Lando Norris may have run out of time to catch Carlos Sainz for the lead in the Mexico City Grand Prix, but the McLaren driver is definitely not out of time to catch Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the world championship.
Norris finished Sunday’s race in second place, 4.705 seconds behind Sainz, but more importantly, he narrowed the gap to Verstappen in the standings down to 47 points.
Four Grand Prix and two sprints remain on the calendar but fate isn’t in Norris’ hands as even if he wins every single race, as long as Verstappen finishes second he’ll capture his fourth consecutive title.
Norris needs things to go wrong for Verstappen and boy, did that ever escalate quickly. With the high altitude of Mexico City came high stakes and high drama.
Things began well for Verstappen after starting second on the grid. He launched ahead of pole-sitter Sainz down the long straightaway and had the inside line heading into the first corner. Sainz went off the track at the first turn and cut the corner to move back into the lead, but the Ferrari driver handed it back to Verstappen as the safety car came out following a collision that took out Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda.
After the race returned to green, Sainz swooped into the lead for good on Lap 9 with a late-braking move. Sainz took off leaving everyone in his rearview mirrors like the smooth operator that he is and the pole conversion was good.
That put Verstappen under threat from Norris and the two tangled on the following lap with last week’s encounters during the U.S. Grand Prix still fresh in mind.
While Verstappen emerged unscathed that time, whether it be chalked up to an “opening lap incident” or being “first to the apex,” he pressed his luck too far this time and ended up with a double whammy.
Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for shoving Norris off of the track near Turn 4 and was handed an additional 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 7. It looked like Norris was giving the place back to Verstappen when the Red Bull barged into the McLaren and pushed them both off of the course. That allowed the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to sneak up into second as he once again became the benefactor of their clash.
“I knew what to expect. I don’t want to expect such a thing, because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was waiting to expect something like this,” Norris said. “Not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it.”
The penalties dropped Verstappen from fighting for a podium position to having to work his way back up into the points from 15th. Verstappen salvaged a sixth-place finish, but he allowed Norris to put a dent into his points gap.
Verstappen’s aggressive style was bound to catch up with him and he paid the price.
The win wasn’t really in the cards for Norris. The McLaren languished behind the Ferrari in pace during Saturday’s qualifying — three-tenths of a second to be exact to start third on the grid. It wasn’t until the late stages of the race once Norris cleared Leclerc on Lap 62 that he was free to charge for the lead. By then, less than nine laps were remaining and the seven-second gap was too much to overcome.
Still, finishing four places and 10 points ahead of Verstappen, that was money.
CARLANDO MOMENT
It was looking like it was going to be a second straight 1-2 finish for Ferrari only with the roles reversed from last week’s U.S. Grand Prix.
Instead, we got a 1-2 “Carlando” finish between the best buds.
Teammates for two years, friends forever.
FASTEST LAP ADDS LATE TENSION
Quite frankly, Ferrari is lucky both cars finished, period, as Leclerc would have binned his car had he collided with the wall at such a high speed heading into the final corner.
Leclerc managed to save it and with a nearly 30-second advantage over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, the Monegasque driver wasn’t under threat of losing third place and was able to make a late pit stop for soft tires to take a successful run at scoring the fastest lap bonus point.
Red Bull also had Sergio Perez pit as well in a futile attempt to prevent anyone from earning the point.
It’s a shame the FIA decided to do away with the fastest lap bonus point next season as we’ll lose out on these extra spicy moments.
FERRARI OVERTAKES RED BULL
The Jeopardy answer you’re looking for is: What is 1983? That’s the most recent year a driver, Nelson Piquet, won the world championship while his team, Brabham, finished as low as third in the constructors’ standings.
While Verstappen remains ahead on the drivers’ side, Ferrari leapfrogged Red Bull for second place in the constructors’ standings and now sets sights on leader McLaren like it’s the aughts all over again.
Ferrari hasn’t won the constructors since 2008 while McLaren’s last came in 1998. (McLaren would have won it in 2007 if not for a little thing called Spygate.)
Once again, Red Bull received no help from Perez, who finished 17th in his home race. Qualifying once again put Perez behind the 8-ball as he failed to make it out of Q1 and started 18th on the grid. Perez made up five places on the opening lap, however, he was issued a five-second penalty for a false start.
As if that wasn’t enough, he also tangled with Liam Lawson from sibling team RB and ended up with a hole in his side pod. It’s kind of crazy through all of that Red Bull still had faith that Perez could make a run at the fastest lap at the end of the race.
It’s also that faith in Perez that has caused Red Bull to slip from first to third in the constructors’ standings.
At least he didn’t crash on the first lap this year, but how much longer will Red Bull tolerate Perez’s underperformance?
NO ‘SILVER ARROWS RULES‘
Verstappen’s best hope at scoring additional points Sunday would have been if there was an incident ahead between the two Mercedes cars.
While “Papaya rules” might be in effect over at McLaren — with Norris favoured over Oscar Piastri if the situation calls for it — the same isn’t happening at Mercedes.
Hamilton and George Russell were allowed to go for it on the track and sparks were flying (literally) as they battled for fourth place. Russell held on for as long as he could, despite picking up some front-wing damage, until Lap 66 when Hamilton finally pulled off a DRS-assisted pass down the main straightaway.
Crisp and clean (with no caffeine) and something Verstappen could take pointers from.
ALONSO BATS 400
It’s a shame Fernando Alonso couldn’t see his record-extending 400th GP start to the finish as he was forced to retire his car early due to a brake issue related to cooling.
Three drivers — Lawson, Piastri and Franco Colapinto — weren’t even born yet when Alonso made his F1 debut way back in 2001 with Minardi (remember them?). Alonso has gone from racing against the likes of Michael Schumacher and Jos Verstappen to racing against their sons Mick Schumacher and Max Verstappen.
The ageless Alonso (he’s actually 42 years old if you’re counting) was once the young phenom of F1 and became the youngest world champion and youngest double world champion when he captured back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 with Renault. Both records are now held by Sebastian Vettel, who Alonso finished runner-up to three times during the 2010s.
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows through the dark ages at McLaren, last season looked like a renaissance for Alonso as he finished on the podium eight times in his first year with Aston Martin.
This season hasn’t been as fruitful with zero podiums and sitting ninth in the standings. With aerodynamics whiz Adrian Newey joining Aston Martin next season, and Honda coming on board as an engine supplier in 2026, Aston Martin could be on the rise. Will Alonso still be around to see it through? Who’s to doubt it?
“Fernando breathes racing, eats racing, wakes up racing. When he has free time, he just goes go-karting. He just wants to drive and race all the time,” Alpine driver Esteban Ocon said. “I’ve talked about it for him, what motivates him. He just says he doesn’t know really what else to do. It’s been his life and he just enjoys racing all the time.
“He has nothing to prove anymore to anyone. He’s one of the best ever, clearly.”
