The Mexican Grand Prix is always an exciting race. We’ve had several dramatic starts here recently, so let’s see what this weekend will bring.
In some practice sessions, most teams ran rookies in FP1, which allowed the F1 drivers to sit back and analyse the data.
Tsunoda’s future may be under threat, considering Redbull rookie Arvid Lindblad set quicker lap times in the 1st practice session than Tsunoda.
Although Sainz had an unfortunate end at the last race, he was given a 5-place grid penalty for this week’s race.
It’s time for qualifying
We begin qualifying with Bortoleto going wide and Verstappen slipping slightly. Hadjar set an impressive quickest lap in Q1, the fastest of all Red Bull drivers.
Albon fights for his life as he finishes his final lap and misses out on getting into Q2; Antonelli just makes it through.
Bortoleto slips off the curb and nearly ends up against the wall; he finishes 16th. Neither Alpine can make it through, and Stroll joins them.
Out in Q2 is Lawson, who was unable to set any time
Alonso and Hulkenberg missed out, going in 14th and 15th. Haas looked promising, but Ocon fails to make it through; however, his teammate soars into Q3.
The world champion leader Piastri is in the danger zone until his final quick lap, and he makes it through, knocking Red Bull’s Tsunoda out.
In Q3, we see McLaren and Ferrari set some magnificently quick times. Leclerc set a fantastic lap, but time will tell whether it’s a Ferrari pole at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen was unable to beat Leclerc’s time, starting 5th, and Piastri in 8th —shock positions for him. Now all eyes are on Norris as he sets purple sectors everywhere and surpasses Leclerc’s time, taking pole position.
Leclerc and Hamilton slot into 2nd and 3rd, an excellent showing, especially in their constructors’ fight.
Mercedes also does well with Russel slotting into 4th just ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli into 6th. Sainz scrapes in at 7th, and both rookies Hadjar and Bearman take the bottom two positions in the top 10.
A brilliant qualifying for Norris and the Ferraris.
Viva Mexico!
The Mexican Grand Prix is set alight as the five lights go red, and away we go. Norris has an excellent start with Leclerc and Hamilton hot on his heels.
There was a 4-way fight among Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Verstappen; the Ferraris were neck and neck, and Verstappen was going around the outside of all 3.
There’s no room left, and Verstappen locks up, having to go wide and off track, hoping to regain his position when he’s back on track.
Leclerc managed to overtake Norris in this kerfuffle, but he cut the corner, meaning he had to give the place back, and we began racing again with Norris leading.
Russel also had a tremendous start launching off the line, but goes wide from locking up and has to avoid hitting any cars, so takes to the grass like Verstappen and drops down several places on the rejoin.
Piastri also loses positions on the start, and Bearman takes full advantage and breezes through Piastri and gets up into 6th place.
Sainz and Lawson get into a tangle with each other and cause damage to each other. Lawson sustained considerable damage to his front wing.
After a few laps, Hamilton and Verstappen are fighting neck and neck for 3rd position. Both are bouncing around close to each other, and Verstappen doesn’t have enough room nd aborts, cutting across and onto the grass.
Russel is trying to take advantage of this and attempts to overtake Hamilton, but the Ferrari defends hard and then also is neck and neck with Verstappen.
Hamilton locks up going into the turn and has to duck out, taking the escape road, but he didn’t quite stay on the exit path and cut across the grass, meaning he had a considerable advantage over Verstappen.
Bearman manages to overtake Russel as he goes wide, then fights hard against Verstappen —a great showing from the rookie so far as he overtakes him.
Hamilton is given a 10-second penalty, crushing for the Ferrari fans but a great advantage for Bearman, who’s currently 4 seconds behind him in 4th. Could this be the rookie’s first podium in F1?
Lawson is out due to too much damage after his contact with Sainz on the first corner. They pitted him to replace his front wing, but unfortunately, he had too much damage to continue.
A slow 5-second pit stop for Sainz has not helped his race, but an early pit stop might help him later on.
Piastri is on the hunt after 23 laps. He is desperate to overtake Russel in 6th as Hamilton comes in for his pit stop penalty, and he comes out in 14th.
Bearman and Piastri come into the pit on lap 25, but Piastri has a slow stop of 3.8 seconds. Russel pits and comes out just ahead of Piastri.
