Mexico City GP: Lando Norris takes control of title fight, Haas’ Ollie Bearman battles the best for shock finish, Lewis Hamilton penalty controversy, and more

To the sound of the Mariachi, F1 made its way to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, October 26. 

A championship-defining drive from Lando Norris, controversy between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, and a career-best finish for rookie Ollie Bearman - it was a weekend with no shortage of highlights. 

Sports News Blitz’s F1 writer, Henry Eccles, takes a look at the biggest talking points to come out of the Mexican GP. 

Lando Norris takes control of the championship battle with his best-ever drive

While a lot of attention has quite rightly gone to Max Verstappen’s sensational comeback in the Drivers’ title fight, Lando Norris’ solid performances since the summer break may have gone under the radar. 

Since the Dutch GP, where Norris was forced to retire due to a power unit issue, the Brit has finished ahead of his team-mate and main championship rival Oscar Piastri at every Grand Prix.

In comparison with his team-mate, the Aussie has struggled for pace and confidence in his car, particularly since his disastrous crash out on the opening lap in Baku in September. 

In Mexico, while Piastri suffered from a ‘mysterious’ lack of pace yet again, Norris was in blistering form - topping the timing charts in FP3 before putting in a mightily impressive lap to achieve pole position in Saturday’s qualifying, 0.262s ahead of Charles Leclerc in P2. 

With Piastri only in P7, Norris had a gilt-edged opportunity to lead the championship for the first time since the Saudi Arabia GP in April - the McLaren was tipped to perform well in Mexico’s unique conditions, but Norris’ level of dominance on Sunday still came as a shock. 

Navigating a chaotic start that saw four cars abreast into Turn 1, Norris got away from Verstappen and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and was hardly seen for the rest of the race owing to his sheer pace. 

The McLaren driver was so far in the lead that he was even able to pit and comfortably stay there, eventually crossing the line 30 seconds ahead of Leclerc - the biggest win margin this season so far. 

While his team-mate improved on his poor starting spot to finish P5, the victory was enough to push Norris into the lead of the Drivers’ standings, albeit by just one point. 

The nature of the win, however, speaks to a renewed confidence from Norris, now displaying a level of composure and clinicality similar to that which maintained Piastri’s lead for so long, and one that the Briton has previously lacked in big moments.

Until now, that is, because with just four races left, it is Norris that looks like the champion here, even if he continues to play things down.

“It’s one weekend at a time,” he said post-race. 

“I’m happy, I’m focused on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore all of this [noise] and I keep to myself. It’s working at the minute, so I’m happy.”

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Oscar Piastri’s woes continue, while Max Verstappen salvages important points

With Norris proving to be unstoppable in Mexico, it was all about damage limitation for Verstappen and Piastri, who only qualified P5 and P8, respectively, and both struggled to get to grips with their cars all weekend.

Despite getting bumped up to P7 thanks to Carlos Sainz’s five-place grid penalty, Piastri’s weekend got even worse as he dropped to P9 by the end of the first lap. 

“It was a tricky Turn 1,” Piastri said post-race. “I think the guys ahead hit the grass or hit a patch of dirt and I was kind of the next car directly behind it so when I hit it, I lost a lot of grip and drifted wide, lost a couple of spots there.

“So that was a shame but I think the recovery after that was reasonable, just very difficult to overtake. Tried our best.”

That recovery was indeed reasonable - the Aussie got ahead of Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the pits, while also making on-track moves against Yuki Tsunoda and George Russell, the latter being a bold lunge into Turn 1 on Lap 60 to take P5. 

P4 was certainly on the cards for Piastri too. He was within DRS range of Haas’ Ollie Bearman in the final stages, but the young Brit was saved by a controversial VSC caused by Sainz’s spin with just one lap to go. 

Despite the recovery, the McLaren driver still lamented his lack of pace in comparison with his team-mate, having described it as a “mystery” post-quali on Saturday. 

On Sunday, he said: “We have some evidence of where the pace is and what to do but I’ve got to drive the car very differently these last couple of weekends, which, when it’s been working well for you for the previous 18, is a little bit difficult to kind of wrap your head around.

“We tried a few things today and we’ll have a look if that’s what we were looking for.”

