Carlos Sainz started on pole and never really looked back in a Mexican Grand Prix that featured a nasty battle between the two title contenders.
The race marked the second consecutive event where a Ferrari driver threw a monkey wrench into the world championship by taking valuable points away from the two contenders. And Sainz couldn’t have been happier with a second straight Ferrari win and his second victory of 2024.
“Honestly, I really wanted this one and really needed it also for myself — I wanted to get it done,” said Sainz, who took the lead on Lap 9, with a pass on Verstappen. “I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega-crowd is incredible. Now, with four races left, I want to enjoy them as much as possible and, if another one comes, I will go for it.”
Vertsappen grabbed the lead from polesitter Sainz off the start before Yuki Tsunoda spun his Visa RB into the barriers at the end of the long start-finish straight, following contact with Alex Albon’s Williams. The race resumed on Lap 6 after a safety car period to remove Tsunoda’s car.
While he couldn’t catch the leading Ferrari, Norris did as much as he could to take points away from Verstappen.
Norris prevented a Ferrari 1-2 by pressuring second-place driver Charles Leclerc into a mistake at the end of Lap 62, then cruised to a runner-up finish, 4.705 seconds behind Sainz. The Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and fifth.
In the end, Norris gained 10 points on Verstappen with his second-place, closing the gap to 47 points. Verstappen leads with 362 points, followed by Norris in second, with 315, and Leclerc third, with 291.
With four races to go, Norris said he’ll keep trying to make things happen as the season winds down.
“I’m doing my best and we’re doing a very good job as a team,” he said. “I think today we were probably the quickest in the end, but we’ll keep our head down, that’s all I can do for now, focus on ourselves, and we’ll keep pushing.”
In a stunning reversal of recent decisions, the race stewards slammed Verstappen with two 10-second penalties for incidents on Lap 10, while battling with Norris over second-place, a week after many felt he avoided a sanction in the U.S. Grand Prix.
The pair went wheel-to-wheel in Turn 4, with Verstappen keeping his elbows high and forcing an overtaking Norris off track to get the first penalty. Four corners later, Verstappen braked so late trying to re-take second from Norris that he could not stay inside track limits and then surged ahead to earn another penalty for leaving the track to gain an advantage. The Verstappen-Norris battle allowed Leclerc to sip past into second.
The sanctions helped arch-rival Norris limit the damage caused by Ferrari’s speed, as the points leader needed to recover from a long pit stop and battle back from 15th place to end the race in sixth.
“I knew what to expect [from Verstappen]; I didn’t want to expect such a thing from Max because I respect him a lot as a driver, but I was ready,” said Norris. “Not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it.”
In the constructors standings, Ferrari’s first and third in Mexico City pushed it into second, ahead of Red Bull, with 537 points. McLaren leads with 566, with Red Bull now third, with 512.
After the race, Verstappen focused more on the lack of pace in his Red Bull than the pair of penalties that dropped him out of contention.
“The problem is that we are too slow, and that’s why I’m being put in those kind of positions; that was my problem,” he said. “You know, honestly, 20 seconds is a lot, but I’m not going to cry about it, and I’m also not going to share my opinion.”
While he couldn’t make it a second consecutive 1-2 for Ferrari, Leclerc felt pleased that his squad got past Red Bull in the constructors’ points.
“We are working super well in the team and I think it’s been quite a few races now that we’re coming back to the level we should be,” said Leclerc, who crossed the line third, 34.387 seconds behind his teammate, after pitting on Lap 70 to get the fastest lap. “The constructors is still our target and I think we are getting closer to it, so I hope we can continue in that direction and get that constructors’ title, which is very important.”
