If timing is key in any race, Lando Norris might just have taken the bell with absolutely impeccable judgment. His victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix with a consummate drive from pole to flag has catapulted him into the lead of an intense title fight at exactly the right moment. Norris has momentum at the very point the championship enters its decisive phase.
With his title rivals Oscar Piastri – Norris’s McLaren teammate – managing only fifth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Norris has the edge at a crucial juncture with four meetings remaining. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished in second, while Britain’s Oliver Bearman took a career-best fourth place with a superb drive for Haas.
For Norris, dominant and unchallenged from the moment he held the lead through turn one, this was a huge result – the first time he has held the lead of the championship since before the Saudi Arabian GP in April. After Piastri moved ahead in Jeddah, the Australian has maintained a grip on the front but Norris has made his comeback at an enormously significant moment.
Norris now leads Piastri by one point with Verstappen in third, 36 behind. The two McLaren teammates lead the charge then but the defending champion is still very much in the game and all three are likely to take the title to the wire in the season finale at Abu Dhabi.
It represents a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Norris, who had been left disconsolate after he endured a mechanical failure at the Dutch GP in August. The DNF dropped the 25-year-old driver to 34 points behind Piastri, at which stage Verstappen was 104 points in arrears and the Australian appeared to hold all the cards.
Norris said after the race at Zandvoort that he would likely have to throw caution to the wind in order to catch his teammate and it appeared a reasonable stance. However, what followed was a controlled and measured response that has proved hugely effective.
“Zandvoort is still very clear in my head,” he said. “You forget about that as much as you can and you just focus on every race coming up. This has easily been my best performance but there’s still a long way to go. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing, keep trying to be consistent against some very quick guys around me and I think that’ll be good.”
As Verstappen and Red Bull found their form with a series of upgrades, Norris kept his head down and returned a string of solid podium finishes, marred only by a costly poor qualifying in Baku. He was assisted in no little part by Piastri experiencing his worst form of the year after having been on the podium for every race bar one between the second meeting of the season and Monza.
Oliver Bearman finished in a career-best fourth place at the Mexico City GP. Photograph: Héctor Vivas/Getty Images
Piastri made a false start in Baku and then crashed out with an unforced error, could manage only fourth in Singapore and fifth in Austin. A similarly lacklustre weekend in Mexico has led to his lead being erased. Poor qualifying was costly and starting in seventh he found himself mired in a midfield struggle from which he could make little impact.
With 116 points still on the table, where the two McLaren drivers stand in relation to each other could yet become a decisive differentiator.
The team principal, Andrea Stella, has said they would prioritise one driver should it be required to ensure they seal their first drivers’ championship since 2008. If Verstappen makes further inroads in the forthcoming rounds and the team choose to head off the threat, they will favour the pedaller in front. Having the lead in these late stages then is, potentially, more important than ever.
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Norris has that edge, having delivered with cool assurance in Mexico City. He held his lead in a breathtaking run on the drag to turn one as the leaders went three abreast, and within several laps he had opened a seven-second gap from which, in clean air, he was relentless to the flag.
Piastri had a shocking start, however, dropping amid the jostling down the straight from seventh to 10th. He had to fight back across the remaining 70 laps and did well to make it to fifth, including a decisive move on George Russell on lap 61. But it was at best damage limitation of the form he can no longer afford.
Verstappen, too, eked out the maximum from fifth on the grid, on a counter strategy. Indeed he might have taken second at the death but for a virtual safety car being called on the penultimate lap. Nonetheless with the Red Bull not at its best in Mexico he considered he had extracted all he could.
Quick Guide
Mexico City GP results
Show
1 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1hr 37min 58.574sec
2 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari +30.324s
3 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull +31.049
4 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas F1 +40.955
5 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren +42.065
6 Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes GP +47.837
7 George Russell (GB) Mercedes GP +50.287
8 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari +56.446
9 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas F1 +1min 15.464sec
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Br) Kick Sauber +1:16.863
11 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Red Bull +1:19.048
12 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams +1 lap
13 Isack Hadjar (Fr) Racing Bulls +1 lap
14 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin +1 lap
15 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine +1 lap
16 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine +1 lap
Not classified: Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams (lap 67), Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin (lap 34), Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Sauber (lap 25), Liam Lawson (NZ) Racing Bulls (lap 5)
Fastest lap: George Russell 1:20.052 on lap 50
Drivers’ standings: 1 Lando Norris 357pts, 2 Oscar Piastri 356, 3 Max Verstappen 321, 4 George Russell 258, 5 Charles Leclerc 210, 6 Lewis Hamilton 146, 7 Kimi Antonelli 97, 8 Alexander Albon 73, 9 Nico Hülkenberg 41, 10 Isack Hadjar 39, 11 Carlos Sainz Jr 38, 12 Fernando Alonso 37, 13 Oliver Bearman 32, 14 Lance Stroll 32, 15 Liam Lawson 30, 16 Esteban Ocon 30, 17 Yuki Tsunoda 28, 18 Pierre Gasly 20, 19 Gabriel Bortoleto 19, 20 Franco Colapinto 0, 21 Jack Doohan 0
Constructors’ standings: 1 McLaren 713pts (champions), 2 Ferrari 356, 3 Mercedes 355, 4 Red Bull 346, 5 Williams 111, 6 Racing Bulls 72, 7 Aston Martin 69, 8 Haas 62, 9 Sauber 60, 10 Alpine 20
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For McLaren, to defeat Verstappen so comprehensively will give them encouragement that their car still has an advantage in certain conditions. On a surface which punished the rubber the ease with which their car handles its tyres, an area where they have excelled this season, once more proved to be vital. Norris was able to push the car harder and faster and will feel his tilt at the title is now well and truly on, while his teammate is left wondering how the lead he held for 15 rounds has slipped from his grasp within sight of the finishing line.
Lewis Hamilton might have been fighting for his first podium with Ferrari but for a 10sec penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track when competing with Verstappen and he finished in eighth.
