Written by Marcus Woodhouse
Credit: Steve Etherington/Mercedes-Benz Archive
Mexico City sets the scene of this next episode of the Formula 1 drama, as the season accelerates towards a gripping finale in early December. Best known for its spectacular grandstand section filled with its even more impressive Mexican fans, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez encapsulates the spirit of the sport every year in a wildly unique festival of motorsport.
Last Race Recap
Last time out at the Circuit of the Americas it was a sprint weekend, with more points on offer giving Lando Norris a much-needed opportunity to close the championship gap down to his rival Max Verstappen. But the Dutchman kicked things off strongly with sprint pole on Friday, with Norris only fourth and his teammate Oscar Piastri all the way down in 16th position.
Saturday’s sprint gave us a glimpse into the true pace of the top teams, as Ferrari surged through into second and fourth by the end, after Charles Leclerc was denied third position by some desperate but effective defensive driving from Norris. Verstappen took the maximum eight points but couldn’t pull away from Carlos Sainz behind him, while Mercedes were only good enough for fifth and sixth despite a front row start for George Russell. Haas took the remaining three points, a great result on home soil.
Qualifying was only a few hours later, but was a different story altogether. Norris managed to claim provisional pole position with what he called a “beautiful lap”, before Russell spun off into the barriers and put a stop to everyone’s second Q3 run, meaning his fellow Briton lined up first for Sunday’s race. Verstappen was alongside him, ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, and Piastri.
Credit: McLaren
Russell had gone sixth fastest but was forced to start from the pitlane following overnight repairs. Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, and Kevin Magnussen all outqualified Sergio Perez, who was just outside of the points in the sprint also, and whose first lap in Q3 was deleted for exceeding the track limits. The real shock of the session though was Lewis Hamilton qualifying 19th, and so deciding to replace his power unit and start from the pit lane with his teammate.
The stage was set for Sunday then, and it was a clean getaway from Norris on pole who still led heading into Turn 1. It was no use however as he didn’t properly defend the inside line and left the door open for a Verstappen divebomb, forcing both drivers off the road and widening the eyes of Leclerc who couldn’t believe his luck and emerged in front from a P4 start. Verstappen tucked in behind him, while Norris could only watch as Sainz breezed past and knocked him down to fourth.
The Spaniard had his sights set on Verstappen next, and nearly got him too when the three-time champion had to drive wide and off the track to maintain the position. Meanwhile, Hamilton was carving through the pack and had made it all the way up to P12 from the pitlane, until all his hard work came crashing down when his car lost any semblance of traction and spun off into the gravel, putting the five-time USA Grand Prix winner out of the race and bringing out the safety car.
This gave the stewards some time to take a look back on the incidents thus far, but decided there was nothing doing. The restart left things fairly unchanged at the front, although Sainz had a scary few laps after smelling fuel in the cockpit and reporting “no power” in the corners, until the issue seemed to be resolved and any time he had lost to Norris behind was recuperated.
Credit: Ferrari
Liam Lawson didn’t take long to show off his skills in his first race back, making his way all the way up to eleventh after grid penalties had put him at the back of the grid. Russell was also making moves, but the stewards soon discouraged this by slapping him with a five second penalty for overtaking Valtteri Bottas by forcing him off track. Toto Wolff was quick to voice his opinion of this on the radio, labelling it a “total joke”.
Out front, Leclerc had extended his gap to Verstappen to eight seconds, but soon that gap would become much less important as Sainz dived into the pits on Lap 22 for a fresh set of hard tyres and a successful undercut on the Red Bull, who emerged from the pits three laps later in a net third position. Leclerc boxed soon after and came out comfortably ahead of his rivals, only behind the two McLarens that were yet to stop.
The man from Monaco closed up to and swept past Piastri on Lap 31, prompting pit stops from Norris and Piastri in order to not fall further behind their competitors, both coming out a moderate gap behind Verstappen who himself still trailed the Ferraris. Further back, Russell had passed Nico Hulkenberg to take P7, Lawson was cruising in P9, while Franco Colapinto was impressing again as he overtook Gasly for P10 and even set the fastest lap of the race.
All eyes however turned to the battle for third on Lap 43, as Norris had brought the gap to Verstappen down to under a second. A couple of lock-ups from the Dutchman looked to open the door for an overtake but there was still no way through. Coming into the final few laps of the race, they were still neck-and-neck, horns locked together in unrelenting combat until controversy unfolded on Lap 52.
Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Norris had finally managed to blast past Verstappen on the straight before Turn 12, until Verstappen braked much later and managed to get himself ahead again at the apex, again forcing the pair of them off the track but this time Norris emerged in front. McLaren knew that instructing Norris to give the position back would have negated the risk of a penalty for overtaking off-track, despite being forced there by Verstappen, and given him the chance to get back ahead, but they opted to leave him out in third.
The stewards decided to act, handing a five second time penalty to the McLaren driver and ending his chances of leaving the United States Grand Prix with more points than his championship rival. There was not enough pace left in the tyres to extend the gap to Verstappen by the necessary amount, and he even almost lost fourth to his teammate, which would’ve truly capped a miserable weekend for the Briton.
Around 20 seconds up the road, Charles Leclerc led home his teammate Carlos Sainz to take a memorable 1-2 finish for Ferrari. Their speed this weekend was mightily impressive and shocked the frontrunners of Red Bull and McLaren, causing eyes to turn with intrigue to the Constructors Championship, in which McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari respectively are now separated by only 48 points. Leclerc is even only 22 points behind Norris in the Driver Standings.
