Carlos Sainz achieved an impressive milestone by securing his fourth career victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix. He finished ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, while championship leader Max Verstappen placed sixth after receiving two 10-second time penalties during a tumultuous early phase of the race.
“I feel like I have a lot of fan base here in Mexico and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done,” Sainz said. “Honestly, I really wanted this one. I really needed it also for myself. I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible, and if another one comes, I will go for it.”
At the race’s onset, Verstappen, starting in P2, demonstrated a strong reaction, pulling ahead of Sainz during the long run to Turn 1. Although Sainz attempted to regain his position by braking late and cutting the corner, he quickly relinquished the spot back to Verstappen, who then took the lead with Sainz and Norris following behind.
In a different part of the track, an incident occurred involving Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull, who attempted an overtaking maneuver on Alex Albon. However, Albon was squeezed by Pierre Gasly from Alpine, resulting in a collision that forced Tsunoda into the wall and Albon to retire due to front-left suspension damage.
The race was promptly neutralized, and during the subsequent laps behind the Safety Car, the Stewards issued a time penalty to Sergio Pérez of Red Bull for being out of position at the start. Despite making an impressive start from P18 to P13, Pérez’s penalty, combined with battles against Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll, ultimately dropped him to the back of the field.
When the Safety Car left the track at the end of lap six, Verstappen effectively managed the restart, denying Sainz a draft along the front straight. However, on the following lap, Sainz capitalized on the DRS to execute a late lunge that caught Verstappen off guard, allowing Sainz to take the lead.
“It was a very tough race,” Norris said. “You know, the first few laps, a lot of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes. But Carlos drove a very good race, so congratulations to Carlos and Ferrari. They were very quick today. So, I tried. I tried my best. And a big thanks to all the fans. The fans make it very enjoyable here. So, yeah, a big thank you to everyone.”
This maneuver placed Verstappen under pressure from Norris, who attempted to pass on the next lap. In defending his position, Verstappen drifted wide, causing Norris to cut the corner. Although Norris initially moved ahead, he took a wide line into Turn 7, which allowed Verstappen to attempt a reclaiming pass. Unfortunately, Verstappen went off track during this maneuver.
This sequence of events allowed Leclerc to take advantage and move into P2. The battle between Verstappen and Norris drew the attention of the Stewards, who subsequently issued a 10-second time penalty to Verstappen for forcing Norris off the track. Verstappen’s situation worsened when he received a second 10-second penalty for the incident in Turn 7.
By lap 25, Sainz had established a 4.5-second lead over Leclerc, with Verstappen trailing by an additional five seconds in third place. As he faced pressure from Norris and reported declining tire grip, Verstappen decided to pit on lap 27. After serving his penalties and switching to hard tires, he rejoined in P15, behind Esteban Ocon from Alpine.
In a bid to recover, Verstappen aggressively moved up the field, and over the next ten laps, he utilized strong pace and the timing of competitors’ pit stops to rise to sixth place. However, with a nine-second gap to the Mercedes drivers ahead and having exhausted much of his tire life in his charge, his advancement stalled.
“It was a difficult one,” Leclerc said. “On the first stint it was all about trying to manage the temperatures, which was quite difficult. But, yeah, at the end, we did the best race we could do today. I was… I mean, the whole weekend I’ve been a little bit on the back foot. So third place was the best we could achieve on my side today. Amazing race by Carlos today. and yeah, it’s a good weekend overall for the team, which is positive.”
Meanwhile, Sainz maintained a solid lead of six seconds over Leclerc, with Norris a further five seconds adrift in third. Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton occupied fourth and fifth positions respectively, ahead of Verstappen.
As the laps progressed, Norris began to close the gap to Leclerc. On lap 62, Leclerc experienced a snap at the final corner and slid off, allowing Norris to capitalize and claim P2 with nine laps remaining.
Sainz, however, remained in control throughout the race, and after 71 laps, he secured his fourth career win, finishing approximately five seconds ahead of Norris, with Leclerc rounding out the podium in third. Hamilton overtook Russell in the closing stages to finish fourth. Verstappen concluded the race in sixth place, while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took seventh, and Oscar Piastri climbed from 17th at the start to finish eighth. The final two positions in the top 10 were occupied by Gasly and Hülkenberg.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Race
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 1:40’55.800
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:41’00.505 4.705
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:41’30.187 34.387
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:41’40.580 44.780
5 George Russell Mercedes 71 1:41’44.336 48.536
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 71 1:41’55.358 59.558
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 71 1:41’59.442 1’03.642
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:42’00.728 1’04.928
9 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 70 1:40’58.520 1 lap /2.720
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 70 1:41’14.387 1 lap /18.587
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:41’20.872 1 lap /25.072
12 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 70 1:41’33.297 1 lap /37.497
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 1:41’35.463 1 lap /39.663
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 70 1:41’38.027 1 lap /42.227
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 70 1:41’57.522 1 lap /1’01.722
16 30 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 70 1:42’00.266 1 lap /1’04.466
17 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 70 1:42’09.084 1 lap /1’13.284
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 15 25’26.239 Retirement
Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 0 – Accident
Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 0 – Accident
Photo/CarlosSainz/X
