Lando Norris took a dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix to reclaim the world championship lead from team-mate Oscar Piastre by one point with four races to go in the season.
Dethroning Piastri from the top of the standings for the first time since April after the Australian finished fifth, Norris completed a fantastic weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to victory by 30 seconds.
Leaving a distant chasing pack to engage in breathless and, at times, chaotic battles behind him after surviving the perils of the long run to the first corner from the pole, Norris’ only embarrassing moment of the day came after the race when he was booed in the winner’s interview and on the podium.
Leclerc just held on to second place from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who recovered well from fifth on the grid to finish third after an early clash with Lewis Hamilton saw the old rivals slam tires at the first corner, before the latter was penalized by the stewards for cutting the track three corners later.
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The crowd erupted in boos as McLaren driver Lando Norris spoke about his victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix
And although Norris beat him, Verstappen still closed the gap on the overall championship, with the reigning champion now 36 points back, with 116 up for grabs.
Piastre struggled in Norris’ wake all weekend, although a final result of fifth was better than it looked to be for him for most of the race after McLaren’s late gamble at the second pit paid relative dividends.
The impressive Oliver Bearman denied Piastra fourth place in a career-best finish for the British rookie after a brilliant drive from ninth on the grid. It matched Haas’ best result in 10 F1 seasons.
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George Russell was not happy on the radio after he asked to swap seats with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finished sixth and seventh after swapping track positions twice in a last ditch bid for a better team result.
Russell grew increasingly agitated over the team radio ahead of the first pit stop at what he saw as Mercedes’ initial delay in letting him through, but ultimately stuck to his word about letting Antonelli advance if he couldn’t make up ground in front of the car.
Hamilton ran early on in his third place on the grid but dropped down the order and eventually finished eighth after the stewards handed him a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track to gain the lead on the fourth lap in a fierce sixth-lap battle with Verstappen.
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Lewis Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining the lead after a collision with Max Verstappen
Esteban Ocon took ninth for Haas in the second car, while Gabriel Bortoletto took the last point for Sauber.
Norris completes the turnaround after Zandvoort in a runaway victory
What a difference eight weeks makes.
Back on August 31 at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, Norris’ hopes of becoming world champion for the first time suffered a major blow when his car failed him while running second to Piastre late in the race, costing the Briton 18 points. Norris left a record 34 points behind Piastri in the standings that weekend.
But Norris has now outscored Piastri in each of the five races since, culminating in the Briton’s strong return to the top step of the podium on Sunday for his first win in Mexico and sixth triumph of the year.
“I love it. What a race,” a beaming Norris said in his post-race interview held in a section of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez stadium, which some of the crowd tried to drown out with boos.
“I could just keep my eyes focused and forward and focus on what I was doing.
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Norris discusses Mexico City GP win as he takes F1 title lead from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri
Norris’ only challenge came, as expected, at the start when the cars behind slid the polesitter on the long 860m course to the first set of corners.
A good launch from the outside of the front allowed him to cut off Leclerc well before the braking zone, but with Ferrari and a fast-starting Verstappen going three abreast just behind him, Leclerc and Red Bull ran off the track.
Leclerc took the grass and returned to the track from the third lap ahead of Norris in the lead, although he quickly gave way to McLaren.
From there, Norris quickly put his authority on the race to devastating effect.
He led Leclerc by two seconds by lap six, 10 seconds by lap 22 and was 18 seconds ahead of second place when Ferrari made its only pit stop on lap 31.
Verstappen, Piastre perform late
With Norris in a league of his own ahead, the challenge for his two title rivals quickly became limiting the damage to their own championship aspirations and seeing if they could salvage a podium.
Verstappen did so despite a poor start to the race, seeing the Dutchman run across the grass twice in the first six laps.
The Red Bull first spun out at turn one, trapped on the outside curb as the Ferraris battled on its inside, before careening across the grass and rejoining at turn three. He was then over the grass at Turn 2 five laps later when an attempt to overtake Hamilton for third saw the two cars brush wheels, contact also sending the Ferrari wide.
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Karun Chandhok analyzes whether Ferrari’s 10-second penalty for his fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fair
The stewards decided there was no need for further action, but eventually intervened at the next corner when Hamilton, who was now behind Verstappen, got over himself, ran straight ahead and then cut through the grass to get back in front of the Red Bull.
In that chaos, Red Bull then overtook Bearman in fourth place.
But Verstappen’s decision to start on the medium tires eventually paid off as, once in the soft pits on lap 37, he reached the final spot on the podium as the five cars ahead of him pitted for the second time.
“It was very tiring at the beginning of the race for me. I almost crashed,” he admitted.
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Max Verstappen left disappointed after his thrilling pursuit of Leclerc was cut short by a virtual safety car at the chaotic Mexico City Grand Prix!
“Everyone around me was on the softs and we were on the mediums, so it was a bit of a battle. It was about surviving the first time.
“When we went soft, I think we were a little bit more competitive and a little bit happier.”
Piastre’s race also belatedly revived thanks to strategy.
The Australian compounded his qualifying woes by dropping two places on the first lap to run ninth, and was close to the Mercedes on lap 47 when McLaren asked him if he would consider a second stop, due to the soft tyres.
It seemed like a big gamble at the time, but it worked out well.
Mercedes challenged Antonelli at the same time, but McLaren’s quicker serve put his man in front. Back in seventh, Piastre followed up a brave but decisive move down Ocon at turn six on lap 50 with a brilliant arrow down the inside of Russell into turn one with 11 laps to go.
He finished just over a second behind Bearman and, while frustrated with the traffic, felt it was a positive race in an otherwise tough weekend for him.
“I felt like we had a really good pace; it was just incredibly difficult to use it with the DRS train and get stuck in the dirty air, which was a shame,” Piastre said.
“We have made some progress, and I have also learned a lot.”
The thrilling race for the Formula 1 title continues in Brazil with a sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from November 7-9, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Ski Sports from NOW – no contract, cancel anytime