(Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

F1 Review: Lando Norris Seizes Championship Lead With Stellar Win In Mexico City Grand Prix

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McLaren’s Lando Norris started fast, leading easily into Turn 1, and finished faster, rocketing his way to a 30-second win in the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday (October 26th) at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The win dampened the momentum of Max Verstappen, who had won three of the last four races.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, aided by a brief virtual safety car period in the final laps, held off Red Bull’s Verstappen for second. The win vaulted Norris into the championship lead ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth.

Haas’ Oliver Bearman started ninth and took advantage of a chaotic first lap to gain track position and ultimately scored his best F1 finish, a fourth, and the accompanying 12 points. Piastri was fifth, with the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. 

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton couldn’t cash in on a Q3 start, with a first-lap skirmish with Verstappen leaving him with a 10-second penalty, and he finished eighth. Haas’ Esteban Ocon took ninth, and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was 10th. 

“What a race,” said Norris. “I could just keep my eyes focused, I could just keep eyes forward and just focus on what I was doing. A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after. Good start, good launch, good first lap, and I could go from there.”

In the driver standings, Norris leads Piastri by a single point, 357 to 356, with Verstappen third with 321 points.

In the constructors standings, McLaren padded their already massive lead, which now stands at 357 points over Ferrari, 713 to 356. Ferrari overtook Mercedes for second in the constructors, and lead Toto Wolff and crew by one point, 356 to 355. 

The Race

Norris aced the all-important start at lights out and covered the Ferrari’s as Verstappen went wide into the grass and returned to the track in third ahead of Hamilton. Verstappen immediately gave the place back as he gained the spot off of the racing surface, while praying he did little damage to the underside of his Red Bull.

Leclerc also ran off the track to overtake Norris, but quickly backed off to rightly give Norris the spot. It was a chaotic start to the race, and Norris had survived unscathed, and in the lead, and in a McLaren that had looked unbeatable all weekend.

Piastri lost two spots at the start and was ninth after the first lap. To make matters worse, he was stuck behind the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who was surely holding the McLaren up to benefit Verstappen. 

Norris had survived what had often been his nemesis, the race start, and opened up over a one-second lead over Leclerc, a lead that was destined to grow as Norris was untouchable in clean air.

Verstappen went into the grass again on lap six after making contact with Hamilton. Verstappen cleared Hamilton, but the Dutchman lost fourth to the Haas of Oliver Bearman. Just six laps in and Verstappen had already logged two trips through the grass and made contact with two other cars. 

Ten laps in, Norris’ lead was 2.5 seconds over Leclerc. The McLaren driver had to be pleased with what was going on behind him, with Verstappen and Piastri running fifth and ninth, respectively. 

Fifteen laps in, Norris’ lead had ballooned to five seconds over Leclerc. It was seven seconds, three laps later. Norris was in cruise control and on his way to the win. But the McLaren had to be nervous about his upcoming pit stop. 

Norris nursed his soft tires for 34 laps before pitting, and a fast 2.6-second stop for medium tires by the McLaren team left Norris little to no worry that he could close out the race with the win. He resumed in the lead with an eight-second lead over Verstappen.

On lap 51, Norris’ lead was 23 seconds over Leclerc, and Leclerc was looking to stretch his medium tires until the end, with Verstappen trailing in third, 11 seconds behind the Ferrari. Norris was no doubt cheering Leclerc on, as well as the Haas of Oliver Bearman, who was in fourth, ahead of championship leader Piastri. 

Leclerc’s lead was down to six seconds with 11 laps left, and all signs pointed to Verstappen catching the Ferrari with 2-3 laps left. 

With Norris closing in on a 30-second victory, Leclerc’s lead was down to three seconds with seven laps left, and Verstappen was closing with every passing lap. 

But with a little over a lap to go, Carlos Sainz’s stranded Williams brought out a virtual safety car, seemingly saving Leclerc and Bearman from the respective pursuits of Verstappen and Piastri. The VSC ended surprisingly quickly, leaving Leclerc and Bearman half a lap to hold their positions. Both succeeded as Norris took the checkered flag as well as the championship lead. 

The Good

Good on George Russell for berating his Mercedes team into granting his wish for his teammate to give up position to Russell on lap 42, as Russell was faster. Complaining doesn’t always result in action, but complaining in a stern and dignified British accent often does.  

And good on Russell for giving the position back, as he initially agreed to do. Of course, Russell didn’t volunteer to do it; he waited for Kimi Antonelli to ask for the position back, in his lilting, pleasant, and not at all intimidating Italian accent.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman had quite a memorable race, snatching a F1 career-best result of fourth. What was likely even more memorable for the British prodigy was watching his heroes and contemporaries drive through the grass like they were at the wheel of souped-up lawn mowers. While Verstappen, Leclerc, and Hamilton were making desperate and unwise maneuvers off the track, jeopardizing their potential finishes, Bearman remained calm and keep his wheels on the racing surface. All of this happened on the first lap, and the first lap is when Bearman essentially secured his result.  

