Norris vaults to title lead after domination in Mexico City

Lando Norris dominated the Mexico City Grand Prix to take the championship lead from teammate Oscar Piastri for the first time in 15 rounds.

Norris got the dream launch from pole position as the Ferrari drivers, starting second and third, tangled with a fast-starting Max Verstappen in a three-wide scrap into the first turn. Charles Leclerc and Verstappen ended up off the track, with the former rejoining temporarily in the lead before handing the place back to Norris at the exit of Turn 3, while the latter remained behind Hamilton to keep the top four in their grid positions.

Verstappen, however, was impatient to move forwards while Norris opened a gap in the lead. On lap six the Dutchman made a late lunge on Hamilton for a spot on the podium, but the two collided on the apex. The battle lasted all the way down to Turn 4, where Hamilton locked up and cut the corner. Disobeying the race director’s instructions to rejoin via the service road, he was handed 10s penalty.

In the scuffle Verstappen ran onto the grass and lost a place to Oliver Bearman. The Haas driver rose from ninth to sixth on the first lap and capitalized on the 2021 title rivals’ battle to pinch fourth place from the Dutchman, which became a net third with Hamilton’s penalty.

The skirmish was music to the ears of Norris, who was subsequently told that the race was going to plan and that he was free to pick up the pace. By lap 15 he opened a 5s margin to Leclerc, which he stretched to a thumping 17s advantage just before half distance. The Briton made a breezy sole stop on lap 34 without losing the lead, and he cruised to the checkered flag with a mammoth 30s margin over the field to win his first race since the midseason break and to take a one-point lead in the title battle.

“What a race,” he said. “I could just keep my eyes forward and focus on what I was doing.

“A pretty straightforward race for me, which was just what I was after. A good start, good launch, good first lap and I could go from there.

"My first win here in Mexico. A beautiful one to win.”

Leclerc finished a nail-biting second after fending off a rapid finish from Verstappen. Red Bull's defending champion jumped back past Bearman when Haas switched Bearman to a two-stop strategy in response to moves from behind. Red Bull Racing opted to leave Verstappen out, the Dutchman having pitted latest among the frontrunners, in a decision that gave him a clear shot at second place.

He closed ferociously on Leclerc, who looked comfortable in the position, but on the penultimate lap the battle was neutralized by a virtual safety car to guard against Carlos Sainz’s stopped Williams.

The race resumed with only half a lap remaining, depriving Verstappen of an obvious overtaking opportunity and helping Leclerc to the place.

“Very happy with this weekend,” Leclerc said. “We didn’t know what to expect for this weekend, and to end up again on the podium is a great surprise.

“I was quite happy about the safety car in the end. My tires were completely gone, and I could see Max was coming back on the softer tire. It was tough, but I think the safety car saved me in the end.”

Verstappen’s third place reduced his championship deficit – now to Norris – to 36 points, hailing the car’s pace after an underwhelming qualifying

“It was all about surviving the first stint, trying to go as long as we could on the tires,” he said. “Once we bolted on the softs, I think we were a little bit more competitive, a bit happier.

“A difficult weekend for us, but to be fighting for P2 with everything that happened in the first laps, I think it’s still a very, very strong result.”

Bearman finished a career-best fourth for Haas after the virtual safety car helped him hold off a fast-finishing Piastri, who limited the damage to his title hopes with a workmanlike recovery despite dropping from seventh to ninth on the first lap in a disastrous start for the erstwhile title leader. It took him until lap 11 to blast past the hard-defending Yuki Tsunoda for eighth and gained another place after his last stop when Hamilton served his 10s penalty.

On fresh medium tires Piastri locked onto the back of the Mercedes drivers, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli heading George Russell. The McLaren was clearly the quicker car, but Russell’s defense was aided by his teammate’s DRS – though the Briton found the situation infuriating and angrily radioed his team to let him through lest he burn his tires with more than 30 laps remaining. The team demurred until lap 41, but by then Russell’s tires appeared cooked, and he was unable to make progress to the podium.

Facing a long stint in a Mercedes DRS train, McLaren chose to roll the dice, hauling Piastri into pit lane for a second stop on lap 47. Mercedes pre-empted the move with Antonelli, but the McLaren stop was faster, and Piastri emerged ahead. Russell was forced to respond on the following tour to hold position, but without the aid of his teammate’s DRS he was vulnerable to a gutsy late-braking move into the first turn that moved Piastri up to fifth on lap 49.

The Australian was 2.5s behind Bearman after the move, and after cooling his tires he set out after the Haas rookie. He closed to DRS range on the final laps, but the virtual safety car put paid to his charge, leaving him fifth and turning his 14-point title lead into a one-point deficit.

Antonelli cannily argued for Russell to give him back sixth place since he couldn’t compete for the podium, and the Briton duly obliged to finish seventh behind the Italian.

Hamilton’s penalty left him a quiet eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto in the final points-paying places, the latter up six places on his grid spot. Yuki Tsunoda finished a scoreless 11th ahead of Alex Albon, Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll and Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg and Liam Lawson were the race’s four retirements.

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