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The Mexico City Grand Prix was the second in a series of three American stages in a row. There were still five races to go until the end of the season, everyone was trying to earn points by improving their position in the championship, and the results were tight on the short circuit of the Rodriguez Brothers Circuit.
On the altitude course, the aerodynamics worked less efficiently, as did the cooling systems. During training, the teams attempted to solve this difficult problem with varying degrees of success. The cars were sliding, almost all sessions were interrupted by red flags.
On Friday one of the practice sessions was given to Pirelli to test the 2025 tyres; Carlos Sainz showed the best time. On Saturday morning, Oscar Piastri was in the lead and Sainz won qualifying again.
The FIA closely monitored compliance with the limits of the track – it was necessary to drive not only quickly, but also accurately, and not everyone could cope with this. Oscar Piastri dropped out of the race in the first part of qualifying, as did the hero of the local crowd, Sergio Perez, sparking new rumors about his impending dismissal from Red Bull.
While the crowd in the stands actively chanted his name, the organizers organized a colorful carnival over the weekend, which concluded with the race on Sunday.
Fernando Alonso held his record 400th Grand Prix in Mexico City.
Sainz and Verstappen started the race from the front row of the starting field, Norris and Leclerc from second, Russell and Hamilton from third. Ocon was penalized for violating the parc ferme rules and started from the pit lane.
Pirelli brought the softest compounds to the podium: C3, C4 and C5 in the Hard, Medium and Soft roles. In the race, Lawson, Bottas, Colapinto, Perez, Zhou and Ocon started on Hard, the rest on Medium.
At the beginning Verstappen got ahead of Sainz, Carlos went onto the grass and returned as leader, but gave the position back to Max.
Hamilton got ahead of Russell, Perez made a false start and received a five-second time penalty.
Tsunoda, after making contact with Gasly Albon, who had shifted due to a maneuver, flew out in the first corner and crashed the car. Albon stopped on the straight for fourth place. Both riders dropped out of the race.
The safety car came out.
Top ten in round 2: Verstappen – Sainz – Norris – Leclerc – Hamilton – Russell – Magnussen – Hulkenberg – Gasly – Lawson.
The destroyed cars were evacuated, the debris was removed, the barrier was corrected and a restart was announced on the seventh lap. The positions of the riders have not changed.
On lap 9, Sainz passed Verstappen for the lead.
On the 10th lap, Norris attacked Verstappen and took the lead, but Max forced his opponent off the track, first in turn four and then in turn eight. The stewards punished Verstappen with two time penalties of 10 seconds and two penalty points.
Top ten in round 10: Sainz – Leclerc – Verstappen – Norris – Hamilton – Russell – Magnussen – Hulkenberg – Gasly – Lawson.
On lap 12 Perez passed Stroll for 11th place.
On lap 13, Piastri overtook Bottas for 15th.
On lap 15, Russell overtook Hamilton for fifth place.
On the 16th lap, Alonso turned into the pits and stopped.
Perez put pressure on Lawson for several laps in the battle for 10th place, but Liam fought back.
On lap 21, Perez made a pit stop. Piastri stayed ahead of Colapinto in the battle for 12th place.
On lap 24, Piastri overtook Stroll for 11th place.
On lap 27, Verstappen pulled into the pits, served two 10-second penalties and changed tires, returning to the track in 15th. Stroll made a pit stop.
On lap 28, Ocon passed Zhou for 13th place.
On the 29th lap Hamilton and Gasly changed tires, on the 30th – Hulkenberg, on the 31st – Norris and Magnussen, on the 32nd – Leclerc and Russell, on the 33rd – Sainz, keeping the lead in the race.
Russell, and then Hamilton, overtook Piastri and Lawson, who had not been in the pits. The front wing of Russell’s car was damaged.
On lap 36, Verstappen overtakes Colapinto for eighth place, and Magnussen overtakes Bottas for tenth.
On lap 40, Piastri and Lawson switched tires.
The top three riders rode at the same pace and had a difference of more than five seconds.
