Key events
Mexico Grand Prix result (top 10)
1 – Lando Norris
2 – Charles Leclerc
3 – Max Verstappen
4 – Ollie Bearman
5 – Oscar Piastri
6 – Kimi Antonelli
7 – George Russell
8 – Lewis Hamilton
9 – Esteban Ocon
10 – Gabriel Bortoleto
Bearman finishes a career-best 4th after holding off the challenge of Piastri.
Leclerc holds on to second place ahead of Verstappen! The virtual safety car had ended with half a lap to go but the Red Bull ran out of track in the end.
Norris win Mexico Grand Prix
There’s no doubt about who has won this. Norris claims a statement win in the title race – his 7th of this season. He takes the lead in the drivers’ standings for the first time since April and is just one point ahead of Piastri.
Lap 71/71: That virtual safety car could put an end to any racing. Leclerc could well hold on to 2nd after all. Bearman remains in front of Piastri too.
Lap 70/71: Double yellow flag with Sainz stranded in the stadium section. Verstappen closes in on Leclerc … but there’s a virtual safety car.
Lap 69/71: Piastri gets ever closer to Bearman with DRS in the battle for 4th but the Haas driver continues to hold on.
Lap 68/71: Verstappen is in striking distance now. The same is the case between Piastri and Bearman.
Lap 67/71: Norris is cruising along out in front, 29 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Verstappen, Piastri and Russell could all gain points before the race is over.
Lap 66/71: Verstappen is coming. Leclerc could well be a sitting duck when the Red Bull gets in DRS range. The Ferrari is going to run out of laps. 2 seconds the gap.
Lap 65/71: Verstappen has closed the gap to Leclerc in 2nd to 3 seconds. Piastri is gaining on Bearman in 4th.
Lap 64/71: Tsunoda goes past on Hadjar’s inside and sets his sights on Bortoleto and some points.
Lap 63/71: Antonelli does indeed regain his place from Russell and is into 6th. Bortoleto is into the points after moving past Hadjar.
Lap 62/71: Antonelli wants his place back off Russell and makes that clear over the radio. He’s 1.5s behind his teammate.
Piastri moves past Russell into 5th
Lap 61/71: Piastri finally gets past the Mercedes to gain some valuable points in the overall standings. 10 laps to go
Lap 59/71: Verstappen will catch Leclerc at this pace by the end of the race. The gap is under 6 seconds now.
Lap 58/71: Hadjar is holding on to the last point available in 10th with Bortoleto close behind him. Russell is still holding off Piastri.
Lap 57/71: Piastri has DRS and is gaining on Russell, about half a second between them.
Lap 56/71: After chasing Bearman for a couple of laps, Russell is now looking over his shoulder as Piastri in 6th comes into sight in his rearview mirror.
Lap 55/71: Verstappen in 3rd is edging closer to Leclerc, with 8.4 seconds the gap there. Norris is 26s clear in first.
Lap 54/71: No sign of a safety car. Bearman is widening the gap a touch back to Russell with some fine driving.
Lap 53/71: Bearman and Russell are having a bit of a duel. Debris on the track may require a safety car to come out.
Lap 52/71: Bearman is struggling to hold off Russell’s pace as they battle for 4th. Russell now holds the fastest lap.
Lap 51/71: Norris is 23 seconds clear out in front, with big gaps between each driver in the top 4.
Top 8
1 – Norris
2 – Leclerc
3 – Verstappen
4 – Bearman
5 – Russell
6 – Piastri
7 – Antonelli
8 – Hamilton
Lap 50/71: Russell comes out behind Piastri but is almost overtaken by the other Haas, Ocon. Piastri and Antonelli both then come past Ocon.
Lap 49/71: Bearman and Russell both pit, leaving Verstappen to move into third. He’s 13 seconds behind Leclerc.
Lap 48/71: Antonelli and Piastri both come into the pits. Hamilton follows them. Piastri has gone ahead of Antonelli in the pit lane. Superb stop from McLaren.
Lap 47/71: McLaren expect Piastri to come in but he still fancies his chances on Antonelli, leaving the engineers to walk back into the garage. Verstappen has come past Hamilton into 7th.
