The three-way battle for the Formula 1 title came to a dramatic head at the Grand Prix in Mexico City. With a flawless performance, Lando Norris drove from pole position to victory and took the championship lead by one point over his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. “An incredible result,” Norris radioed to the pits.
Behind Norris and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, defending champion Max Verstappen crossed the finish line in third place. Even second place seemed possible for him, but a virtual safety car phase prevented a final attack. The Australian McLaren driver Piastri, who had been weak for weeks, did not get past fifth place and ended up behind the surprise fourth-place finisher Oliver Bearman in the Haas. For the only German driver, Nico Hülkenberg in the Sauber, the race ended prematurely due to a defect.
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The first stress test awaited Norris, who started in first position, right at the start of the race. The start and finish straight in the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez is extremely long and offers advantages for drivers in the slipstream. Norris promptly had to fend off initial attacks, but parried them and defended his place at the front.
Things got chaotic behind: Verstappen also got away well, but at the first corner the world champion drove through the grass in the crowd and initially fell back into fourth place. “I was squeezed like crazy,” Verstappen complained over the radio.
The race remained competitive and Verstappen was once again at the center of the action. During an overtaking maneuver there was contact with British record world champion Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari. The Dutchman Verstappen fell back to fifth place. Hamilton braked in the following corner, but did not use the emergency exit provided when returning to the track – the Brit received a ten-second penalty. He missed the podium.
Verstappen fell back to eighth place after the first pit stops, but had an advantage on a new set of very soft tires and began his race to catch up. Further stops by his rivals pushed the Dutchman into third place – not enough for Verstappen. He constantly reduced the gap to Leclerc, but couldn’t get past because the virtual safety car was in his way shortly before the end.
Four Grands Prix before the end of the season, the three most important World Championship rivals have now moved even closer together. Norris has 357 points, followed by Piastri (356) and Verstappen (321). The race continues in Brazil in two weeks, followed by the races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The winner of a race gets 25 points.