Top ten in lap 41: Sainz – Leclerc – Norris – Russell – Hamilton – Verstappen – Magnussen – Colapinto – Hulkenberg – Bottas.
On lap 42, Piastri passed Ocon and Lawson passed Perez. Sergio finished 17th and last in the race at his home track.
On the 43rd lap, Hulkenberg was ahead of Colapinto in the battle for eighth place, with Gasly and Piastri ahead of Bottas.
On lap 45, Piastri overtook Gasly for 10th place. Zhou and Perez swapped tires.
On lap 47, Perez overtook Zhou for 16th place.
On the 48th lap, Colapinto changed the tires – there was a problem with the mounting of the right rear wheel.
On lap 49 Stroll and Lawson took the lead from Ocon, a lap later Esteban turned into the pits and on lap 51 Bottas was the last to change the tires.
On lap 57, Piastri passed Hulkenberg for eighth place.
Top ten in lap 60: Sainz – Leclerc – Norris – Russell – Hamilton – Verstappen – Magnussen – Piastri – Hulkenberg – Gasly.
Gradually closing the gap, Norris found himself in the DRS zone behind Leclerc on lap 62. On lap 63, Leclerc made a mistake when he went off the track exiting the final corner and Norris took the lead.
On lap 66, Colapinto passed Lawson for 12th place. Hamilton overtook Russell for fourth place.
On lap 67, Lawson pulled into the pits with a front wing damaged in the battle with Colapinto, receiving a new nose cone and fresh tires. Colapinto received a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for the incident.
Top ten in lap 68: Sainz – Norris – Leclerc – Hamilton – Russell – Verstappen – Magnussen – Piastri – Hulkenberg – Gasly.
At the end of the race there was a battle for the best lap. First it was Norris’s, then Lawson’s on fresh tyres, and on the last lap Leclerc and Perez pitted to keep him behind.
As a result, the best lap went to Leclerc – 1:18.336.
Carlos Sainz won the Mexican Grand Prix, taking the fourth victory of his career and the second of the season.
Lando Norris finished second, closing the gap in the individual standings to 47 points. Charles Leclerc took the third step of the podium.
In the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari overtook Red Bull and moved to second place by 25 points.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:40:55,800 | 181,524 | 1 |
| 2. L.Norris | McLaren | +4,705 | 181,383 | 1 |
| 3. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | +34.387 | 180,499 | 2 |
| 4. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +44.780 | 180,191 | 1 |
| 5. D. Russell | Mercedes | +48.536 | 180,080 | 1 |
| 6. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +59.558 | 179,756 | 1 |
| 7. K. Magnussen | Hare | +63.642 | 179,636 | 1 |
| 8. O. Piastri | McLaren | +64.928 | 179,598 | 1 |
| 9. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | +1 round | 178,885 | 1 |
| 10. P. Gasly | Alps | +1 round | 178,418 | 1 |
| 11. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +1 round | 178,227 | 1 |
| 12. F.Colapinto* | Williams | +1 round | 177,864 | 1 |
| 13. E. Okon | Alps | +1 round | 177,801 | 1 |
| 14. V. Bottas | Sauber | +1 round | 177,726 | 1 |
| 15. G.Zhou | Sauber | +1 round | 177,159 | 1 |
| 16. L. Lawson | RB | +1 round | 177,080 | 2 |
| 17. C. Perez | Red Bull | +1 round | 176,825 | 3 |
* F. Colapinto was fined an additional 10 seconds for the incident with Lawson
Best round: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:18.336 (71 laps, 197.794 km/h)
Reasons for the meetings
| Pilot | Team | Kroogov | Cause |
| Yu.Tsunoda | RB | 0 | accident |
| A. Elbon | Williams | 0 | accident |
| F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 15 | overheating of the brakes |
Championship Position: Individual Competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1. McLaren F1 Team | Mercedes | 566 |
 |
2. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 537 |
 |
3. Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 512 |
| = | 4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 366 |
| = | 5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | Mercedes | 86 |
| = | 6. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 46 |
| = | 7. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | Honda RBPT | 36 |
| = | 8. Williams Racing | Mercedes | 17 |
| = | 9. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 14 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