Russell managed to pass Perez late on to take a remarkable sixth position, while Hulkenberg took more points for Haas in P8. Lawson was ninth in a special drive to mark his return to the sport, ahead of Colapinto in tenth who sadly missed out on the fastest lap point after Esteban Ocon set a faster time after a late change of tyres. Alpine, Aston Martin, Williams, and Kick Sauber all walked away with no points, and the only retiree was the fast-starting Lewis Hamilton.
Circuit Guide
Credit: Formula 1
The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez starts with a monstrous DRS (Drag Reduction System) assisted straight leading into a trilogy of 90° corners. The DRS opens again in the charge down to the slow left-right of Turns 4 and 5, eliciting a heavy braking zone at the end of the straight. Turn 6 takes the drivers the scenic route round, giving the fans in the stand behind a great view of the action.
The slow and steady corners soon evaporate into the high-speed, high-octane section from Turn 7, all through to Turn 11 which leads onto a third and final blast of DRS into the tight right-hander of Turn 12, as we enter the famous grandstand section. Pulses will be racing but the drivers have to maintain their composure as they navigate these tight turns below a great mass of fans who will cheer wildly every time they come past. Turn 17 brings rapid acceleration, before they cross the line and steam down the start-finish straight once again.
Major Talking Points
Is the title fight still on? - Another disappointing weekend for Norris at the US Grand Prix and the gap to Verstappen ahead is now 57 points, a significant gap to try to break down in only five races.
Could Ferrari challenge for the Constructors Title? - Everything seemed to be going McLaren’s way but after a superb weekend from the Scuderia, the gap to the Papaya crew is only 48 points, while Red Bull are only falling further back unless Perez can start performing.
Can Lawson stake his claim for a Red Bull seat? - Rumours are spiralling surrounding the second Red Bull seat for 2025, and Perez is doing himself no favours with consistently inadequate performances, while Lawson wasted no time in proving his credentials in Austin.
Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Have Mercedes given up on this season already? - Hamilton is off to Ferrari next season, and the new upgrade package is proving temperamental, so maybe it is simply the case that Mercedes are now looking ahead to 2025 with another outing for Kimi Antonelli scheduled in FP1 (Free Practice 1) this weekend.
Are there inherent problems in the rulebook? - More stewarding drama last weekend raised questions as to how a driver can simply out-brake himself to make the apex ahead and force the other driver off the track, and that the rules allow him to remain in front or indeed re-overtake the other driver through a penalty.
Weather Forecast
Minimal chances of rain are predicted over the weekend, with a range of moderate temperatures on the horizon alongside some strong gusts of wind, which will give the teams an extra thing to consider.
Weekend Schedule (in BST)
Practice 1 - Friday, 19:30
Practice 2 - Friday, 23:00
Practice 3 - Saturday, 18:30
Qualifying - Saturday, 22:00
Race - Sunday, 20:00
Broadcast Information
Region | Channel |
Africa | SuperSport |
Albania | Euronews Albania |
Armenia | FastSports |
Australia | Fox SportsFoxtelKayo |
Austria | Servus TVORF |
Azerbaijan | AzTVIdman Azerbaijan |
Belgium | RTBF Play Sports |
Bosnia | Sport Klub |
Brazil | TV BandeirantesBandsports |
Bulgaria | Nova Diema Sport |
Cambodia | beIN SPORTS |
Canada | RDS RDS 2 TSN Noovo |
Caribbean | Rush Sports |
China | CCTV Shanghai TV Guangdong Television Channel Tencent |
Chinese Taipei | Videoland ELTA |
Croatia | Sport Klub |
Cyprus | Cytavision |
Czech Republic & Slovakia | Nova |
Denmark | TV3 Viaplay |
Estonia | Viaplay Go3 Estonia |
Eurasia | Setanta Sports |
Finland | Viaplay V Sport 1 |
France | Canal+ |
Germany | Sky Deutschland |
Greece | ANT1 ANT1+ |
Hong Kong | beIN SPORTS Now Sports 1 & 2 |
Hungary | M4 (MTVA Sports Channel) |
Iceland | Viaplay |
India | FanCode/F1 TV |
Indonesia | beIN SPORTS |
In-ship & In-flight | Sport 24 Sport 24 Extra |
Israel | Sport 5 |
Italy | Sky Italia |
Japan | Fuji TV DAZN |
Kosovo | Sport Klub Artmotion Kosovo |
Laos | beIN SPORTS |
Latin America | ESPN |
Latvia | Viaplay GO3 Latvia |
Lithuania | Viaplay GO3 Lithuania |
Luxembourg | RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg |
Macedonia | Sport Klub |
Malaysia & Brunei | beIN SPORTS |
Malta | Go Sports |
Mexico | Fox Sports Mexico |
Montenegro | SportKlub |
Myanmar | Canal+ Sports Canal+ ACTION |
Netherlands | Viaplay |
New Zealand | Sky NZ |
Norway | V sport 1 Viaplay |
Papua New Guinea & Pacific Islands | TVWAN Sports |
Philippines | beIN SPORTS |
Poland | Viaplay |
Portugal | Sport TV |
Romania | Antena |
Serbia | SportKlub |
Singapore | beIN SPORTS |
Slovenia | SportKlub |
South Korea | Coupang Play |
Spain & Andorra | DAZN |
Sweden | Viaplay V sport motor TV10 |
Switzerland | SRF RSI RTS |
Thailand | beIN Sports |
Turkey | beIN Sports |
Ukraine | Setanta Ukraine |
United Kingdom | Sky Sports Channel 4 |
USA | ESPN ESPN Deportes |
Vietnam | K+ |
Comments