Lando Norris started on pole and stayed up front all race as he took the points lead by winning the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday (Oct. 26), his first-ever win at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and McLaren’s first victory at the track since 1989.
Norris was unchallenged all day, winning by 30.324 seconds over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Norris earns his sixth win of the season, overtaking teammate Oscar Piastri for the most wins on the year.
The Briton earned his 10th career Formula 1 grand prix victory.
“I love it,” Norris told Sky Sports. “A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after. Good start, good launch, good first lap, and I went from there.”
As boos cascaded from the stadium, Norris shared that he is focused on the championship battle at hand.
“It’s one weekend at a time. I’m happy. I’m focused on myself. I keep my head down. I ignore all of this, and I keep to myself. It’s working at the minute, so I’m happy.”
Leclerc had Max Verstappen breathing down his neck in the final laps on fresher soft tires, but a virtual safety car for a stalled Carlos Sainz in the stadium section stopped the Dutchman’s progress and prevented him from making a true final attack on the last lap. Leclerc earned his seventh podium of 2025.
Leclerc’s defense kept Ferrari in second in the constructors championship, which McLaren already locked down.
“Very happy with this weekend,” Leclerc said. “United States [GP] was very positive for us, but we didn’t know what to expect this weekend. To end up again on the podium is a great surprise. [I’m] very happy to be on this amazing podium again.
I was quite happy about the safety car at the end. My tire 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 at the end.”
Verstappen started on the unpreferred medium tire and took softs just past halfway to just unsuccessfully chase down Leclerc.
“Everyone around me was on soft tires,” Verstappen said. “I was on the medium and looked like that was a bit of a struggle. It was all about surviving the first stint, trying to go as long as we could on the tires. Once we bolted on the softs, I think we were a little bit more competitive, a bit happier. It’s been a difficult weekend for us, but to be fighting for P2 with everything that happened in the first few laps I think is still a very strong result.”
Oliver Bearman had a surprise run, earning his and Haas F1 Team best finish of his career and the team’s existence of fourth. They looked on track for a podium but pitted to hold off a hard-charging Piastri in fifth and the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in sixth and seventh, respectively.
Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top 10.
The early laps brought chaos as four drivers, including Verstappen, exited turn one on the first lap. Verstappen settled in fourth but proceeded to fight Hamilton for third.
Verstappen lunged to take third and made contact with Hamilton. He had a slight lead into turn three but had to take back to the grass to avoid further contact. This landed Hamilton a 10-second penalty for the seven-time champion as he ran third. Verstappen avoided a penalty for contact.
“It was very hectic at the beginning of the race for me,” Verstappen said. “We had a very good start, and then, of course, it’s such a long run to turn 1, and we were on the outside three or four wide, so I had to be on that curb. It kept bottoming out all the way, and I almost crashed in the grass.”
The two Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell battled in front of Piastri, trying to pass Bearman, but Russell felt he was faster than his teammate throughout the race, imploring to his team over the radio. Mercedes waited a while to allow the switch and let their main driver fight to overtake Bearman’s Haas.
Bearman, Russell, Piastri, Antonelli, and Hamilton decided to take a second stop to put softs back on laps 46 and 47 in a fight for third and in an attempt to cut off each other and the charging Verstappen to no avail in the end.
Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, and Liam Lawson all retired from the race. Hulkenberg endured a power unit failure, and Lawson picked up damage on lap 1.
2025 Mexico City Grand Prix Results
Formula 1 will return in two weeks for a sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on Sunday, Nov. 9th at noon ET with broadcasting in the United States provided by ESPN2.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
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Congrats to Bearman, and to Haas. Have to think one of the big teams will wind up signing Bearman in years to come, but if not, it sure seems Haas has someone they can build around. Possibly he replaces Hamilton in the Ferrari whenever Hamilton hangs up his spurs.
The lack of pace all weekend for Piastri was mystifying to me. He and Norris have been within hundredths if not thousandths of each other all year, so it was odd to see Norris on another planet vs. the field, including Piastri. Have to guess McLaren will find something was slightly amiss on Piastri’s car, though depending upon what it would be, they may never announce the findings.