The Bad

What happened to the version of Oscar Piastri that left the Dutch Grand Prix on August 31st 109 points ahead of Max Verstappen, in third place, in the drivers standings? Since then, Piastri has scored only 47 points, compared to 116 for Verstappen and 82 for Norris. Has the pressure of being the world championship leader been too much for Piastri? As a typically laid-back Australian, does Piastri lack the killer instinct necessary to be an F1 champion? There seems to be no logical explanation. And when logic fails, we are left with really no other path but to attribute it to a conspiracy.

If you’re into conspiracy theories and/or are stupid, you might believe that McLaren is purposely and secretly sabotaging Piastri’s car in favor of Norris. I guess it’s possible, but why would McLaren take such a radical approach in trying to secure the drivers championship? McLaren has two drivers, equally talented, who are both more than capable of winning the championship. McLaren has proven that they can botch major decisions without the aid of wild conspiracies.

McLaren doesn’t want to blow this opportunity of winning the drivers championship. If Verstappen somehow overtakes both McLarens over the final four races and wins the title, McLaren will join the list of greatest collapses in sports history. And in this day and age, there are some lists you just don’t want to be on.

Did Verstappen’s Red Bull team not know whether they were on a one-stop or two-stop strategy? A radio transmission on lap 26 would suggest they didn’t. Sky Sports pundits thought the radio message may have aired to Verstappen accidentally, as someone may have pushed a wrong transmission button (as Verstappen indicated in a post-race interview). 

Does that make it any better? I don’t think so. If you’re Red Bull strategists/team principals and you’re unclear about race strategy, it might be best to have a face-to-face conversation about that. And, oh yeah, don’t let your driver, who expects no less than perfection and way more than just mere competence, to hear your admission of uncertainty.

Mission Imposter-able

Mercedes’ George Russell donned a luchador mask and watched Friday’s (October 24th) first free practice session amongst the common folk and of course, went unrecognized. That’s cool and all, George, but anyone could have done that. Flip the script and it becomes a much, much cooler, and an exponentially more difficult ruse to pull off: what if a fan donned a George Russell mask and drove in free practice without blowing his/her cover? That takes much more skill than just sitting down with a mask on, as Russell did. 

Grid Walk Moments

Martin Brundle sat this one out, and that left Sky Sports’ Karun Chandhok to face the indignity of being dissed by not one, but two Aston Martin drivers as they walked through the grid before the national anthem. That was the first “double whammy” involving Aston Martin drivers; the second “double whammy” came when Lance Stroll finished 14th, one lap down, and Fernando Alonso finished 18th after a DNF and 37 laps down.

The Driver

Norris’ performance in Mexico City was, shall I say, ‘Verstappen-esque.’ Verstappen, many times before, has taken such charge of a race that he’s barely seen again until he’s taking the checkered flag. Norris duplicated that brand of dominance in Mexico City.

It started with a wise decision to start on soft tires, thereby giving Norris the best chance to be quick off the line and maintain the lead out of Turn 1, something Norris has struggled to do when starting from the pole.

It was a hectic start, and Norris was off the line well, but he still had to make sure he wasn’t caught up in the chaos happening in behind him, or what was happening in front of him (Leclerc running through the grass and into the lead, briefly, before the Ferrari driver gave the spot back).

Once the job of leading the first lap was done, it was smooth sailing for Norris, and, desperately needing a win, he delivered. Now, the championship lead belongs to Norris, as well as the pressure of holding that spot. If he can replicate his mindset and performance from Mexico City, the title is his. But this is McLaren; it’s never that simple.

The Results (Mexico City Grand Prix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez)

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime / RetiredPts.
14Lando NorrisMcLaren711:37:58.57425
216Charles LeclercFerrari71+30.324s18
31Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing71+31.049s15
487Oliver BearmanHaas F1 Team71+40.955s12
581Oscar PiastriMcLaren71+42.065s10
612Kimi AntonelliMercedes71+47.837s8
763George RussellMercedes71+50.287s6
844Lewis HamiltonFerrari71+56.446s4
931Esteban OconHaas F1 Team71+75.464s2
105Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber71+76.863s1
1122Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing71+79.048s0
1223Alexander AlbonWilliams70+1 lap0
136Isack HadjarRacing Bulls70+1 lap0
1418Lance StrollAston Martin70+1 lap0
1510Pierre GaslyAlpine70+1 lap0
1643Franco ColapintoAlpine70+1 lap0
1755Carlos SainzWilliams67DNF0
NC14Fernando AlonsoAston Martin34DNF0
NC27Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber25DNF0
NC30Liam LawsonRacing Bulls5DNF0
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