I feel like I have a lot of fanbase here in Mexico and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done. Honestly, I really wanted this one, I really needed it also for myself – I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now, four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible and if another one comes, I will go for it."

What's next

The third and final stop in this triple header sequence will be the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the paddock travelling straight to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace for the event on November 1-3. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.