Sainz was caught speeding in the pit lane and received a 5-second penalty; however, he reports that the car was jumping around, so maybe he wasn’t in control of the speed.
Hulkenberg is out of the Mexican Grand Prix due to a power unit failure, which is very unfortunate as it looked promising.
On lap 30, the Williams cars are swapped, with Sainz now ahead; maybe they’re trying to make up the time he will miss.
Hamilton is making his way up and is now up into 9th place as Leclerc comes in for a pit stop. And so does Norris, who is 28 seconds ahead of Verstappen, so he comes out 7 seconds ahead of him.
Both the Mercedes cars are fighting hard, Russel desperate to get ahead of Antonelli. At the same time, Alonso also goes out and joins Lawson and Hulkenberg, who are already out of this race.
A tight battle between Piastri and Russel whilst Russel wants Antonelli to drive quicker or switch positions in the hopes of one of the Mercedes getting a higher position.
Verstappen comes into the pit and comes out just behind Hamilton in 8th, and that leaves Norris flying ahead with a gap of 18 seconds to Leclerc.
On lap 41, Antonelli is asked to swap positions, which they probably should’ve done a few laps earlier to preserve both drivers’ tyres. Antonelli now must defend against Piastri.
Russel is desperate to attack Bearman, the Haas driver, who is doing a fantastic job in 3rd position. There have been quite a few sassy radio comments today from Albon and Russel, their frustration evident.
Verstappen makes a brilliant move on Hamilton and gets ahead of him, and Antonelli is desperately defending from Piastri as he tries to overtake him.
Hamilton, Piastri, and Antonelli all pit at the same time to try and overtake each other, and McLaren comes out on top with he quicker pit stop, leading him out first, followed by Antonelli and Hamilton.
A lap later, Bearman and Russel also pit, and Bearman comes out ahead but in 4th position. Bearman is now hunting down Verstappen on much older tyres.
Piastri manages to swiftly overtake Ocon on the inside, a brilliant move, and he’s up into 6th and tracking Russel.
15 laps to go, and it’s a tough fight between Bearman and Russel, and Piastri is gaining on Russel.
Sainz has an unfortunate 2nd penalty: a drive-through for speeding again in the pit lane. It must be something the car is unable to slow down during pit stops. Williams will need to look into this after the race.
Verstappen is driving like a man on edge; he’s within 5 seconds of Leclerc, pushing his Redbull to the limit. Piastri dives down the inside and powers ahead of Russel, and he’s now after Bearman.
Antonelli and Russel swap positions as requested, and Verstappen has closed the gap to 3 seconds. Bortoleto and Hadjar have a tricky fight, and Bortoleto manages to get ahead into 10th, snagging the last point for now.
5 laps to go, Verstappen is driving hard and battling for 2nd, desperately wanting to overtake him.
If Verstappen gets ahead of Leclerc, Redbull will move into 3rd position for the constructors’ championship. Still, if Leclerc manages to hang onto 2nd, then Ferrari will go ahead of Mercedes and into 2nd for the constructors.
Bearman is holding off Piastri, wanting to cling onto his 4th position, which would be a fantastic finish for him and Haas. Two laps left, but such a tight battle for 2nd place with Verstappen and Leclerc.
Sainz has gone off spinning, but manages to park his car out of the way of any cars on track. We’ve still been given a virtual safety car, which stops all fighting.
The virtual safety car ends with half a lap to go, but it’s too late for Verstappen, and he must settle for 3rd place, and Leclerc holds onto 2nd.
Lando Norris is the New Championship Leader
Lando Norris wins the Mexican Grand Prix. A dominant performance from him, and he is now 1 point ahead of his teammate Piastri in the drivers’ standings.
Bearman finished in 4th, holding off Piastri in 5th with an excellent drive from him, his best finish in his rookie year.
The Mercedes team came in 6th and 7th, and Hamilton had a good recovery drive, slotting into 8th but ultimately aiming for the podium.
Ocon and Bortoleto scraped into 9th and 10th, which will be valuable points for their respective teams.
Verstappen showed brilliant strength in this race, but Norris owned this race and was a head above everyone else.
Lando Norris is now leading the driver’s championship by 1 point from his teammate. The Brazilian Grand Prix is going to be very exciting; it’s all still to play for.
See you in 2 weeks!
