Sainz and Ferrari triumph in eventual Mexican Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz took an emotional lights-to-flag victory for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in Sunday’s incident-filled Mexico City Grand Prix as Red Bull’s series leader Max Verstappen was handed two 10-second penalties on his way to sixth.

‘Aggressive Max’

The stewards took a dim view of Verstappen’s aggressive driving, the Red Bull driver twice forcing his title rival Norris off the track.

Norris grabbed second from Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari near the finish as the Briton enjoyed a major boost in his quest to deny Verstappen a fourth consecutive world championship.

The McLaren driver cut 10 points off the gap to Verstappen which now stands at 47 with four race weekends remaining.

Verstappen paid a heavy price for his show of ruthlessness with Norris commenting: “I knew what to expect from Max. I respect him a lot as a driver and I expected it but it was not very clean driving in my opinion.

“It was a very tough race and I spent a lot of it just trying to avoid crashes. I think the stewards are on it, I think that’s clear by the penalties that were given. The stewards did a good job this weekend.”

It was the second week in succession that the two title-chasers had clashed following a penalty for Norris at the United States Grand Prix.

McLaren boss Zak Brown described this latest example of Verstappen’s aggressive streak as “ridiculous”.

“Enough is enough. Let’s just have some good clean racing moving forwards. I think the stewards are on it, I think that’s clear by the penalties that were given. The stewards did a good job this weekend.”

Asked about his drivers’ crown prospects Norris said: “I’m just keeping my head down, we’re doing good job as a team, focus on ourselves, that’s all I can do for now.”

Verstappen, however, shrugged off the penalties as “quite big” but said he felt more concerned at Red Bull’s loss of competitive pace which contributed to his being involved in controversial incidents.

“The problem is that when you’re slower you are being put in those kind of positions and I’m not going to give up easily,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about agreeing or disagreeing about penalties… The only thing is 20 seconds is quite a lot, but the biggest problem of today and something that I worry about is the race pace which was really not good and something that we need to analyse”.

On a bad day for Red Bull, team boss Christian Horner was defensive.

“Max didn’t leave the track at Turn Four and at Turn Seven Lando opened the door late and both ran off,” he said.

“But the problem is that this is dangerous territory – when is a ‘dive bomb’ going to be ok?

“The drivers and the FIA need to sit down together and sort out some agreement. The two time penalties for Max were a bit on the hard side today. We have to play to the rules and we will learn from today.”

Leaving on a high

Sainz meanwhile is ensuring he leaves Ferrari with his head held high as he switches next season to Williams to make way for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

“Gracias Mexico!” said a beaming Sainz.

“It is incredible to see this crowd. I have felt their support all week and it gave me a lot of strength – I said I wanted one more win with Ferrari and to do it here with this mega-crowd is incredible.”

It was Ferrari’s first victory in Mexico since Alain Prost triumphed in 1990 – enabling them to move ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship – and Sainz’s second win of the season and fourth of his career.

Hamilton finished fourth ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Kevin Magnussen finished behind Verstappen in seventh to deliver Haas’s best result in Mexico ahead of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, who started from the back end of the grid, Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Action before turn 1

The race began in a festive atmosphere with Verstappen winning the start from pole-sitter Sainz to lead the run to the first corner where VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed out after making contact in the midfield squeeze.

The race was yellow-flagged to retrieve the debris. Replays showed he collided with Alex Albon’s Williams going into the braking zone. Albon retired.

Verstappen accelerated as racing resumed on lap six with Sainz soon showing Ferrari’s potential and then sweeping inside him to lead on lap nine at turn one.

The Dutchman fought but Sainz hung on and next time round on lap 10 Norris made a move at Turn Eight where Verstappen responded by forcing him wide and off-track.

Norris handed the place back.

“I was ahead the whole way through the corner,” said the Briton. “This guy is dangerous. I have to avoid a crash. I’ll end up in the wall.”

As they squabbled, Leclerc moved up to second while Norris tried again at Turn Four on the next lap only to be pushed off again.

“He overtook me off-track and pushed me off,” said Norris.

The stewards noted both incidents and then issued Verstappen with a 10-second penalty for fouling Norris. “That’s quite impressive,” said a sarcastic Verstappen.

Behind the leaders two-time former champion Fernando Alonso, in his record 400th Grand Prix weekend, pitted his Aston Martin and retired after 17 laps before a second stewards’ penalty for Verstappen – a further 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

After a flurry of pit stops Verstappen climbed to sixth as Norris chased Leclerc, passing him for second on lap 63 when the Monegasque slid wide at the final corner.

With five laps to go, Norris was seven seconds behind Sainz as Hamilton finally passed Russell for fourth, setting up a frantic finale.

The championship remains in the Americans for its final triple header this weekend at Interlagos for the Brazilian Grand Prix.