2025 Mexico City Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
4 days ago
4 min read

Norris Takes Championship Lead with Dominant Victory in Mexico City

It was pure domination out front for Lando Norris as the McLaren driver won by over 30 seconds, taking the lead of the World Drivers’ Championship in the process! Charles Leclerc just about managed to hold off a charging Max Verstappen for the final two places on the Podium, but there was plenty of controversy surrounding a late VSC!

The Biggest Talking Points

The main chance to overtake around Mexico City was always going to be at the start, and that’s why we got a 4-wide moment down into Turn 1! Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton successfully stayed on the track, whilst Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc cut across the grass! In fairness to Max, he did drop back down to 4th, but the same can’t be said about Charles, who managed to overtake his teammate as a result of shortcutting the track! Lance Stroll also found himself facing the wrong way on Lap 1, whilst Liam Lawson was quickly out of the Race after sustaining too much damage! The carnage then continued in the opening sector as Verstappen and Hamilton touched, with Max cutting over the grass at Turn 3 before giving the place back to Lewis! However, Hamilton outbraked himself down at Turn 4, and the advantage he gained from cutting across the grass resulted in him receiving a 10-second time penalty (which ultimately took him well away from Podium contention)! Also, Verstappen shoved George Russell off the track at the next corner, opening the door for Oliver Bearman to pass both men before Russell lost another place to his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli!

Oscar Piastri, who lost more places at the start, was able to gain some positions back to get on the back of the two Mercedes drivers, but this is when we got a rather angry George Russell as the Brit made his feelings clear over Merc’s decision to not let him past Kimi Antonelli straight away! Eventually, Mercedes did swap the positions, but it was arguably too late as Russell had already killed his tyres! Further down in the pack, both Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg’s days were cut short due to issues, whilst Carlos Sainz received multiple penalties for speeding in the pit lane due to an issue with his car! The good thing about this Race was a lot of drivers were forced into a 2-stop strategy, and this freed up Max Verstappen as he pulled off a long first stint on his medium compound tyres! After laps upon laps of trying, Oscar Piastri was finally able to clear George Russell for P5, and things then got worse for Russell as he was told to swap positions back with Antonelli! In other news, Gabriel Bortoleto was able to overtake Isack Hadjar for the final spot in the points, whilst the focus fully turned to Verstappen trying to catch Leclerc! Now, Max did catch Charles with a couple of laps to go, but he wasn’t able to gain another 3 crucial points due to a Virtual Safety Car being called due to Carlos Sainz’s Williams finally giving up! I’ve seen photos of where Sainz’s car was, and I have absolutely no idea how or why the FIA thought calling a VSC was the right way to go! It completely robbed Verstappen of the opportunity to pass Leclerc for second place, whilst it also stopped Oscar Piastri from having a go at Oliver Bearman for P4! Given that both of those men are trying to win this year’s World Championship, this was a really costly call!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Lando Norris! We’ve barely talked about Lando in this Race Review, but that’s simply because we barely saw him! Why didn’t we see Norris, well, that’s because the Brit absolutely dominated proceedings, and he fully merits a 10-out-of-10 drive! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to Oliver Bearman, and this is one of the most deserved grades of the year! We’ve said all year that Ollie Bearman is quick enough to bag strong results for Haas; he just needs to put everything together, and that’s exactly what he did here! Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen also deserve shoutouts as they drove well to end up on the Podium, whilst Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto bagged valuable points for Haas and Kick Sauber respectively!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I feel like I’ve been far too nice this year, but it’s happened again as I haven’t given a single 10 for this Race! Honestly, I don’t think anyone was awful in this Grand Prix driver-wise, but I have to say that Alpine and Aston Martin were really poor! Alpine’s pace was so weak, they’re so far off compared to everyone else, whilst Lance Stroll ended up 14th with Fernando Alonso retiring! Yikes!