Carlos Sainz achieved his second victory of the season with a dominant drive at the Mexico City Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Lando Norris took second position after surviving a tense battle with Max Verstappen – with the championship leader receiving two penalties. Last weekend’s race winner Charles Leclerc finished in third.
The Ferrari driver reclaimed the lead after he had lost it heading into the opening corner and never conceded it thereafter; Carlos built an unassailable lead which soaked up the potential of any threat from Norris in the closing stages once the McLaren driver cleared Charles Leclerc.
Sainz kept the lead through the pitstop phases and, despite occasional attempts from Leclerc to eat into an ever-growing lead, the Williams-bound driver returned the favour to continue his break-building efforts out in front.
Sainz had lost the lead to Verstappen off the line as the Red Bull driver arrived at Turn 1 first, and forced the Ferrari driver to take to the grass with his preservation of the racing line.
But the racing action was halted after a first-corner clash between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda bringing out the safety car; Albon was squeezed between Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and the former two ended up in the braking zone for Turn 1.
Tsunoda ended up going straight into the wall, while Albon also pulled over to retire with front-left tyre damage.
On the restart, Sainz spent two laps sat in Verstappen’s wheel-tracks before gathering enough pace to mount an overtake into Turn 1 with DRS and then covered off a potential switchback into the following corners.
This put Max in Lando’s clutches, and the McLaren’s bid to pass around the outside into Turn 4 was once again met with Verstappen taking him off the track.
Like Austin, Norris had laid claim to the position, but Verstappen then lunged down the inside at Turn 7 and took both drivers off once more – and got ahead of Norris off the circuit. Both incidents resulted in 10-second penalties for Verstappen, which sent him further down the order and took him out of the lead fight. Leclerc capitalised on the skirmish between the two championship leaders, bursting into second place.
This moment between the two title contenders was certainly outrageous and over the top in terms of racing. Max was very aggressive in defending and preventing Lando from getting by. This penalty is justified for his driving behaviour.
Leclerc couldn’t challenge his teammate, however, and after the pit phase Sainz’s lead had grown to over eight seconds. Charles attempted to cut this down, although both Ferraris were employing lift and coast tactics in an aid to cool down the car.
Sainz stabilised at over five seconds, but Leclerc’s tyres then started to run out of life and he started to fall into Lando’s range – when the McLaren driver closed into DRS range at the end of lap 62, Leclerc subsequently drifted wide out of the Peraltada and almost hit the wall.
Leclerc saved the snap of oversteer, but couldn’t stop Norris from breaking past. Norris subsequently started to catch Sainz, but could only get to within 4.7 seconds at the flag.
So a fantastic victory for Carlos Sainz. His fourth win for Ferrari before leaving to join Williams next year so this result is a feel good story for Carlos.
Next week is the Brazilian Grand Prix and yet another sprint race. The championship battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen is getting very tense so will be fascinating how the racing will play out after two successive race events with hard wheel to wheel battle.
Mexico City Grand Prix, race results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:40:55.800
2 Lando Norris McLaren +4.705s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +34.387s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +44.780s
5 George Russell Mercedes +48.536s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull +59.558s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas +63.642s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +64.928s
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
16 Liam Lawson RB +1 lap
17 Sergio Perez Red Bull +1 lap
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
Yuki Tsunoda RB DNF
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.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/sainz-surges-to-mexico-victory-ahead-of-norris-and-leclerc-as-verstappen-hit.3duSNduH2cxC7K91WDSXda
Lando Norris says he “knew what to expect” after being on the receiving end of “not very clean driving” by Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix.
One week after the pair fought hard in Austin, a duel for which Norris was penalised for overtaking his title rival off track, Verstappen and Norris again battled in the early stages of the Mexico City race.
Norris attacked Verstappen for second place around the outside of the Turn 4 left-hander, which would yield him the inside for the following switchback.
As at Austin, Norris was pushed off by Verstappen, but because this time the McLaren driver was ahead at the apex it was Verstappen who was penalised. Using the same racing guidelines that had dominated the conversation over the past week, the stewards handed Verstappen a 10-second penalty.
Verstappen then attempted to retaliate at Turn 8 and went off while repassing Norris, sending both cars wide and forcing Norris to take evasive action. The stewards handed the Dutchman another 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
“I knew what to expect. I didn’t want to expect such a thing because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was ready to expect something like this,” he said. “This is not very clean driving, in my opinion, but I avoided it, and it was a good race.
“The first few laps, a lot of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-expected-verstappens-not-very-clean-driving-in-mexico-f1-gp/10667638/
Max Verstappen says the lack of race pace in his Red Bull Formula 1 car was the main factor in his incidents with Lando Norris at the Mexican Grand Prix, which led him to serve 20 seconds’ worth of penalties.
Verstappen ran Norris off the road twice on lap 10 at Turn 4 and Turn 7, repassing the McLaren driver off-track in the meantime and earning a 10-second penalty for each incident.
These were served in Verstappen’s pitstop, which put him back on track in 15th; although he recovered to sixth, he could make no inroads into the two Mercedes ahead and was being closed down by Kevin Magnussen and Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen was more bothered by the lack of pace he had in the 71-lap race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, suggesting that this led him to being ‘put in those positions’ for a penalty.
“You know, honestly, 20 seconds is a lot, but I’m not going to cry about it and I’m also not going to share my opinion,” Verstappen explained.
“The biggest problem that I have is that today was a bad day in terms of race pace. That was quite clear again on the mediums and on the hard tyres.
“I just felt that the Turn 4 [penalty] was a bit more of, like, a question mark. Turn 7 is what it is.
“Honestly, those two things are also not my problem. The problem is that we are too slow, and that’s why I’m being put in those kind of positions. That is my problem.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-penalties-red-bull-too-slow/10667666/
Carlos Sainz was full of smiles after the Mexico City Grand Prix as the Ferrari driver avoided the drama around him to convert a spectacular pole position into a statement victory.
Sainz lost the lead to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the start but bounced back following an early Safety Car period to reclaim P1 with a bold move into the first corner – the Spaniard late on the brakes to dive up the inside.
With Verstappen and Lando Norris engaging in another pulsating battle, Sainz pulled clear at the head of the pack, keeping Charles Leclerc in check after his team mate provisionally benefitted from the title rivals’ squabbling.
Staying composed through to the chequered flag, Sainz crossed the line to engineer Riccardo Adami describing the drive – which earned the fourth victory of his F1 career – as a “masterclass”.
“Gracias Mexico!” Sainz beamed post-race. “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 [before moving to Williams], I want to enjoy as much as possible and if another one comes, I will go for it!”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/i-really-wanted-this-one-sainz-overjoyed-as-he-achieves-goal-of-one-more-win.7oNZ89UCBD0hIXrla9S6P4