After losing his championship lead to Norris with just four weekends to go, Piastri has not got a lot of time to figure things out, and with title challenger Verstappen pulling off a recovery drive of his own, the pressure continues to ramp up. 

While not the ideal weekend for Verstappen, he succeeded where Piastri failed, scoring a podium from his P5 starting position. 

As the only front-runner to start on Medium tyres, it was a wild race start for the Dutchman.

He found himself on the grass twice in the opening stages - firstly after going wide into Turn 1, and secondly at the next corner on Lap 6 in an aggressive exchange with Hamilton.

The four-time world champion struggled on his Mediums for 37 laps, and fell back to P8 following his only pit stop, but now on fresher Soft tyres, and with cars ahead of him pitting twice, Verstappen made his way up to the final podium spot. 

And he most likely would have snatched Leclerc’s P2 on the final lap had it not been for the VSC, highlighting his clear pace advantage on the final stint post-race. 

“We just tried to extend the Medium as long as we could and then I think when we went on the Soft and everyone else was on the Medium, I think it showed that the Soft was the better tyre for today,” Verstappen explained.

“We had a good final stint, I was enjoying that, I think the pace was a little bit more competitive compared to all the cars around me - except McLaren I would say. I personally didn't expect to be on the podium today.”

It was not maximum points for the Dutchman, but it was an impressive recovery that continues a fine streak of podiums since the summer break and keeps him in title contention, with just 36 points separating him and new leader Norris.

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Ollie Bearman secures Driver of the Day for career-best P4 finish 

It was Norris’ weekend overall, but Sunday was all about Haas’ Bearman. 

From P9, the rookie impressively gained three places at the wild race start, but it was on Lap 6 that he proved he can one day compete with the sport’s very best.

Taking advantage of the scuffle between Verstappen and Hamilton, Bearman saw an opportunity and went for it, getting ahead of Russell and then racing wheel-to-wheel with the reigning world champion in the track’s twisty middle sector.

Incredibly, the Haas car got ahead into P4, and with third-placed Hamilton then receiving a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, some were even beginning to wonder whether a first-ever Haas podium was in the offing. 

Although that ultimately was not to be, Bearman was legitimately quicker than both Mercedes drivers and later kept Piastri’s McLaren at bay.

He crossed the line in P4 to secure his highest finish in F1 and equal Romain Grosjean’s P4 at the 2018 Austrian GP as Haas’ greatest ever result.

“It’s a feel-good moment. Also, to go side-by-side with Max is a very cool feeling. He’s someone I have basically grown up watching in Formula 1, so it’s awesome and I’m really proud of the job we did today,” Bearman said post-race. 

“We finished there on merit. Even if we didn’t have the pace to qualify there, we had the race pace to stay there. So I think we did an excellent job, and I just want to go and see the team and give them a big hug.”

With that result, Bearman has now scored points in three consecutive races, and moves up to P13 ahead of his team-mate Esteban Ocon, who finished P9 in Mexico to take Haas above Sauber into P8 in the Constructors’.

For Bearman, though, the race was perhaps a first glimpse of one day fighting higher in the standings, as the 20-year-old went toe-to-toe with the elite while driving for F1’s smallest team.

“Obviously my goal in life is to fight for that week in and week out,” he said. 

“I didn't expect to be racing a McLaren, a Red Bull, a Mercedes, or even fighting with a Ferrari in a way. I expected that in future years, but to do it already this year is a very special feeling and I think that motivates everyone to hopefully do that again in the near future.”

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Lewis Hamilton left to wonder what might have been after ‘harsh’ penalty

After picking up the unwanted record of the most race starts for Ferrari without a podium last week at Austin, it looked like Hamilton was going to put that streak to an end at Mexico City.

The seven-time world champion qualified P3 on Saturday, his best qualifying result of the season, and despite cars around him cutting corners on the first lap on Sunday, he stayed in the final podium spot in the opening stages.

On Lap 6, however, Hamilton’s race began to unravel. 

Longtime rival Verstappen dived down the inside of Hamilton’s Ferrari at the first corner, the pair made slight contact into Turn 2, and the Dutchman bailed out onto the grass, with the pair side by side on the straight towards Turn 4. 

For that incident, the stewards deemed no action was necessary, but they did for what was about to happen. 

