Lando Norris wins Mexico GP and snatches championship lead from Piastri

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the chequered flag has been waved. The finish line has been crossed. The Champagne has been popped and sprayed, and our blog of the Mexico Grand Prix is coming to a screeching halt.

We hope you enjoyed following the race, it certainly was captivating, right until the very end.

Hannah Kennelly was the person in the driver’s seat of this blog right through the race, and since it finished she’s been busy revving up this analysis piece for your reading pleasure.

Adios, amigos.

The Ashes cricket series is now only weeks away, but there’s another fierce sporting battle between Australia and England unfolding in Formula 1.

The difference is, Australian Oscar Piastri and Brit Lando Norris are, technically, teammates for McLaren.

With the constructors’ championship already in their keeping, the McLaren drivers will be left to duke it out fair and square for the drivers’ title in the final four races of the season. But it would be unwise for either of them to take their eyes of Max Verstappen, who is making a late charge for a fifth consecutive title.

Let’s take a look at the drivers’ standings ...

Although the intervention of a late virtual safety car quelled any hopes Red Bull driver Max Verstappen had of claiming second place from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the four-time drivers’ champion was philosophical after the race.

“I mean, you win some, you lose some, right?” Verstappen said. “Sometimes the safety car works for you and sometimes it works against you.”

Leclerc moved Ferrari moved into second in the constructor championship by following up last week’s third placing at the US Grand Prix with the runners-up spoils in Mexico.

“I think we did not expect to be replicating what we’ve done in Austin,” Leclerc said. “We knew that Austin we had done the perfect execution, but we also knew that on paper we maybe didn’t have the pace that McLaren or Red Bull had. To be on the podium at that race was a surprise, but we managed to do that again and one step higher on the podium here.”

Lando Norris was the fastest on track at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and was just as proficient producing cliches in his post-race interview.

“It’s one weekend at a time,” Norris said over a booming chorus of boos from the sold-out crowd of 150,000 spectators.

The booing caused Norris to pause his trackside interview and he laughed nervously before continuing.

“I’m happy, I am focused on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore all of it. I keep to myself and it is working.”

He said after he doesn’t mind the booing and also doesn’t know why he laughs when it is directed at him.

“People can do what they want, I think that’s sport,” Norris said. “They can keep doing it if they want, of course you don’t want it. I’d prefer to have people cheer for me.”

Norris’ first career victory in Mexico City seemed like an easy Sunday drive as he crossed the finish line far ahead of Leclerc.

“I could just keep my eyes focused, and just keep eyes forward and focus on what I was doing,” Norris said. “A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after.“

– AP

Oscar Piastri might have lost his lead in the drivers’ championship, but he limited the damage and salvaged his weekend in Mexico City with a drive the commentators described as “feisty” to finish fifth.

Still, the Australian was coy and unwilling to accept praise when interviewed trackside after the race.

“Obviously, when your teammate wins the race, finishing fifth, is nothing that extravagant,” he said on the race broadcast.

Piastri now has 356 points for the season, while his McLaren teammate Lando Norris shot to 357 with his win in Mexcio City. Max Verstappen – winner of the drivers’ championship for each of the past four years – is the lurking threat, still within striking distance on 321 points.

The top 10 placegetters in each race score points, ranging from 25 for a win to 1one for 10th. Verstappen got 15 for finishing third in Mexico City, while Piastri’s fifth place earned him 10 points.

“Like the whole race, I was right behind someone and just struggling with dirty air,” Piastri said with a hint of frustration.

“So that was, was pretty difficult. But I think for me, the biggest thing is trying to learn the things I wanted to learn today. You know, I think yesterday kind of became obvious that after the session that there were a few things that I needed to change, pretty majorly in how I was driving, and today was about first to try to level the damage, but also try and learn some things about that.

“So, you know, if I’ve made some progress with that, then I’ll be happy.”

The Australian said his faith in his driving ability remained strong.

“I’ve just had to drive very differently the last couple of weekends, or not driven differently when I should have,” he said.

“I think that’s been a little bit kind of strange to get my head around because I’ve been driving exactly the same as I have all year, just that these last couple of weekends, the car or the tyres, or something, has required quite a different way of driving.

“So [we] tried a few things with trying to change things up a bit today, and once we analyse if it’s effective or not … [we] will hopefully help see some progress.”

Piastri took accountability for the lull in his results, rather than blaming his car.

“I mean, the car’s obviously not changed for a while now. So it’s nothing to do with the car,” he said.

“I think you know, the given how the pace has differentiated the last couple of races, clearly, Lando has found that a bit easier to just dial into, and I haven’t.

“[We need] plenty of analysis to try and get further on top of that, but I think it’s important to remember for the other 19 races, the way I’ve been driving has been working pretty well, so it’s more about adding some tools to a toolbox rather than reinventing myself.”

Lando Norris’ win today in Mexico City snapped his five-race losing streak and allowed him to regain the lead in the drivers’ championship from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Piastri came from seventh and used a late pass of George Russell to finish fifth – a critical gain as it allowed Norris to take just a one-point lead over Piastri in the championship race.

The sixth victory of the season for Norris was his first time back on top of the podium since winning the Hungarian Grand Prix at the start of August. More importantly, Norris pounced on the recent slump Piastri has fallen into to tighten the teammates’ bid to dethrone Max Verstappen as world champion.

Norris, who started from the pole, opened the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez trailing Piastri by 14 points in the driver standings. McLaren has already clinched its second consecutive constructors’ championship and is now seeking to end Verstappen’s four-year reign as F1’s world champion with one or other of its drivers.

Norris is now back on top of the standings for the first time since the fifth race of the season, in April; there are four races remaining in the season.

Verstappen, meanwhile, arrived in Mexico City with three wins in the past four races to put himself back into title contention. He finished third with a late virtual safety car preventing the Red Bull driver for passing Charles Leclerc for second.

Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri six races ago but has put himself in position to challenge for a fifth consecutive title. He’s now 34 points from the lead.

Oliver Bearman finished a career-best fourth to give the Haas team the second top-four finish in its history.

– AP

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