Lap 46/71: Russell is very slowly gaining on Bearman, who is still on course for his first podium finish.
Lap 45/71: Verstappen will be on Hamilton’s heels in no time.
Lap 44/71: Piastri is still stuck behind the two Mercedes in 6th. Albon goes past Colapinto into 14th and sets the fastest lap.
Lap 43/71: Verstappen is closing the gap on Hamilton in 7th, getting it down to 3.1 seconds.
Lap 42/71: It’s Antonelli’s turn to hold off Piastri. Bortoleto moves ahead of Tsunoda into 13th.
Lap 41/71: Russell is at odds with the Mercedes pit wall as Piastri hunts him down. Antonelli lets his teammate go past into 4th.
Lap 40/71: Norris leads Leclerc by 18 seconds. Bearman, Antonelli, Russell and Piastri are all bunched in behind.
Lap 39/71: Verstappen has pitted and comes back in at 8th on soft tyres. Russell is fighting to hold off Piastri in a battle for 5th.
Lap 38/71: Russell is worried about Piastri “up his arse”, asking Antonelli to quicken up a bit ahead of him.
Lap 37/71: The brakes on the Mercedes are overheating. The pit wall urge caution but the drivers want to push on.
Top 6
1) Norris
2) Verstappen
3) Leclerc
4) Bearman
5) Antonelli
6) Russell
Lap 36/71: Alonso retires, joining Hülkenberg and Lawson back inside.
Lap 35/71: No drama in the pits for Norris, who comes out some 7 seconds ahead of Verstappen, still in the lead. Tsunoda is tumbling down and loses 8th place to Hamilton.
Lap 34/71: Piastri goes past Tsunoda as well. Norris signals that he’s going to pit.
Lap 33/71: Bearman is 4th, ahead of Antonelli and Russell as the two Mercedes drivers ease past Tsunoda.
Lap 32/71: With Leclerc out of the picture for now, Norris is almost 29 seconds ahead of Verstappen in second. He could pit-stop and still be in the lead.
Lap 31/71: Hamilton moves past Hadjar into 9th. Norris’s lead at the top is 18 seconds as Leclerc pits.
Lap 30/71: Sainz gets a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He says his car was being affected by vibrations. Hamilton moves past Bortoleto into 10th.
Lap 29/71: Piastri makes light work of Bortoleto and is in 9th, as Russell heads past Hadjar for 7th in front of them.
Lap 28/71: Hülkenberg comes into the pits and has to retire, presumably because of those power issues he had on the formation lap.
Bearman zooms past Hadjar to move into 5th, with Antonelli also moving past the Racing Bulls driver. Piastri (11th) is behind Bortoleto.
Lap 27/71: Norris, Leclerc and Verstappen are still out there. There’s a 13-second gap between the top two and another 13 back to Verstappen. Tsunoda, Ocon and Hadjar are 4th-6th, having not stopped either.
Lap 26/71: Russell pits and comes out in front of Piastri, who takes Albon but is stuck behind the 11th-place Mercedes.
Lap 25/71: The Red Bull pit wall discuss whether to be on a one or two-stop strategy … while linked into Verstappen’s radio. Not reassuring, I guess. Bearman and Piastri pit.
Lap 24/71: Hamilton comes into the pits, taking his 10-second penalty, which will feel like an age for him. Bearman moves up to a podium position.
Lap 23/71: Antonelli pits, leaving Russell to move up to 6th and Piastri is back where he started in 7th. Antonelli returns in 13th.
Lap 22/71: Sainz is past Colapinto into 17th, with Alonso bringing up the rear after pitting.
Hamilton isn’t pleased with his 10-second penalty over the team radio, complaining about the grip on the corner where he was penalised.
Lap 21/71: Nine seconds now separate Norris and the rest of the field. Russell continues to hold off Piastri for 7th. The gap between Norris and Piastri is 25 seconds – a whole pit stop.
Lap 20/71: Sainz pits to pick up some soft tyres but immediately comes off the track and is now trundling along at the back.