At Turn 4, with Verstappen on the inside again, Hamilton locked up and went over the grass, rejoining the track ahead of the Dutchman without taking the corner’s tight escape road. 

For the stewards, this was enough to warrant a 10-second penalty, a decision Hamilton called “bull****” and “insane,” considering other drivers, Verstappen included, had also cut corners and held position. 

After taking his penalty during his first pit stop, Hamilton dropped all the way down to P14.

When the cars ahead of him pitted, he was back up to seventh, but he ultimately had to settle for P8 after Verstappen overtook him again on fresher tyres and with less fuss than their earlier encounter. 

It was a disappointing end to what yet again looked like a promising weekend for Hamilton, a first podium for Ferrari was possible and would have built on the steady progress he has made since the summer break. 

“It was fun at the start and didn’t end up the way I had hoped, but it's motor racing,” Hamilton said after the race, before adding that he did all he could to bring his car safely back onto the track in the incident that got him his penalty.

While team principal Fred Vasseur admitted his driver was not without fault, he felt the penalty was a tad strong.

“I think it is a bit harsh. For sure, he didn’t keep the line until the end, but he lost the car on the grass and it was not easy to maintain.

“But 10 seconds is very harsh, because this dropped us behind all the group, and we lost six or seven positions, but it is like it is,” Vasseur said. 

Despite Hamilton’s penalty, it was still a good day overall for Ferrari. Leclerc’s P2 finish helped the Scuderia retake P2 from Mercedes in the Constructors’ standings, with the Silver Arrows only able to finish P6 and P7.

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Mercedes team orders infuriate both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli

Another rookie taking advantage of the Hamilton-Verstappen clash on Lap 6 was Antonelli, who moved into P6 ahead of his team-mate Russell after the Briton went wide at Turn 5.

After the first round of pit stops, the Mercedes duo found themselves behind Haas’ Bearman, hoping to get past the rookie and fight for the podium places. 

On Lap 37, Antonelli remained stuck behind his former F2 team-mate in P4, with Russell growing frustrated just behind him and wary of the faster McLaren of Piastri in P6. 

It led to an explosive radio exchange between radio engineer Marcus Dudley and Russell, who wanted to swap positions with Antonelli to get after Bearman. 

Russell sarcastically messaged: “I’ve got a **** McLaren up my ****, do you want me to let him past?”

“No, thank you,” Dudley replied, before later adding: “So rear surface temperatures are sky high, George, let’s get these under control.”

The Briton then shouted back at his engineer: “Marcus, I’ve got a ******* car up my ****, okay? A car much quicker than ours. I’m trying to hold position.

“I’ve got much more pace than Kimi here, and we can fight for a podium. I’m happy to give the position back if I don’t achieve it, but my tyres are just getting ****** sat here.”

Eventually, Mercedes did let Russell get ahead of his young team-mate.

“Ah, great,” another sarcastic message from the Brit, who struggled to make inroads on Bearman, with the general consensus being that the Silver Arrows should have made their move earlier. 

With Verstappen taking P3, and Bearman staying where he was, Piastri then overtook Antonelli and Russell, who was really starting to struggle with high temperatures.  

And so, Russell made good on his word and gave Antonelli back his position, but the pair were both unhappy with the situation that led to just a P6 and P7 finish.

On the radio at the chequered flag, Antonelli said: “We need to talk about this because we lost a possible P4 today,” later adding that the team orders caught him by surprise and that a review was needed to avoid similar mistakes in Brazil.

Russell also voiced his frustration: “Ordinarily, we work as a team, and we’re in the fight for P2 in the championship, and I could see Kimi was struggling to get past Bearman.

“I was in his DRS train, so when my tyres were in a good place, I was ready to attack. Ultimately, we left it too long, and by that point, there was no need to swap positions - either do it straight away or not at all.”

Despite being 27 points ahead after Russell’s Singapore victory, Mercedes have now fallen behind Ferrari in the teams’ battle for P2.

The gap is only one point, but the Brackley-based team also have to be wary of the Verstappen-inspired Red Bull just nine points behind. 

Next up for F1 is the fan favourite Brazilian Grand Prix, held at the iconic Interlagos circuit in São Paulo on the weekend of November 7-9. 

The main race gets underway on Sunday, November 9, at 5pm UK time, with fans able to catch all the action on Sky Sports F1.

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