Lando Norris delivered a dominant and statement win in the Mexico City Grand Prix to reclaim the leadership of the world championship from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by a single point with four races of the season to go.
Knocking Piastri off the top of the standings for the first time since April after the Australian finished fifth, Norris capped a stunning weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a 30-second margin.
Norris’ only difficult moment of a stunning day came when he he was booed in his winner’s interview and on the podium.
Leclerc just held on to second from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose recovered strongly from fifth on the grid to third.
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The crowd erupted with boos heard as McLaren driver Lando Norris spoke on his Mexico City Grand Prix victory
And although beaten by Norris, Verstappen still reduced his deficit to the championship summit overall, with the reigning champion now 36 points back with 116 left up for grabs.
Piastri struggled all weekend long in Norris’ wake although a final result of fifth was better than it had looked likely to be for him for much of the race after a late McLaren gamble on a second pit stop paid relative dividends.
Overtaking Kimi Antonelli in the pits and then Esteban Ocon and George Russell on track, Piastri raced up behind Haas driver Oliver Bearman in the closing laps but could not deny the British rookie a stunning fourth.
Cashing in on chaos at the start as numerous drivers ran off track to move up from ninth on the grid, Bearman ran third after the first stops before dropping out of that position when Haas followed the cars around them in making a second stop.
However, while he could not reel Verstappen back in when the Red Bull stayed out, fourth still represents a brilliant result for the 20-year-old Briton – the best result of his rookie season and the joint-best in Haas’ 10 seasons in F1.
Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finished sixth and seventh after twice swapping position on track in an ultimately forlorn bid for a better result for the team.
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George Russell was not happy on the radio after asking to trade places with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli
Russell had grown increasingly agitated over team radio ahead of the first swap at what he saw as Mercedes’ initial delay to let him through, but ultimately stuck to his word about letting Antonelli back ahead if he couldn’t make up ground on those ahead.
And Lewis Hamilton’s wait for the first podium of his Ferrari career goes on after he finished eighth in a race which unravelled when he was given a 10-second penalty by stewards after a wheel-to-wheel duel with Verstappen.
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Lewis Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after his wheel-to-wheel clash with Max Verstappen
Hamilton held his grid spot of third in the opening stint but was given the costly sanction for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when fighting Verstappen at Turn Four when he ran wide off track and cut across the grass to stay ahead as the Red Bull went down the inside of him.
The old title rivals had already banged wheels into Turn One at the start of the same lap, although no further action was taken on this incident.
Esteban Ocon capped a bumper day for Haas with ninth in their second car, while Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point for Sauber. Haas overtake Sauber for eighth in the Constructors’ Championship and move to within 10 points of sixth-placed Racing Bulls and seven points of seventh-placed Aston Martin.
Norris completes post-Zandvoort turnaround in runaway win
What a difference eight weeks makes.
It was back on August 31 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort that Norris’ hopes of becoming world champion for the first time this year look a major hit when his car failed while running second to Piastri late in the race, costing him a crucial 18 points. He left that weekend a season-high 34 points behind his team-mate in the standings.
But Norris has now outscored Piastri in each of the five races since, culminating in the Briton emphatically returning to the top step of the podium on Sunday for his first win in Mexico and sixth win of the year.
“I love it. What a race,” said a beaming Norris in his post-race interview conducted in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez’s stadium section, 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 his Mexico City GP win, as he takes the F1 title lead off McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri
Norris’ only drama of note on track came at the start when, as expected, the polesitter was challenged from the cars behind on the slipstream-friendly long run down to the first complex of corners.
A good launch from the outside of the front row allowed him to cut off Leclerc well before the braking zone but as the Ferraris and fast-starting Verstappen went three abreast immediately behind him, Leclerc and the Red Bull ran wide off track.
Leclerc went across the grass and came back on the track out of Turn Three ahead of Norris in the lead, although swiftly handed the place back to the McLaren.
From there, Norris swiftly stamped his authority on the race and was never challenged again.
“A pretty straightforward race for me which is just what I was after,” he added. “A good start, a good launch, a good first lap and I could go from there.
“I got a much better launch than the guys around. It’s my first win in Mexico and a beautiful one to get.”
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on November 7-9, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
