Carlos Sainz won his second Formula 1 grand prix of the 2024 season by taking a dominant win at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico, earning the victory Lando Norris by 4.705 seconds. It is the fourth win of Sainz’ F1 career.
“Honestly, I really wanted this one,” Sainz said to Sky Sports. “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 before this mega crowd is incredible. Now [with] four races left, I want to enjoy it as much as possible, and if another one comes, I will go for it.”
Ferrari moves to second in the Constructors’ Championship, 29 points behind McLaren after the team’s fifth win of the season.
Norris shrunk his points deficit to Max Verstappen to 47 after taking second, passing Charles Leclerc in the closing laps and surviving another close encounter with his championship rival.
“It was a very tough race,” Norris said to Sky Sports. “The first few laps, a lot of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes, but Carlos drove a very good race, so congratulations to Carlos and Ferrari. They were very quick today.”
Leclerc rounded out the podium, taking the fastest lap on new soft tires on the final lap.
The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the top five.
Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly rounded out the points-paying positions.
Verstappen would beat the polesitter Sainz at the start of the race while in the back, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda made contact, destroying both the Visa Cash App RB and Williams and bringing out the only safety car of the day.
After the safety car restart, Verstappen lost the lead to Sainz in turn 1, and his championship rival Norris quickly made a move to pass the Dutchman in turn 8. Verstappen forced Norris off the track and into the grass, earning him a 10-second penalty. Later on the same lap, Verstappen passed Norris off the track, collecting an additional 10-second penalty as a result.
“I knew what to expect,” Norris said to Sky Sports. “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. This was not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it, and it was a good race.”
“At the end of the day, if you agree with it or not, it doesn’t matter because the penalties were given,” Verstappen said. “That’s honestly not my biggest problem with the race. My biggest problem was that we just had no pace. We were struggling a lot on the tires. I couldn’t really attack, and I couldn’t really follow Ferrari or McLaren.”
His teammate Sergio Perez, who started in the rear, took a 5-second penalty for a false start, lining up illegally within his start box. While fighting up the field, Perez collided Liam Lawson in the No. 30 RB, resulting in damage to the sidepod of his Red Bull.
Verstappen and Perez pitted first of all teams in the field, serving their respective penalties, and most initial pit stops occurred around lap 30, though Lawson and Piastri both pitted at lap 40 and Franco Colapinto on lap 48.
Norris closed in on Leclerc for second after getting through lapped traffic better than the Ferrari, getting into DRS range with 10 laps to go.
Leclerc went wide on the final corner, saving the car but handing Norris second place.
Russell had a faulty wing during the race which allowed his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to close in late. Hamilton and to pass Russell for fourth after a long battle.
Lawson broke a front wing late after contact with Colapinto. The New Zealander pitted to fix the damage and briefly took fastest lap after strapping on a new front wing before Leclerc stole the fastest lap at the finish.
Along with the lap one retirements of Albon and Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso retired from his 400th grand prix started due to a punctured radiator and overheating issues.
2024 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix Results
The next round of the Formula One calendar will take place at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, Brazil, next Sunday (Nov. 3) at 12 p.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime