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November 14, 2025
Lando Norris cruised to a dominant F1 Mexico GP victory to seize the Formula 1 Championship lead from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri who struggled to make ground.
Starting from pole position, the British driver controlled the entire race over the 71 laps to finish over 30 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finishing third.
From the very start, Norris made an excellent getaway to maintain the lead into the first turn despite heavy pressure from Leclerc, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in a frantic four-wide scrap for position.
Verstappen and Leclerc clipped grass off-track with the latter getting ahead of Norris but immediately handed him back the lead, while the Red Bull rejoined in fourth frustrating George Russell who called out the Dutchman to give the place back.
Meanwhile, former Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri suffered in the melee, dropping to ninth by the end of the opening lap and encountered traffic behind Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull which hampered his progress.
The first lap also saw Lance Stroll spun around and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls incur damage that eventually forced his retirement later in the race.
The drama subsided for a few laps up until Verstappen aggressively divebombed Hamilton on Lap 6, leading to contact as the two world champions engaged in a side-by-side battle.
Verstappen briefly skated across the infield grass at Turn 1 as Hamilton resisted his advances again into the outside of Turn 4, forcing the Dutchman to also take to the run-off.
Russell was subsequently caught up in the mix, while Oliver Bearman seized the moment to capitalize and move effectively up the order taking fourth position.
Race officials launched an investigation into the incident, but no immediate penalties were applied to Verstappen at this stage.
However, Hamilton was handed a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an unfair advantage during his tussle with Verstappen, a decision that left the Ferrari driver visibly angry on team radio.
By lap 11, Piastri began to recover from his poor start by skillfully overtaking Tsunoda before hunting down Russell for seventh.
Into the second quarter of the race, Norris’s advantage had stretched to nine seconds over Leclerc, underscoring his dominant pace.
Team strategies unfolded at this stage with Mercedes deploying their driver swap tactic between Antonelli and Russell after the former’s pit stop on Lap 22.
Hamilton served his penalty shortly after and rejoined the race behind the Mercedes duo.
Further pit stops ensued notably for Bearman and Piastri with McLaren’s pit crew showing some delays with the Australian’s stop, which further impacted his battle for positions.
Ferrari was quick to cover off Bearman’s undercut by bringing Leclerc in early, while Norris made a crucial switch from soft to medium tires near the end of Lap 34, emerging from the pits nearly nine seconds ahead of Verstappen, who had yet to stop.
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Mid-race saw strategic positioning become paramount as Bearman held a surprise podium position for Haas through steady and competitive driving. Behind him, Antonelli, Russell and Piastri were closely matched, producing an intriguing midfield battle.
Russell requested team orders to overtake Antonelli but was only granted this after a prolonged radio exchange, although he failed to capitalize immediately on the move.
Verstappen’s alternate tyre strategy began to pay dividends as he overtook Hamilton on lap 48 to take third after the Ferrari was called in for a second stop along with Leclerc and Antonelli.
In the closing stages, Norris cruised comfortably 21.1s ahead of the field as Verstappen chased down Leclerc, who was struggling to keep his tyres alive to maintain second place.
Piastri, meanwhile, pursued Russell aggressively culminating in a decisive move on lap 60 using DRS to reclaim fifth position before Mercedes opted to swap driver positions once again to optimize race pace.
Both Verstappen and Piastri closed in on their respective targets in the final laps, with Verstappen launching an overtaking attempt on Leclerc into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap.
However, his move was thwarted by a Virtual Safety Car deployment triggered by Carlos Sainz Jr whose Williams stopped on track due to mechanical issues.
This intervention allowed Charles Leclerc to hold onto second with Max Verstappen settling in third as Lando Norris proceeded to claim F1 Mexico GP victory.
Oliver Bearman showcased impressive rookie composure to fend off Oscar Piastri for a sensational fourth, while Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell maintained sixth and seventh, respectively.
Lewis Hamilton finished eighth while Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top ten.
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