Lando Norris cut Max Verstappen’s lead to 47 points and labelled his rival “dangerous” as the championship battle reached boiling point at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Verstappen was given two 10-second penalties for his driving against Norris for two incidents in the same lap but still managed to finish sixth.
Norris took second place, catching and passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for second with nine laps to go, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took a dominant victory.
Verstappen was given one penalty for forcing Norris off the track in an incident at Turn Four on lap 10 and another for leaving the track and gaining an advantage four corners later.
Verstappen fell foul of not being in quite the same position as he had been in last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
In Austin, Norris was penalised for gaining an advantage by running off track trying to overtake the Red Bull driver and Verstappen was not punished for what many of his rivals felt was forcing the McLaren wide.
But the key point there was that Verstappen was ahead at the apex of the corner, entitling him to run to the edge of the track according to F1’s racing rules.
In Mexico City before the race, many drivers made it clear they felt Verstappen’s driving was not fair in Austin and agreed with governing body the FIA that the racing guidelines needed changing to address the type of driving Verstappen had employed.
The guidelines were the same leading into this race – a new draft will be discussed in Qatar in two races’ time – and Verstappen said that, despite the discussion “for me, in terms of racing, nothing changes”.
But at Turn Four in this race, the difference in this race was that Norris managed to keep his car slightly ahead at the apex, which meant that even without a change in the guidelines, Verstappen was obliged to give him room. When he did not, the penalty was inevitable.
How did Verstappen get penalised?
Verstappen, who had been repassed by Sainz for the lead on lap nine, tried the same tactic as in Austin.
Norris was attacking him on the outside of Turn Four, three laps after a restart following a safety car caused by a first-lap crash, and Verstappen ran in late on the brakes on the inside and forced Norris off the track on the outside of the corner.
Norris took second place from Verstappen by cutting across the grass, missing the right-hander that makes up the second part of the chicane at Turns Four and Five.
But as the Briton apparently went to let Verstappen back past into Turn Eight, seeking to avoid a penalty such as he received in Austin, Verstappen went wide on his inside and both cars went off the track.
Norris, talking about the Turn Four incident over the radio, said: “I was ahead the whole way through the corner. This guy is dangerous. I have to avoid a crash.”
Verstappen did not take kindly to the penalties, and his race engineer Giampiero Lambiase told him they came after a lot of “whingeing”.
Norris held the extra point for fastest lap for a long time, but it was initially taken from him by RB’s Liam Lawson, who stopped late for fresh tyres, and then Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who did the same with two laps to go.
Sainz’s victory, coupled with Leclerc’s third place and fastest lap, moves them ahead of Red Bull into second place in the constructors’ championship.
McLaren still lead, but Ferrari are only 29 points behind and 25 ahead of Red Bull.
Sainz in total control
At the front, Sainz made it three Ferrari wins in the past five races after taking pole position, despite losing the lead to Verstappen on the first lap.
The race was immediately put under the safety car after a collision between Williams’ Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda’s RB led to the Japanese crashing at the first corner and Albon pulling off with damage after Turn Three.
When the race resumed, Sainz took just a lap before he passed Verstappen into Turn One, after which Norris closed in, leading to all the drama between the title contenders.
That allowed Leclerc through into second place and initially he tracked Sainz closely, and was within a second by lap 14.
But he dropped back a second the following lap, whereupon Sainz came on the radio to make an unspecified complaint about Leclerc, using bad language.
Leclerc stayed within two seconds of Sainz for a further three laps, before starting to drop back rapidly, slipping to nearly eight seconds behind before they made their single pit stops.
No further communications were broadcast and there were no replays of whatever might have happened, so it remains to be seen whether the drivers will discuss it after the race.
From that moment on, Sainz was untroubled out front, and Leclerc was equally comfortable in second for a long time.
But after the pit stops, Norris began to eat into Leclerc’s lead. The Ferrari was 4.7 seconds in front initially but Norris cut it back by 0.2secs or so a lap until he was on Leclerc’s tail with 10 laps to go.
Coming around the final corner on lap 62, Leclerc ran wide, onto the dusty outside of the track, and then off the circuit, and Norris swept by into second place.
Behind the top three, the Mercedes drivers were locked in combat throughout the race. Russell overtook Hamilton on lap 14 and stayed ahead until the pit stops, but the seven-time champion came back at Russell in the second stint and was on his tail with 20 laps to go.
They battled closely for many laps and eventually Hamilton found a way by into the first corner with five laps to go.
Behind them, Verstappen had no pace after his penalty and had a lonely race to sixth place.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took seventh, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, eighth from 17th on the grid, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 400th grand prix, retired early on with overheating brakes.
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez had a race to forget. He was penalised for a false start, after lining up well forward of his grid slot, and then damaged his car in an incident with RB’s Liam Lawson in Turn Four.
He finished last after Red Bull stopped him for fresh tyres late on for a failed attempt to take fastest lap.
