Red Bull's Max Verstappen had an easy afternoon in Mexico, taking the lead into the first corner and then calmly managing the race from there to claim his 16th win of the season, with Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes.
The race was red-flagged after a huge accident for Haas' Kevin Magnussen, and Sergio Perez crashed out at the start after making contact with pole sitter Charles Leclerc.
The Ferraris didn't show the same sort of speed that earned them a front row lock-out. Leclerc held on to third from Sainz, while Lando Norris fought back from early setbacks to finish fifth ahead of George Russell and Daniel Ricciardo.
The front of the grid for the start of the Mexican GP had an unusually red hue to it, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having successfully locked up the front row for Ferrari. That had knocked Max Verstappen back to third, putting him alongside his old Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo on row 2. Not the script that Verstappen had been expecting to perform at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, but no matter: it doesn't matter where you started but where you finish.
Everyone in the top ten opted to start on the medium compound; only Lando Norris starting from P17 was on softs. But all eyes were on Verstappen when the lights went out to get the race underway, and the unusually long 800m run down to the first corner allowed him to slipstream past Sainz and strike at Leclerc to take the lead into turn 1. Sergio Perez also saw an opportunity to strike, quickly dispatching Sainz before attempting to force his way around the outside of Leclerc - only to make contact with the Ferrari.
Leclerc ran wide onto the grass but was able to continue albeit with front wing damage. A shard of carbon fibre from the damaged component triggered a brief belated Virtual Safety Car for retrieval. But it was more serious for Perez, whose Red Bull had sustained serious suspension damage and was forced to retire from the race, to the agony of Perez' legions of home fans.
Verstappen resumed in the lead with two seconds in hand over Leclerc, Sainz and Ricciardo. Lewis Hamilton was setting early fastest laps and up to fifth ahead of Oscar Piastri and George Russell. On the move from the back of the grid were Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant: Tsunoda had been applying pressure on Kevin Magnussen for P13 only to drop back after running wide onto the grass.
With Tsunoda soon setting swift laps, Norris followed suit while the leaders carried on, eyeing a one stop strategy provided they could manage tyre wear in the hot conditions. Lap 11 saw Hamilton finally pick off Ricciardo despite worrying about overheating having been stuck in the hot, dirty wake of the AlphaTauri for so long. he was told to "keep your powder dry for a couple of laps" before getting serious about catching Sainz. By lap 18, Verstappen gradually extended his lead to four seconds over Leclerc's wounded Ferrari.
Verstappen was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 20 after telling his race engineer that his "tyres are giving up mate, there's not much I can do". It was a fast service, an early one for a one-stopper but one that dropped him into a neat 'hole' on track between Russell and Hulkenberg. A new set of hard tyres meant it took him no time to cruise past Russell and then Piastri.
Ricciardo was next on Verstappen's to-do list. Hamilton then bailed into pit lane for service on lap 25 with Piastri in next and then Russell, who was unhappy to be called in but told it was to protect against Norris. Ferrari opted to extend both cars, but Verstappen still picked off Sainz on lap 29, then gorging himself on the seven second gap to race leader Leclerc.
Sainz gave up and pitted on lap 31, coming back out behind Hamilton. It was Leclerc's turn to report for hard tyres on lap 32, successfully avoiding the same fate but 16s behind Verstappen. The intervals became irrelevant when suspension failure on Kevin Magnussen's Haas sent him flying off at turn 8 into a violent impact with the barrier, resulting in a brief fire erupting in the back of the shattered chassis as a dazed Dane evacuated the area with alacrity. The damage to the barrier forced race control to upgrade the safety car to a red flag.
Several drivers including Verstappen, Norris and Albon took advantage of the initial caution to pit, but the red flag meant everyone could now renew their tyres (and Leclerc could get a new front wing). Verstappen was annoyed by the 'unnecessary' stoppage but the visible damage to the TechPro barrier put the call beyond question. Repairs took 20 minutes before the race resumed with 35 laps remaining, with a standing start on lap 36 and Verstappen leading from Leclerc, Sainz, Ricciardo, Piastri, Russell and Tsunoda, and Hulkenberg still in the points ahead of Norris in tenth.
Verstappen got a good start and cut across to warn off Leclerc, with Hamilton narrowly fending off Sainz while Ricciardo and Piastri both lost out to Russell. The biggest loser was Norris who dropped four places suffering wheel spin.on the dirty side of the track, having used the stoppage to switch to mediums.
Hamilton had gone for the same tactic, and used the mediums into turn 1 on lap 40 to prise his way past Leclerc for second despite dipping a wheel on the grass in the process. Russell wasn't able to work the same move on Sainz for fourth before Mercedes' medium tyre advantage over those on hards expired. Piastri and Tsunoda were battling hard for seventh which ended in contact in turn 1 on lap 48 that spun the AlphaTauri around, dropping him to the back. That helped Norris on his comeback charge: Piastri promptly obeyed team orders and ceded P7 to his team mate on lap 56allowing Norris to make a hard-fought pass on Ricciardo on lap 60, then scalping Russell for fifth with four laps to go.
Piastri held on to eighth despite having incurred damage in his clash with Tsunoda. The final points went to Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon. Neither Aston Martin car made the distance with both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll joining the retirement list in the closing laps. But there was no question about the winner: 'Another day, another win' for Verstappen as his race engineer put it, as the Red Bull crossed the line. And for a few dollars more as well, no doubt.
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