F1 Mexico City: Norris wins GP to take world championship lead from Piastri

McLaren’s Lando Norris avoided aboriginal mayhem to cruise to a ascendant Mexico City Grand Prix triumph and retake the Formula One title pb by a azygous constituent from teammate Oscar Piastri connected Sunday.

Australia’s Piastri, who started the contention seventh and 14 points wide of the Briton, finished 5th aft a virtual information car successful the past 2 laps denied him a changeable astatine 4th aft a thrilling chase.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Mbappe, Bellingham people arsenic Real Madrid borderline Barcelona successful fiery El Clasico
• list 2 of 3Yamamoto, Dodgers level MLB World Series against Blue Jays successful Game 2
• list 3 of 3Aspinall UFC rubric defence ends successful no-contest aft oculus poke

Charles Leclerc was runner-up for Ferrari, a hefty 30.3 seconds adrift of Norris, portion Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen took 3rd – conscionable 0.7 down the Monegasque driver.

Norris, who started from rod presumption and led each lap, present has 357 points to Piastri’s 356, with Verstappen connected 321 and 4 rounds remaining.

“What a race. I could conscionable support my eyes focused and guardant and absorption connected what I was doing,” said Norris, who was booed by the location assemblage for reasons that remained unclear.

“A beauteous straightforward contention for me, which is conscionable what I was after. A bully start, a bully launch, a bully archetypal lap, and I could spell from there.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris races successful the lead, up of Ferrari operator Charles Leclerc, during the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix [Yuri Cortex/AFP]

Norris turns title frontrunner

Norris past led the drivers’ standings successful April, a spread of 189 days, and had not won a contention since Hungary successful aboriginal August. Sunday was his sixth triumph of the season, 1 little than Piastri, and his 10th vocation win.

“I felt similar the full contention I was close down idiosyncratic and struggling with the soiled air. That was beauteous difficult,” said Piastri.

“Today was astir trying to bounds the damage, but besides trying to larn immoderate things astir that. If I’ve made immoderate advancement with that, I’ll beryllium happy.”

Oliver Bearman was 4th for Haas, a champion effect for the Briton and besides the US-owned team, and was 1.1 seconds wide of Piastri astatine a chequered emblem waved by erstwhile heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield.

“I held disconnected Max successful the archetypal stint, I held disconnected the Mercs successful the second, and I held disconnected the McLaren successful the 3rd one,” the rookie said.

“I spent much clip looking successful my rearview mirrors than successful front. But that’s sometimes however it has to be.”

Kimi Antonelli was sixth for Mercedes, with teammate George Russell seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth for Ferrari aft a 10-second punishment dropped him from 3rd and dashed his hopes of a archetypal podium for the squad helium joined successful January.

Esteban Ocon was ninth, making a treble points decorativeness for Haas, and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took the last point.

Haas operator Oliver Bearman recorded a career-best 4th presumption astatine the Mexico City Grand Prix [Alfredo Estrella/Pool via Reuters]

Ferrari moves backmost into 2nd place

The apical 3 each completed the contention connected a one-stop strategy, portion Bearman, Piastri and the Mercedes drivers each pitted twice.

Ferrari moved backmost into 2nd place, a constituent up of Mercedes, successful a constructors’ title already won by McLaren but with a choky scrap for the runner-up slot.

Norris made a cleanable commencement from rod erstwhile the lights went out, but was caught successful a four-way tussle down the agelong tally to crook one, with Verstappen cutting the country and bumping implicit the grass.

Leclerc past chopped crook two, giving the spot backmost to Norris, who emerged from the chaos ahead, portion Verstappen gained a spot successful 4th to the aggravated irritation of Russell.

“I got squeezed similar crazy,” said Verstappen implicit the squad vigor arsenic Russell, who started fourth, called successful vain for the four-time satellite champion to manus the spot back.

A scary incidental saw Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who came successful for a caller beforehand helping connected thigh three, accelerate retired of the pits arsenic 2 marshals ran crossed the way successful beforehand of him.

Verstappen and third-placed Hamilton made interaction connected thigh six arsenic they went broadside by broadside with the Red Bull operator trying to spell past astatine crook one, but ending up cutting the adjacent corner.

Hamilton went disconnected astatine crook four, cutting backmost crossed the grass, and was handed a punishment for leaving the way and gaining an advantage.

Bearman, meanwhile, climbed to fourth, from ninth astatine the start, and looked connected for a podium erstwhile Hamilton took his punishment connected thigh 24, lone to beryllium reeled successful by Verstappen.

While Norris enjoyed a calm day successful the sunshine, Piastri had to combat backmost from a debased of 11th aft his archetypal stop, passing Antonelli successful the pits and Russell connected track.

The virtual information car was deployed aft Williams’s Carlos Sainz, past year’s victor for Ferrari, spun and stopped connected way connected the penultimate thigh with fume coming from it.

Norris celebrates aft winning the Mexico City Grand Prix [Eloisa Sanchez/Reuters]