Norris Wins 2025 Mexico GP & Championship Lead – F1sport.cz

Lando Norris won qualification for the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc started from the front row next to him. Hamilton and Russell were in the second row, Verstappen and Antonelli in the third, Piastri and Hadjar in the fourth and Bearman and Cunoda in the fifth.

Race

On the approach to the first turn, we had four cars next to each other. Leclerc shortened the corner and took the lead, but immediately gave the position back. Also off the track was Verstappen, who briefly moved up to third place. Piastri dropped to ninth position at the start.

After the first lap, Norris led ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Bearman, Antonelli, Cunoda, Piastri and Ocon. Lawson had contact with Sainz and headed to the pits for a new wing. A little later, however, he returned there and withdrew from the race.

There were fights in the sixth round that affected the final results. Verstappen tried to pass Hamilton but went off the track. Hamilton subsequently flew out of the fourth turn, drove through the grass and returned to the track with a large lead. The stewards gave him a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining a permanent advantage.

Russell also lost in the fights, losing to Antonelli. On the contrary, Bearman profited from them, moving up and after Hamilton’s penalty, which he took during the pit stop, he was even third.

Bearman and Piastri each built 24 laps. Russell built a lap later and thanks to Piastri’s slower stop, he stayed ahead of him.

Leclerc pitted after 31 laps and Norris after 34. Verstappen started on medium tires, so he only went to the mechanics after 37 laps. He switched to soft tires and dropped to eighth behind Hamilton.

Russell called after swapping positions with Antonelli for several laps. In the 41st round, the team heard him. On lap 48, Verstappen got ahead of Hamilton and started to overtake the driver in front of him. Piastri, Antonelli and Hamilton pitted for the second time. Piastri got there ahead of Antonelli. Bearman and Russell also headed to the pits a lap later. Verstappen thus got to third position for free.

Russell tried to pass Bearman, which he did, but he couldn’t get in front of the Haas driver. On the 60th lap, however, Piastri overtook him. Russell then returned the position to Antonelli.

Verstappen was gradually catching up to Leclerc in third place. Piastri again overtook Bearman. Yellow flags and the subsequent virtual safety car due to the stopped car of Carlos Sainz thwarted both fights in the end. The Spaniard had a tough race, receiving a 5 second penalty and a pit stop for speeding in the pits – apparently due to a technical problem.

In the last lap, the green flags waved again, but there were no changes in the positions.

Lando Norris won the Mexican Grand Prix to take the championship lead. Leclerc was second and Verstappen was third. Oliver Bearman finished in fourth place.

Due to technical problems, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg did not finish the race.

The results

• Fastest lap of the race: George Russell
• Rider of the Day: Oliver Bearman

Progress

Target:

1. Nor
2. Lec
3. Ver
4. Bea
5. Pia
6. Ant
7. Rus
8. Ham
9. Oco
10. Bor

71/71: VSC ends…

70/71: VSC

70/71: Sainz stops…

70/71: yellow flags…

69/71: Piatri has DRS.

68/71: Piastri on the DRS edge. Verstappen is not far from it.

65/71: Verstappen loses 2.8s, Piastri 1.8s.

63/71: Bortoleto ahead of Hadjar in tenth place.

63/71: Russell returned the position to Antonelli.

62/71: Only 4.3 seconds between Leclerc and Verstappen.

60/71: Piastri overtakes Russell!

57/71: Verstappen is closing the gap on Leclerc a bit. Bearman doesn’t drive him around…

56/71: Sainz once again overspeeded in the pits… apparently due to a technical problem. But that’s no excuse and he gets a pit stop!

56/71: Bearman was a bit behind Russell now.

53/71: Bearman now 14.8s behind Verstappen. But Russell is close…

51/71: Russell caught Bearman

50/71: Piastri in a sharp fight with Ocon.

50/71:

1. Nor
2. Lec
3. Ver
4. Bea
5. Rus
6. Pia
7. Ant
8. Oco
9. Ham
10. Had

49/71: Bearman and Russell also head to the pits.

49/71: Piastri got ahead of the Mercedes driver in the pits.

48/71: And Piastri, Antonelli and Hamilton in the pits!

48/71: Verstappen ahead of Hamilton.

47/71: Russell loses 2.3s to Bearman. But maybe he’s just cooling the tires and brakes.

47/71: Verstappen is just behind Hamilton.

45/71:

1. Nor
2. Lec
3. Bea
4. Rus
5. Ant
6. Pia
7. Ham
8. Ver
9. Sai
10. Oco
11. Had
12. Bor
13. Con
14. Alb
15. Str
16. Col
17. Gas

43/71: Verstappen overtakes Hamilton. It’s 3.7 seconds.

