Lando Norris produced a masterclass in control and speed to win the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, vaulting himself into the Formula 1 world championship lead by a single point over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Starting from his fifth pole of the year, Norris converted flawlessly off the line and never looked back, stretching his advantage lap after lap around the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
His victory margin – an emphatic 30 seconds – underlined McLaren’s dominance and Norris’s composure under pressure.
“I just focused on my own race,” Norris said over team radio, voice barely concealing the relief. “What a car. What a day.”
Behind him, Charles Leclerc secured second for Ferrari, while Max Verstappen recovered from a lively opening stint to complete the podium.
Drama in the Pack as Norris Pulls Away
While Norris controlled the start, chaos unfolded behind him on the long run to Turn 1. Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton went side-by-side before Verstappen tried to make it three-wide around the outside.
But the Red Bull star ran out of room, clipping the grass as Leclerc cut Turn 2 and briefly took the lead – only to hand the position back to Norris moments later.
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The opening laps saw elbows out across the field. On lap six, Verstappen lunged down the inside of Hamilton into Turn 1, the pair brushing wheels before the Dutchman bounded over the Turn 2 grass.
The scrap spilled into Turn 4, where Hamilton locked up and ran wide – opening the door for a sensational move by Oliver Bearman, the Haas rookie surging from ninth to fifth.
Hamilton’s afternoon unraveled further when the stewards ruled he had gained an advantage from his off-track excursion, slapping him with a 10-second time penalty that dropped him out of contention after the first round of pit stops.
Bearman Shines, Verstappen Gambles
Up front, Norris and Leclerc quickly detached themselves from the field. Verstappen, running an alternate medium-tyre strategy, initially fell behind the leading pack but used the longer first stint to his advantage. His choice would later prove inspired.
That freed up Bearman, who sensationally found himself in podium contention ahead of both Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, as well as a recovering Piastri.
Russell grew frustrated at being boxed in behind his team-mate while fending off Piastri, demanding over radio: “Are we racing or managing tyres?” Mercedes eventually allowed him through in pursuit of Bearman.
However, the midfield chess match took another twist when Piastri opted for a two-stop strategy, switching to fresh soft tyres.
His bold call undercut Antonelli and Bearman, propelling him up to sixth. Bearman and the Mercedes pair mirrored the move, but Piastri’s timing proved perfect — a crucial recovery in his championship fight.
Verstappen, meanwhile, stayed out longer, leapfropping the train entirely. When the pit cycle settled, the Red Bull driver was back in third place, 14 seconds clear of Bearman and now targeting Leclerc.
A Late Twist, but Norris Untouchable
As the race entered its closing stages, Verstappen hunted down Leclerc, cutting the gap to within two seconds with just two laps remaining. But a Virtual Safety Car for a stranded Williams of Carlos Sainz neutralized the chase. When the VSC ended on the final lap, there was no time left to attack — leaving the order frozen.
At the flag, Norris claimed his sixth win of the season, delivering a near-flawless drive that finally lifted him to the top of the standings for the first time in six months. Leclerc followed in second, Verstappen third.
Behind them, Bearman’s stunning form continued as he sealed a career-best fourth, ahead of Piastri, who dispatched Russell with a bold move into Turn 1 on lap 60. Mercedes later swapped its cars back, allowing Antonelli to finish sixth ahead of Russell.
Hamilton recovered to eighth, his penalty spoiling what had started as a promising afternoon, while Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top 10 — a double-points triumph for Haas and a breakthrough result for Sauber.
Championship Picture Tightens
There were three retirements: Fernando Alonso suffered another cruel mechanical failure, Liam Lawson bowed out after first-lap contact, and Nico Hülkenberg was sidelined by a power issue.
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