© Getty Images2024 Mexico City Grand Prix - Race ReportThe Bulls endured a tough Sunday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, as Carlos Sainz took victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.
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When the lights went out at the start, Max reacted best and on the long run to Turn 1 the Dutchman pulled clear of Sainz. Attempting to fight back, Sainz braked late but cut the corner and when the Ferrari driver quickly gave the place back, Max surged through to take the lead.
Further back, though, there was a collision going into T1. Yuki Tsunoda attempted to pass Alex Albon on the outside but with the Williams driver being squeezed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, there was no room to move and Tsunoda clipped Albon’s front left.
The Japanese driver spun into the wall and slid down into the run-off area. Albon, meanwhile, broke his front-left suspension and was forced to stop at the side of the track.
As Tsunoda emerged from his car unharmed, the Safety Car was swiftly released and during the pause, Checo, who had made a superb start to climb from P18 to P13, was handed a five-second penalty for being too far forward on his grid slot ahead of lights out.
When racing resumed at the end of lap six, Max controlled the restart perfectly to deny Sainz a tow along the long pit straight. However, there was no resisting the Ferrari driver on the next lap. With DRS enabled, Sainz once again closed in on the pit straight and despite clattering over the kerbs in Turn 2, he muscled his way past the champion in the opening complex.
Max’s troubles weren't over though. On the next lap Norris, driving in 3rd place, closed in on Max. A tense duel ensued, with Norris cutting over the grass at Turn 1 and the pair both going wide into Turn 7. That allowed the watching Leclerc to pounce, and the Ferrari driver slipped through to P2, leading to a Ferrari one-two. The tussle between Max and Norris was placed under investigation by the Stewards and Max was soon handed a 10-second time penalty for forcing the McLaren off track. His race would take a bigger blow a few laps later when he was handed a second 10-second penalty for the incident in Turn 7.
Further back, Fernando Alonso’s 400th grand prix appearance ended on lap 16 as he was told to retire his Aston Martin and that boosted Checo, who had already passed Williams’ Franco Colapinto to P11 behind VCARB’s Liam Lawson.
On lap 18, aided by DRS, the Minister attacked into Turn 1. The Mexican was forced to the inside by Lawson and that pushed them wide on exit. Checo attacked again into Turn 3 but Lawson resisted. There was contact and Checo was forced off track.
The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver dropped back from the VCARB man and that made him vulnerable to attack by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The Canadian was aggressive into Turn 1 and Checo had to get his elbows out once again to hold onto the place.
With damage to his car, Checo was called into the pits to switch to Medium tyres and for tweaks made to his damaged car. He emerged at the back of the field in P17 where, despite a later switch to Medium tyres, he remained.
On lap 25, Sainz had stretched to a 4.5s lead over Leclerc, with Max a further five-seconds back in third. The Dutchman was again coming under pressure from Norris, and complaining about fading grip from his tyres, Max pitted on lap 27. After taking his 20-second penalty and switching to Hard tyres, the champion rejoined in P15, behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and ahead of Checo who had made up a place to P16.
Max immediately set off on a charge and over the next 10 laps, aided by strong pace and pit stops, the Dutchman powered past a group of midfielders, and when McLaren’s long-running Oscar Piastri made his sole pit stop, the Dutchman rose to sixth place.
At the front, and with the pit stops out of the way, Sainz was six seconds ahead of Leclerc with Norris five seconds further back in third. Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton held fourth and fifth respectively, while Max, pushing his Hard tyres to the limit, was now just nine seconds off the seven-time champion. The champion, with his tyres fading, couldn’t make any more headway though and as the race entered the final quarter, he settled into 6th place.
Further ahead, Norris began to eat into the gap to second-placed Leclerc and on lap 62 the Ferrari driver suffered a snap in the final corner and slid wide. The McLaren driver pounced and with nine laps left claimed P2.
Sainz was firmly in control and after 71 laps the Spanish driver sealed his fourth career win, a little under five seconds clear of Norris with Leclerc in third place. Hamilton got past Russell in the closing stages to take fourth. With Max in sixth, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took P7 ahead of Oscar Piastri who climbed from 17th at the start to take eighth place. The final two top-10 positions went to Gasly and Hülkenberg.