41/71: Russell before Antonelli.

Russell: “Marcus, I’ve got a **** car behind me. A car that’s way faster than ours.

I’m trying to keep the position. I have much more speed than Kimi and we can fight for the podium.

If we don’t succeed, I’ll be happy to return the position.”

40/71: Russell wants before Antonelli.

38/71: Verstappen in the pits… drops to eighth place behind Hamilton. Slips on soft.

37/71: Alonso the third driver to retire today..

35/71: Norris in the pits…

33/71: Antonelli and Russell also got ahead of Cunoda.

33/71: Bearman got ahead of Cunoda, who hadn’t built yet.

32/71: Leclerc in the pits

29/71: Norris already has a lead of 15 seconds.

28/71: Sainz gets five seconds for speeding in the pits.

28/71: Hülkenberg retires…

26/71: Russell in the pits, staying ahead of Piastri.

25/71: Haas covered Antonelli. Bearman returns before him.

25/71: Bearman, Piastri in the pits… 3.6s slower stop at McLaren.

24/71: Hamilton heads to the pits.

23/71: Antonelli in the pits…

22/71: Bearman increased his lead over Verstappen to 2.3s. We wouldn’t have expected to write a similar sentence on Friday…

20/71: Stroll overtakes Alonso, he heads to the pits…

20/71: Verstappen-Hamilton contact under investigation…

19/71: Piastri just behind Russell.

19/71: Bearman holds fourth place. Ocon rushes the ninth Cunod.

16/71: Penalty 10 seconds for Hamilton! Leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

15/71: Norris increased the lead to almost 5.7 s.

12/71: Norris is already 3.4s ahead of Leclerc.

11/71: Piastri before Cunoda.

10/71: Cunoda said before the race that if he could help Max to hold off the opponent for example, he would do it… it didn’t seem very realistic, but now he’s raising Piastri’s heart rate.

9/71:

1. Nor
2. Lec
3. Ham
4. Bea
5. Ver
6. Ant
7. Rus
8. Con
9. Pia
10. Oco

9/71: Lawson resigned…

7/71: There were also contacts…

6/71: Russell to Antonelli.

6/71: Verstappen Hamilton off track! Bearman is ahead of Verstappen.

5/71: Verstappen just behind Hamilton, who is without DRS.

3/71: Lawson was in the pits, the wing changes. He probably had contact with Stroll.

2/71:

1. Nor
2. Lec
3. Ham
4. Ver
5. Rus
6. Bea
7. Ant
8. Con
9. Pia
10. Oco
11. Had
12. Sai
13. Bor
14. Law
15. Gas
16. Alo
17. They
18. Alb
19. Str
20. Col

Start: Leclerc was first but shortened the corner and regained the position. Verstappen was off the track and was third, but Hamilton is ahead of him. Piastri ninth.

21:00: Riders start the warm-up lap.

20:56: Tires for the start:

• Soft: most
• Intermediate: Verstappen, Hadjar, Cunoda, Sainz, Bortoleo, Gasly
• Hard: Albon, Colapinto

20:48: Starting grid

20:44: The Mexican national anthem is playing…

20:39: Strategy:

20:38: According to racing simulations, McLaren should have had the best racing speed. Red Bull should have lost 0.15 s, Mercedes 0.30 and Ferrari 0.35 s. But these are data based on Friday’s runs.

20:37: Both Ferrari drivers will be behind the first Norris. Third place is Hamilton’s best qualifying result for Ferrari so far.

Verstappen will start from fifth, Piastri from seventh.

20:33: The start will be important. As usual. In Mexico it is about 890 meters to the first turn. Riders in the front thus have a disadvantage (they cannot use the airbag). The first turn is usually very wild in Mexico. More than once we have seen carbon and cars fly here.

20:30: It looks like Verstappen had a drink on his way to the grid. But the team should work it out.

20:20: Riders go to the starting grid

20:17: Piastri lacks pace for the second weekend (at least). He doesn’t know what the problem is. Plan for the race?

“Trying to pass a few cars is probably the best idea! We’ll see what we can do. We’ll try to pick up the pace. It was tough, but we’ll see,” said Piastri.

20:14: The cards are such that today’s race could have an impact on the championship. That’s every race, but today the leader of the championship can potentially change. Lando Norris loses 14 points, but starts in first place. Piastri will start from seventh position.

20:12: Max Verstappen has won in Mexico five times, Hamilton twice and Carlos Sainz once.

20:11: Red Bull has won five times in Mexico. McLaren only three times and the last time in 1989. Today Lando Norris will get a chance to follow Ayrton Senna.

20:08: The air temperature is 26 °C and the track is 52 °C!

20:00: Welcome to the online coverage of the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix.