The Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren) won this Sunday the Mexico City Grand Prix, the twentieth of the Formula One World Championship, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where he snatched the lead of the competition – with one point ahead – from his teammate, the Australian Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth in a race than the third contender for the title, the quadruple Dutch champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished third.
Norris, 25, achieved his tenth victory in F1 – the sixth of the season – by winning in the Mexican capital, in which the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was second and the Dutch quadruple world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull), third; in a race that ended with the virtual safety car activated due to the retirement, on the penultimate lap, of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Williams), who suffered the same (bad) luck as his compatriot, the Asturian double world champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who retired on the thirty-sixth of the 71 laps.
The Englishman now leads with 357 points, one more than the Australian, with four long races and two sprint events remaining. ‘Mad Max’, harmed by the final ‘virtual safety car’ – when he was catching up with Leclerc – is third, 36 units behind Norris; after a race that the Argentine Franco Colapinto (Alpine) finished sixteenth.
The British Oliver Bearman (Haas) achieved his best result since racing in F1 by finishing fourth, one place ahead of Piastri; which relegated the Mercedes of the young Italian debutant Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the Englishman George Russell to sixth and seventh place.
Verstappen had put fear into the bodies of the McLarens (the team that mathematically revalidated the constructors’ title in Singapore), with three wins and a second place in the previous four Grands Prix, in addition to his victory in the sprint in Austin (USA) – which the two Woking drivers abandoned after touching each other. And on Friday the pressure increased, with the best time in training; remembering that the World Cup was no longer just a matter of two.
However, Norris called for calm (at least his own) on Saturday, when, after being the fastest in the last free practice, he signed his fourteenth pole position in Formula One, the fifth of the year and the first since the Belgian Grand Prix. Relegating the other places of honor to the two Ferraris: Leclerc – who is still looking for his first victory of the year – came second and the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton – who despite having scored the sprint in Shanghai (China) has not yet been on the podium – third. Before concluding octavi
‘Mad Max’, who on Friday had been dissatisfied with his long runs, configured the Red Bull with a view to the race and to the detriment of a better result in qualifying; and he started fifth: between the two Mercedes of Russell and Antonelli. And ahead of an unknown Piastri, who had finished eighth in the main qualifying session and who only thanks to Sainz’s sanction advanced one place to try to minimize damage this Sunday from seventh.
Carlos had completed a good ‘quali’, but he was carrying the penalty of five places on the grid with which the stewards penalized him in Texas, considering him responsible for the touch he gave to Antonelli’s car. In this way, the Madrid native dropped to twelfth place on the grid, two ahead of his compatriot, the Asturian double world champion; in a race that Colapinto faced twentieth, from the back of the starting formation.
The first fifteen on the grid – Alonso included – all came out with soft tires except Sainz, the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda; and the French debutant Isack Hadjar (RB). Colapinto and the Thai Alex Albon, the Spaniard’s teammate – who started seventeenth and finished twelfth – were the only ones who opted for the hard tire.
A copy in the final race result of the positions achieved in the time trial by the first three of the World Championship implied that Norris would snatch the lead from his oceanic teammate. But the ‘pole’ can be a poisoned candy at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where from the starting line to the first of its 17 curves there is a straight long enough for many things to happen.
Norris, however, turned out well. And, although he passed him initially, Leclerc – who in turn prevented Sir Lewis from getting a better start – had to return the position to the Englishman, since he had passed him off-track in the second corner. Verstappen risked everything at the start and went wide in the first; although he resisted giving up fourth place to Russell. And no one forced him to do it later.
In the very hectic early stages, Bearman was the one who advanced the most, three places – which Hadjar lost – and Tsunoda progressed two; those that Piastri gave up, who was ninth, eight places behind his teammate and great rival. And on the sixth lap, after also overtaking Russell and Verstappen, Bearman was fourth with the surprising Haas.
Sainz and Alonso – also immersed in the initial mess – maintained their starting positions in the ninth of the 71 laps that took place this Sunday on the circuit of the capital of Mexico. The third shortest -behind Monaco and Zandvoort- and the highest (2,285 meters above sea level) in the World Cup.
Piastri began a comeback that was not as great as he would have liked in the 11th, when he accounted for Tsunoda; and Norris was leading ahead of the Ferraris, with the Dutch star running fifth, just behind Bearman – faster than him on the soft ones – and one place ahead of Antonelli. Shortly after, the Brazilian debutant Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) – who would end up ‘scratching’ the last point in the race, being tenth – gave an account of Carlos, before Hamilton, who had had no less than three investigations opened, was announced a ten-second penalty.
Carlos stopped at lane 17 and installed the soft, but, with car problems, he went straight into the first corner after returning to the track, losing important time. The one that Piastri lost trying to pass Russell, which he would not realize until much later.
In the 21st, the Asturian double world champion changed to medium, in a slow stop. Hamilton carried out the same operation – serving his sanction – three laps later, beginning to forget about getting on the podium. Piastri did it a lap later, attempting an undercut on Russell, who entered a lap later and resisted.
When he was running fourteenth, Sainz was given a five-second penalty – for having exceeded the speed limits in the pit lane -, at a time when many were hesitant to go to two stops instead of one. Something that everyone ended up doing except the first three at the finish line.
Norris, riding as the virtual leader of the championship, stopped at lap 35, three laps after Leclerc and with almost half a minute ahead of Verstappen.
One later, having just passed the halfway point of the race, Alonso retired – his fifth retirement of the year – due to a brake problem; and two laps later, ‘Mad Max’ installed the soft one to reach the finish line with it, when Russell asked for an exchange of positions with Antonelli – who would return at the end – and Piastri was sixth; with Lando in the lead, ahead of Leclerc and a Bearman who dreamed of a podium that did not come, but who would end up celebrating fourth place.
Carlos stopped again at 47 and his race was completely ruined when, again due to irregularities in the pit lane – with the limiter broken – he was penalized with a ‘drive through’. One turn later, Piastri, Antonelli and Hamilton entered the garages; and a lap later Russell and Bearman did it.
By lap 55 Verstappen was already third, 35 seconds behind Norris, who was leading with 25 over Leclerc. The Dutch super-predator was three seconds behind with six laps to go.
The disaster for Sainz was consummated in the penultimate lap, when his performance ended when his Williams stopped; a circumstance that caused the last two to occur with the virtual safety car installed, which implied the prohibition of overtaking, ruining what seemed to be Verstappen’s second place, which nevertheless completed a new ‘race’.
The ‘virtual safety’ also prevented Piastri from launching a final attack for Bearman’s fourth place, with which, if consummated, he would have maintained the lead. But the World Cup continues to heat up; and in Sao Paulo (Brazil), in two weeks, the two McLarens arrive separated by a single point; and with the idol of the Netherlands 36 behind Norris, without giving up a fifth title in a row. The emotion is served.
With information from EFE
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