Lando Norris dominated the whole Mexico City weekend to take the most complete victory of his career and reclaim the Championship lead for the first time since April.
His main championship rival had another quiet weekend, only coming home in 4th to continue his poor run of form that has seen him lose a 31-point lead since Zandvoort. With Max Verstappen coming home in 3rd, the gap between the top three shortens ever so slightly but Max needed to be perfect to really stay in the fight. Crazier things have happened in F1 though. Never count him out.
Behind the championship battle, Charles Leclerc put in a fantastic performance to take 2nd place. At the same time, his teammate Hamilton was unlucky to get a penalty that ruined his chances of his first Ferrari podium. Still, the driver of the day was the ‘other’ Ferrari driver: Ollie Bearman. The Ferrari junior pulled off the best performance of his career, finishing 4th after taking advantage of the chaos in front and kept his head under pressure from Piastri at the end.
The two Mercedes had a nice intra-team radio dispute but would come home 5th and 6th, with Antonelli taking this one. Russell had a frustrating race, firstly getting jumped by other cars cutting the first chicane and then getting stuck behind his teammate for longer than he thought necessary.
Alright let’s get into the ratings.
Lando Norris – 9.2
This was the best overall performance of Norris’ career. As soon as he stepped into his car in FP2, he was the quickest on track. his final run in Q3 was a beauty to take a dominate pole position. Once he guarded his lead on the first lap, he never looked back and never looked in doubt. He won by the biggest margin of the season: 33 seconds.
Charles Leclerc – 8.9
This is the type of performance we have gotten used to this season for Charles. Maximising the Ferrari package. He was flirting with stealing Norris’ pole before the Brit’s final run but has to settle for 2nd. You can argue he kept his 2nd place by skipping the opening chicane but his team weren’t going to make him swap with his teammate behind. From there, he used the clear air to secure 2nd and held off a fast approaching Verstappen at the end, with some help with the VSC.
Max Verstappen – 8.2
Max needed to be perfect to keep the pressure on McLaren but couldn’t do it in Mexico. He qualified 5th, so went with the alternate strategy, mediums to softs. He got a great start but was overly ambitious attempting to go all the way around the outside at turn 1, locking up on the curbs and drifting on the grass. Once he gave back the positions, he was in 4th. His alternate strategy gave him a chance at 2nd but a late safety car scuppered that chance.
Ollie Bearman – 9.3
Driver of the day for Ollie, a fantastic performance. He qualified in 9th, was looking for solid points, and boy, did he get them. He took advantage of the early chaos and pulled off a great move on the great Max Verstappen to get up to 4th. He then held on brilliantly, using the Haas’ straight-line speed to take the best result of his career.
Oscar Piastri – 7.2
Piastri’s recent dip in form continued in Mexico, where he lost the championship lead he has held since April. He moved up from his 8th-place starting position but didn’t do enough as the championship favourite.
Kimi Antonelli – 8.1
It seemed he was in a race long battle with his teammate and came out on top after some team-imposed swapping. Kimi is showing the type of results to make Toto Woolf happy. Now he needs podiums
George Russell – 7.9
George was frustrated throughout after losing places on the first lap as others skipped the first corner and were somehow allowed to keep their places. He was seemingly stuck behind his teammate for a while until he was let through but wasn’t able to get away so had to swap back at the end.
Lewis Hamilton – 7.4
It was looking like Lewis may break his podium dry spell but a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while overtaking Verstappen stopped that. He showed good pace to reel in the pack in front but couldn’t get past.
Esteban Ocon – 7.5
A points scoring finish would have been job done for Ocon, usually, but with his teammate thoroughly showing him up, he will be downcast. He did finish best of the rest so solid result.
Gabriel Bortoleto – 7.8
A point for Gabriel in Mexico and once again outperformed his teammate, well, Hulkenberg had issues from the start. More good points.
Yuki Tsunoda – 6.9
Yuki also did the alternate strategy but wasn’t able to make up places from his 10th place finish, in fact, lost some. Eek.
Alex Albon – 7.3
Alex made good progress after another bad qualifying session. He wasn’t able to get into the points but made some nice moves but goes home with nothing.
Isak Hadjar – 7.3
Isak lost places after being pushed wide on the first lap and wasn’t able to make them back up. Disappointing for the Frenchman.
Lance Stroll – 6.8
Despite a first lap spin that left him off the back of the pack, Lance made up places. Well, he beat the two Alpines, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Pierre Gasly – 6.5
It’s getting to be a common theme that the Alpines are fighting themselves at the back and Pierre came out on top this time.
Franco Colapinto – 6.5
Once again he was last on track, I think Franco is slowly slipping out of F1, unless Alpine think their stable of young drivers aren’t ready but Paul Aron is waiting in the wings.
Carlos Sainz – 5.5
Carlos’ race was not going well as a technical issue meant he constantly sped in the pitlane, which meant it was basically a testing run for him in Mexico. He didn’t finish the race after his car set fire on the penultimate lap but did have an influence on the final result as the subsequent virtual safety car stopped Verstappen and Piastri from gaining more places, which could have a big effect on the Drivers Championship.
Fernando Alonso – 6.8
Alonso was forced to retire on Lap 34 with a brake issue when running in the points. Another disappointing finish for the Spaniard, bet he can’t wait until the Adrian Newey-designed 2026 car.
Nico Hulkenberg – 5.0
Nico’s race ended before it started due to a power unit issue on the formation lap. He thought the pace was there to challenge for points but to no avail.
Liam Lawson – 5.0
Liam also retired from the Mexico City Grand Prix. He picked up damage on the first lap after colliding with Carlos Sainz. The most memorable moment came when he nearly hit marshals that were sent on track to clear his debris, despite a virtual safety car not being called. A very dangerous situation and one that needs reviewing, as it could have been catastrophic if he had hit them.
The Perfect Formula 