Norris wins Mexico GP to lead F1 championship while Verstappen closes the gap

The Brit now leads by a single point ahead of Oscar Piastri with four rounds to go in the 2025 season. The Australian crossed the finish line in P5.

Finishing third, Verstappen now trails the McLaren driver by 36 points.

Charles Leclerc finished second in Mexico City, as a Virtual Safety Car saved him from getting overtaken by the defending world champion during the final two laps.

Oliver Bearman completed an impressive Grand Prix to finish fourth.

The two Mercedes drivers finished sixth and seventh in the order of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. Hurt by a 10-second time penalty, Lewis Hamilton finished eighth.

Esteban Ocon and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto completed the Top 10.

Inside the top ten, only the two Red Bull drivers and Isack Hadjar started on the medium tyres, while the other seven opted for the softs.

After the start, multiple drivers went wide into the first chicane and ran across the grass, including Leclerc and Verstappen. The Monegasque gave the lead back to Norris, while Verstappen dropped to fourth behind Hamilton.

Piastri lost two positions at the start, dropping to ninth. Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls sustained damage after the opening laps, and the New Zealander was forced to retire from the race.

On Lap 6, Verstappen and Hamilton made contact at Turn 1. The battle continued into Turn 4, where Hamilton left the track. The Briton did not follow the escape road and received a 10-second time penalty from the stewards.

Bearman gained the most from the incident, moving up to fourth after overtaking Verstappen and Russell in the same section.

After a difficult start, Piastri made his first overtake on Lap 11, passing Tsunoda with DRS to move up to P8.

Among the frontrunners, Antonelli was the first to pit on Lap 23, with Hamilton following a lap later and serving his time penalty.

Bearman and Piastri stopped on Lap 25, but the Australian’s undercut did not work against Russell, who stayed ahead after completing his stop a few laps later.

Leclerc pitted on Lap 31, switching to a set of medium tyres. Norris came in from the lead on Lap 34, with a clean stop from the McLaren crew. Starting on the mediums, Verstappen pitted on Lap 38 and rejoined in P8.

Bearman was in third place after all pit stops were completed, with the two Mercedes and Piastri chasing. Over the team radio, Russell repeatedly told the team he was faster than his teammate Antonelli, and Mercedes opted to swap positions on Lap 41.

On the soft tyres, Verstappen caught up to Hamilton on Lap 47, and this time the Dutchman completed the move cleanly. On the same lap, Piastri attempted to get past Antonelli but could not make the move stick.

The Australian, the rookie and the seven-time world champion all pitted a lap later fitting another set of softs. It worked out for Piastri, who could get past Antonelli after the Mercedes pit crew had a slow stop.

Bearman and Russell both reacted a lap later to avoid being undercut, elevating Verstappen to third place. The Dutchman then continued chasing Leclerc for P2.

On Lap 60, Piastri wasted no time to get past Russell into Turn 1, got up to fifth place, and began chasing Bearman. As Russell failed to overtake the Haas rookie, Mercedes asked him to hand the position back to Antonelli as well.

In the end, both Verstappen and Piastri were prevented from having a shot at gaining another position after Carlos Sainz caused a VSC on the penultimate lap by stopping in the final corner.

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