Brawls in the grandstands mar Mexico City GP as jubilant Sunday turns sour
The Foro Sol was thumping, the flares were smoking, and Lando Norris had just walked the Mexico City Grand Prix to snatch the Drivers’ Championship lead by a single point. And then, in the middle of the post-race party, the mood snapped.
At least two separate fights broke out in the stands on Sunday, with videos circulating widely overnight. In one, a spectator in a Red Bull shirt hurled a drink toward a fan before being dropped to the concrete by another in a Ferrari tee. Others piled in, others pulled them apart, and the beat from the stadium stage didn’t seem to notice.
Another clip showed a more serious scene, with two bloodied men being led away after a wider scuffle reportedly broke out in a different section of the circuit. One attendee, writing from Grandstand 31, claimed a security manager was struck and taken to hospital. Several fans also posted their frustration at a late lockout preventing access to the track for the post-race track invasion.
It was an ugly footnote to a day that was already running hot. On track, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton found each other again in a flashpoint that set social media humming, while Norris took full advantage of the chaos behind to score an uncontested win and, per the updated championship table, nose ahead of Oscar Piastri by one point. That, at least, felt like a clean headline.
The off-track scenes were anything but. Mexico has form for this, unfortunately. The Foro Sol amphitheatre is one of the most passionate pieces of real estate on the calendar, but it’s also been the backdrop for flashpoints before, including 2023 when fans in the stadium were filmed throwing punches at those in red. And it’s not just Mexico. Earlier this year, a grandstand fracas in Canada also spilled over, prompting a small wave of concern about how quickly tribal energy is turning confrontational.
The phrase of the night online was “footballification of F1” — a neat way to say the sport’s growing, and some of the worst bits of big-match culture are growing with it. It’s not a label anyone in the paddock wants to stick. F1 has leaned hard into the festival vibe over the last few seasons, and most of the time it works: music, colour, cosplay, team flags everywhere. Sunday night in Mexico had all of that, and the vast majority of fans danced their way out of the Autódromo with nothing but a hoarse voice and a blurry camera roll.
But images of bloodied supporters and security intervening will travel faster than confetti, and they do damage. The truth is simple: rival colours shouldn’t be a provocation in this sport. Hamilton and Verstappen can bang wheels and be forced into parc fermé contrition; the rest of us don’t need to mirror it in the aisles.
There was also a whiff of inevitability about it after a race that simmered from lights out. Norris’ dominance aside, the Verstappen-Hamilton clash was gasoline on a weekend already thick with noise and identity. When that spills from memes into the mezzanine, event organisers have a problem to solve.
The promoter and F1’s event operations will almost certainly review security positioning and response for 2026. There’s no public statement yet, but the playbook is familiar: more roaming stewards in the hotter grandstands, clearer reporting channels for harassment or aggressive behaviour, faster separations when pockets of trouble start. The code of conduct exists; Sunday in Mexico is a reminder it needs enforcing, loudly.
It’s equally worth repeating that this is still a small minority spoiling it for the rest. Plenty of Ferrari and Red Bull gear shared photos and beers side by side as the sun went down. Plenty of kids left with new favourite drivers and ringing ears. That’s the picture F1 wants — and usually gets — from Mexico City.
Still, it’s on everyone — organisers, security, teams and yes, fans — to keep it that way. Celebrate hard. Boo if you must. Sing the anthems, wave the flags. But don’t turn a grand prix into a battleground because your guy got nudged at Turn 1.
As for the racing: Norris leaves with the trophy and the points lead by the thinnest of margins over Piastri, setting up a nervy run-in. Verstappen and Hamilton will argue their corner and move on. The sport will, too. But the next time the DJ drops in the Foro Sol, let’s hope the only things going airborne are streamers — not plastic cups, and not fists.
