Carlos Sainz Jr. secured the win he had been longing for as he nears the end of his time with Ferrari. The Formula 1 title race became much more intense.
Sainz triumphed in the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lando Norris narrowed the gap to Max Verstappen after a fierce battle that resulted in three penalties for the reigning three-time champion, reducing his lead in the standings by 10 points.
Not only did Sainz win, but he also reached the podium in Mexico City for the first time. This marked his fourth career victory and second win of the season, as he prepares to be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari next year. The Spaniard had never achieved two wins in a single season before.
“Honestly, I really wanted this one,” Sainz said, sounding emotional on his radio during the cool-down lap. “I really needed it for myself, I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted to get one more win before leaving Ferrari, and to do it here in front of this mega crowd, it is incredible.”
Verstappen, starting second, took the lead from pole-sitter Sainz at the start, but the first lap quickly saw a caution due to a crash involving Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon, which ended Albon’s race.
The restart was exciting, with the Ferraris battling Verstappen and Norris for positions. Once again, the title contenders clashed.
Norris faced a penalty last week, and this time Verstappen received two penalties totaling 20 seconds. After the race, the FIA also docked Verstappen two points, bringing his total to six for the year.
“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 about Verstappen’s driving. “Not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it.”
Norris received a penalty last week at the United States Grand Prix for pushing Verstappen off the track, which allowed Verstappen to take the last podium spot and extend his lead in the driver standings to 57 points before Sunday’s race.
Things changed at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez when Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty for colliding with Norris and forcing him off the track. “Ten? That’s aggressive,” Verstappen commented.
He then received another 10-second penalty for gaining a position after going off the track, making it a total of 20 seconds that he had to serve during his first pit stop. “That’s fine then. That’s silly, man,” Verstappen said over the radio.
He pitted from third place on Lap 27, but his team couldn’t start working on his car until the 20-second penalty was served. When he returned to the race, he was in 15th place.
Although Verstappen managed to recover and finish sixth, Norris disrupted what seemed like a Ferrari sweep by taking second place from Charles Leclerc with eight laps to go. This result was a 10-point shift for Norris, who now trails Verstappen by 47 points with four races left.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner brought printed telemetry sheets to the post-race media session to argue against one of Verstappen’s penalties.
He suggested that some penalties were a carry-over from last week’s incidents with Norris, where many believed Verstappen also should have been penalized, and he expressed concern that F1 might be becoming overly strict with penalties.
“Obviously, there’s been a reaction to last weekend and I think it’s very important for the drivers and stewards to sit down,” Horner said. “It used to be seen as a reward for the bravest driver to make an outside pass.
I think we’re in danger of changing the overtaking rules too much. We’re making things too complicated, and when you need to refer to a manual for an overtake … it’s something that just needs to be cleaned up.”
Horner mentioned that Red Bull would not appeal the penalties like McLaren did this week.
Leclerc, on the other hand, finished third and recorded the fastest lap of the race for Ferrari, which, like McLaren, is trying to take the constructors’ championship from Red Bull.
Ferrari moved ahead of Red Bull for second place in the standings and is now 27 points behind McLaren. Red Bull, which has won the last two constructors’ titles, is currently in third place.
“Obviously, the constructors’ championship is still our goal and we are getting closer to it,” Leclerc said. “I hope we can keep moving in that direction and win that constructors’ title, which is very important.”
Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and fifth, while Verstappen came in sixth. Kevin Magnussen took seventh for Haas, followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren, Nico Hülkenberg of Haas, and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.
