Norris dominates in Mexico to take championship lead

Lando Norris of McLaren won the Mexico City Grand Prix, giving him the first-ever championship lead since April.

Norris held on to the lead from pole position until the first corner and held the race in tact as he was quietly out of reach of some enraging battles and events.

Oscar Piastri, who came from seventh place on the grid to finish fifth, and Norris leads the championship by just one point.

With only four races left, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who placed third behind Charles Leclerc, is 36 points behind.

Verstappen was immediately able to overtake Leclerc and Piastri in the final two laps as both were moving into position to challenge for the title, preventing the race from becoming a grandstand finish.

What were the main narratives of a dramatic race:

Before the race, Norris was worried that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would start second and third, making him vulnerable to either Ferrari driver starting from pole with almost 800m to go in the first corner.

However, because Leclerc and Hamilton also had to be concerned about a Verstappen attack from outside, Norris did not approve of the Turn One run down to perfection.

Norris held the lead as the chaos quickly seized hold of him.

He never even seemed remotely threatened, and he won by a 30 second margin.

It marked the end of a successful run of races since he retired from the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August due to fuel-line failure.

Verstappen ran over the grass in the first corner and passed Mercedes’ George Russell for fourth place before returning to the track at Turn Three, going three-wide with the Ferraris he was on.

Verstappen was back in the fray shortly after Russell complained, but the stewards refused to intervene.

He soon began to take on Hamilton for third place after starting on medium tyres and all the other top runners were doing so.

On lap six, he led Hamilton’s seven-time Olympian wide before cutting the corner at Turn Three after cutting the corner.

Verstappen braked late on Hamilton’s return to Turn Four, forcing him to run off the track and cut into the corner at Turn Five.

Verstappen was delayed and passed by Bearman, who opportunistically seized advantage of the battle by passing them and Russell into Turn Six, earning Hamilton a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

The British driver struggled for the remainder of the first stint with his inverted approach, but he did well in the second.

After their second pit pit, Verstappen moved up to eighth place, passing Hamilton, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, Piastri, and Bearman, and setting off after Leclerc.

Verstappen appeared to be a strong bet for second place with 22 laps to go and closing at almost a second a lap at the start.

Verstappen’s chance of passing the Ferrari was gone as he entered range of Leclerc’s range to allow him to use the DRS overtaking aid.

Piastri started the race slowly, but in the second half, the Mercedes drivers came to an end as they raced past Bearman.

After finishing only eighth in qualifying, there was a wheel-to-wheel battle between the Haas of Esteban Ocon and his opponents in Turns Four, Five, and Six, followed by a brave and decisive move on Russell into Turn One to mitigate the damage.

Bearman was undoubtedly the race’s star. After his first stop, he led the Mercedes drivers in a strong race to hold off the Mercedes, having first placed fourth after the Hamilton/Verstappen incident early on, and third after Hamilton’s penalty.

Russell fought unsuccessfully for several laps before being able to attack Bearman by allowing his pit wall to pass past Antonelli.

However, he was unable to stop the Haas, so after the group pitted again, Piastri came out and gave Antonelli his sixth place.