Mexico City GP: Norris owns the Foro Sol and reclaims the title lead as Verstappen denies Bearman fairytale
Lando Norris didn’t so much win in Mexico City as he underlined who’s dictating the pace of this title race right now. From lights to flag, the McLaren driver controlled every beat around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, stepping back onto the top of the Drivers’ Championship and making it look alarmingly straightforward.
Charles Leclerc gave chase and settled for second for Ferrari, while Max Verstappen – on an audacious one-stop – shut the door on Oliver Bearman late on to snatch the final podium. That denied Haas a first Formula 1 rostrum by a sliver, but it didn’t dull the roar in the stadium section when the 19-year-old Brit flashed through in fourth. That place felt like a result.
The early scene-setter came on the grid: the front-runners gambled on softs, Verstappen the highest starter on mediums in fifth. Norris nailed the launch and immediately broke the DRS, which made Leclerc’s life trickier and everyone else’s miserable. The first-lap elbows came out behind as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ran wide in the skirmish, and Oscar Piastri slipped back to ninth after a scruffy opening sector.
Lap 6 brought the flashpoint. Verstappen dived on Hamilton into Turn 1, the pair rubbing wheels and skating off together before Hamilton later cut across the grass at Turn 5 as the fight rumbled on. The stewards were unimpressed. Hamilton picked up a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which he served at his stop and which detonated his podium hopes on a day he otherwise had the speed for more. He recovered to eighth.
As Ferrari lifted-and-coasted to manage temperatures and fuel, Norris drifted away – not dramatically, just relentlessly. This was the McLaren driver at his most clinical, keeping the gap fat enough to control, thin enough to keep tyre life in hand. If there was jeopardy, it came from the pit walls. Red Bull committed Verstappen to the one-stop and the Dutchman made it sing, hanging the mediums long before switching to hards and betting on his elbows in the closing stint.
Haas, sharp as ever on the calls this season, split it: two stops for Bearman, fresher softs to chase down a fading Verstappen in the final laps. For a couple of tours it felt possible. Bearman carved into the gap, the Delta looking encouraging, the Haas on rails through the middle sector. But Verstappen is Verstappen. He measured the line and hit every apex he needed to, forcing Bearman to settle for fourth – agonising for a team that could smell champagne, yet deeply satisfying all the same.
Behind the front three, Piastri steadied himself after that slow start and made his way back to fifth for McLaren to keep their Constructors’ momentum humming. Kimi Antonelli banked sixth for Mercedes with a performance that looked increasingly robust as the race evolved, Russell followed in seventh, and Hamilton’s penalty-cushioned day yielded eighth for Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon put the second Haas into ninth – another tidy haul for a team clearly on the up – and Gabriel Bortoleto grabbed the final point in tenth for Kick Sauber, a calm drive rewarded on a day of attrition and strategy gambles.
Red Bull’s other car, Yuki Tsunoda, missed out in 11th after a long afternoon shadowing the fringes of the points. Alexander Albon brought the Williams home 12th, with Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar 13th, Lance Stroll 14th for Aston Martin, and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto 15th and 16th.
Not everyone saw the chequered flag. Fernando Alonso retired for Aston Martin, Nico Hülkenberg parked the Kick Sauber, Williams’ Carlos Sainz went out after a promising start, and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls also ended early.
Up front, Norris hardly looked troubled. He read the traffic, covered the stops, answered Leclerc when he had to, and didn’t blink when Verstappen’s strategy threatened to redraw the late-race picture. It was the kind of win that does more than add 25 points; it bends the season’s narrative. With the title lead wrestled back from team-mate Piastri, Norris leaves Mexico with the swagger of a driver who’s learned how to turn outright pace into tidy Sundays.
A few notes from the paddock:
– McLaren’s operational clarity stood out again. No fuss, no panic, just clean execution.
– Ferrari’s pace was there in clean air, but the penalty and management windows blunted their threat. Still, Leclerc’s P2 keeps them firmly in the fight on weekends when the outright win isn’t on.
– Haas deserves the plaudits. The car’s sweet spot on Sundays and the team’s read on strategy keeps throwing them into big conversations. Bearman’s podium will come if they keep teeing him up like this.
– Verstappen turned a potential damage-limitation day into a podium with that one-stop. The craft is still brutal.
Mexico’s grandstands delivered the wall of sound, Norris delivered the performance, and the championship picture tilts again. Next stop: another altitude test? Or a return to sea level where the order’s supposed to reset? On current evidence, don’t bet on Norris surrendering rhythm easily.
