Norris back on top after domination in Mexico

“Eyes forward” for Norris

Pole position isn’t always best in Mexico given the long drag down to Turn 1. But a clean getaway and chaos playing out behind him between the two Ferraris and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull allowed Norris to make good his getaway. Once Leclerc had handed back a lead gained by an illegal cut at the opening chicane, it was simply “eyes forward” for Norris has he opened a gap to the Ferrari, safely switched from the red-walled soft Pirellis to the mediums without losing position on lap 38 and continued serenely on his way.

As he said, this was just what Norris needed to complete what must be a satisfying comeback. After a mechanical failure at the Dutch Grand Prix back in August, the odds were stacked against him clawing back the 34-point gap that opened up that day to the imperious Piastri. But to his credit, the 25-year-old has stuck gamely to the task, and while Piastri’s form has dipped alarmingly in the midst of Verstappen’s renewed attack in the past two months, Norris has quietly worked his way back into contention.

Now the tough bit: the run-in. Having worked so diligently to get himself back on top, Norris knows the onus is on him not to blow it and to build some air between himself and his fellow McLaren driver. “One weekend at a time,” he said — and that’s all he can do. But he knows the World Championship is there for the taking, especially if he can keep driving as quickly and unflustered as this.

Verstappen’s “insane” effort

That was how Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase described Verstappen’s long final stint, as the reigning four-time World Champion once again pulled off something probably only he could manage to make it to the podium.

It all could have unravelled in the opening moments of his race. Verstappen kept to character by going aggressive into Turn 1, taking on the squabbling Ferraris on the outside line, braking too late, flirting with disaster by just missing the wall and rejoining ahead of Lewis Hamilton. He quickly gave the place back, settled into the race, then attacked again at the start of lap 6, diving late on the brakes into the first turn and getting up the inside of Hamilton.

Plenty of history between these two, of course, and there’s always an edge when they find each other on track. Sure enough, Hamilton fought back but overdid it into Turn 4 with George Russell’s Mercedes also in close company. The Ferrari skated straight on, bumped across the grass rather than the special lane designed for rejoining the track and came back out further up the road. The moment proved his downfall.

Verstappen turns the race on its head

The Dutchman avoided a penalty in all the chaos by carefully staying on the right side of the law in terms of the racing regulations, then got his head down on the alternate strategy. The conventional option in Mexico was to start on the soft tyre, then plan for a one-stop and finish on the medium. Verstappen turned that on its head and drove yet another audacious, brilliant race that came back to him nicely in the closing stages.

Running fifth behind the equally superb Ollie Bearman, Verstappen ran long until lap 38. He rejoined having lost track position not only to the two Mercedes and Piastri but also ironically, given their early battle, Hamilton. Initially he looked on the backfoot, but now on the soft tyre, Verstappen went to work on a 33-lap stint on the red-walled rubber that spooked almost everyone ahead of him on to what had appeared an unlikely two-stop strategy.

He passed Hamilton on track and such was his pace, Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Russell and Piastri all came back in for softs in a bid to fight for the podium. This is the effect Verstappen can have when he’s on the hunt…

VSC spoils Leclerc chase

Having cycled up to third, Leclerc was now the target — and on aging medium tyres having opted against a second stop, the Ferrari appeared unlikely to hold off the Red Bull. Sure enough, as the laps counted down, Verstappen loomed and looked set to strike on the last lap — only for the frustration of a Virtual Safety Car to ruin the climax.

Carlos Sainz’s Williams was apparently stranded at the final turn, though it was not entirely obvious why a VSC was needed to clear the car. Racing resumed with just half a lap to go and through the tight stadium section not even the great Verstappen could unlock Leclerc’s defences before the flag.

“The safety car saved me at the end,” admitted a relieved Leclerc, while Verstappen accepted the annoyance with good grace. “You win some, you lose some on the safety car,” said the driver who won the World Championship thanks to the deeply controversial help from one four years ago… He was just happy to have made up two places to finish third, having struggled for pace earlier in the weekend.

Verstappen is now 36 points behind Norris in the Championship. Of course, he remains absolutely in the frame for the title, but has said he needs a “perfect” run at every race to pull off what would be Formula 1’s greatest comeback. Norris has checked the charge for now — but you never know, especially when it comes to Max.

Bearman’s best yet

 Verstappen kept Bearman from a maiden podium, but the young Brit was still beaming after a fantastic drive and the best result of his F1 career so far. Starting an already promising ninth in his Haas, Bearman was the big gainer from the chaos in the early laps, particularly from the Verstappen/Hamilton/Russell fight on lap six.

That’s when he calmly worked his way through to run third, how he stayed there for a big chunk of the race before pitting a second time to finish on the softs really made an impression. Beating Verstappen was too much, but even without the late VSC it seemed unlikely Piastri would have found a way past.

Another underwhelming race for Piastri

Quite what has happened to the Australian these past few weeks must be disconcerting for him. But after another lacklustre race weekend, he really needs to rediscover his mojo in Brazil if he is to hit back and beat Norris to this title.

Only seventh on the grid, Piastri toiled for much of the race to find a way past the two Mercedes. The McLaren finally demoted Antonelli thanks to fast work from the pit crew when the two came in together for their second stops, then Piastri pulled a fine move on Russell into Turn 1 to rise to fifth. Had he also managed to find a way around Bearman’s Haas, he wouldn’t have lost his World Championship points lead, but that proved a task too far.

Russell fuming at Merc strategy

Another talking point was George Russell’s understandable frustration at his own team for acting too late to save his race. In the kerfuffle with Verstappen and Hamilton he lost track position to Antonelli and fell from fourth on the grid to seventh in the early stages.

As Piastri loomed, Russell looked the quicker of the two Mercedes and repeatedly pointed out to his team that he should be released to keep out of the McLaren’s reach.The team should have ordered Antonelli to let Russell by, especially as the Singapore Grand Prix winner made it clear he would hand the place back if he failed to challenge for the podium.

That’s what he did, eventually. But had Mercedes made the call faster when Russell first asked for it, perhaps his tyres would have been fresher and he might have kept Piastri at bay. Sixth and seventh for Antonelli and Russell, after the latter kept to his word and they had switched back around, was a poor return.

Hamilton’s penalty hell

As for Lewis Hamilton, the high promise of starting third and bidding for a podium was scotched by the consequences of that early battle with old nemesis Verstappen. If only he had backed off after rejoining with a small gain in track time after his lap six grass cut. Instead, he was docked a punishing ten seconds, a penalty he judged as “harsh”.

Ferrari was complicit in not recognising the need to tell him to drop his pace, and instead of powering to a first Grand Prix podium in red, Hamilton slumped to a disconsolate eighth. Nothing appears to be firing for him at Ferrari as his season of frustration continues.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.