Mexico City GP: Carlos Sainz dominates for victory, Lando Norris comes second after Max Verstappen’s two penalties | F1 news

Lando Norris has fueled his Formula 1 world title win after cutting 10 points off Max Verstappen’s lead by finishing second, with his twice-punished Red Bull rival sixth, in a Mexico City GP absolutely dominated by Ferrari’s victorious Carlos Sainz.

On a second successive controversial Sunday in F1’s title battle, when the two key players argued and the stewards intervened, Verstappen was handed a pair of 10-second penalties for two high-speed chaotic incidents with Norris on the 10th lap of the race – moves that the McLaren driver labeled as ‘dangerous’.

Verstappen appeared to have pushed his McLaren rival off the track at turn four in the first corner, and then gained an unfair advantage by running wide four corners later in the second, with the combined twenty-second penalty taking him from third place and dropped down. the order as he served the double penalty as a pit stop.

The championship leader briefly dropped out of the points places and although he quickly recovered to sixth, he made no further progress from there as his Red Bull suffered tire wear on another difficult day for the once all-conquering RB20 .

With Norris taking third place after his rival’s penalties and then overtaking Charles Leclerc late on to deny Ferrari a second successive one-two, the McLaren driver has cut Verstappen’s title lead to 47 points with four race weekends remaining – with the Sao Paulo GP and the Sprint event next week, continue live Sky Sports F1.

Polesitter Sainz had initially lost the race lead to Verstappen in a dramatic start, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda crashing before the first corner after colliding with Williams’ Alex Albon during the long, busy drive to the first corner.

But after a six-lap Safety Car phase, Sainz underlined Ferrari’s expected superiority by flying past Verstappen on the straight, with Norris quickly chasing the Red Bull and soon launching his attack on the Dutchman.

Despite what appears to be a stunning late attack on the Constructors’ Championship title, Ferrari has now usurped reigning champions Red Bull for second place and cut McLaren’s lead to just 29 points.

Red Bull’s misery was compounded by another miserable day for Mexico’s home favorite Sergio Perez, who was given a five-second penalty for a jump start from 18th on the grid and subsequently suffered car damage in a collision with Liam Lawson, who drives for sister team RB and has a chance to win the seat of the struggling Mexican for 2025.

Lewis Hamilton won after a battle with George Russell, beating his Mercedes teammate into fourth, although the British duo finished more than 40 seconds behind Sainz to underline the Silver Arrows’ current lack of competitiveness.

However, with Verstappen unable to impress the Mercedes and finishing ten seconds behind Russell in sixth, Haas enjoyed another bumper points day, with Kevin Magnussen seventh a week after finishing eighth in the US and Nico Hulkenberg ninth.

After dropping out of Q1 with Perez on Saturday, Oscar Piastri raced back to eighth in the second McLaren, while Pierre Gasly capped a fine weekend in the Alpine for the final point in tenth.

More to follow…

Formula 1’s triple header in America concludes this weekend with the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with each session broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – No contract, cancel anytime