FORMULA 1
 © Getty Images Carlos Sainz won the Mexico City Grand Prix after overtaking Max Verstappen early in the race after losing the lead into the first corner. Charles Leclerc finished second in Ferrari's second 1-2 in a row. Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon collided before the first corner, and Fernando Alonso also had to retire his car in his 400th Grand Prix. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris battled once again; this time, Max came away with two ten-second time penalties. Sergio Perez finished his home race in 17th place after receiving a five-second time penalty for starting outside of his grid box and also picked up both side pod and floor damage. Race Facts
 © Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool Carlos Sainz started on Pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix. For the race start Lawson, Bottas, Colapinto, Perez, Zhou, and Ocon started on hard tyres, with everyone else starting on medium tyres. The Mexico City Grand Prix has an 800m straight to Turn 1, and Carlos Sainz lost the lead to Max Verstappen at the first corner. Tsunoda hit the barrier before the first corner with a big spin, bringing out the safety car. Alex Albon was also caught up in the incident after clipping Tsunoda. At the race start, Perez made up five places to 13th but was given a five-second penalty for being outside his grid box. Hamilton also passed Russell, with Franco Colapinto moving up into 14th, and Lawson into 10th.  © Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool The safety car ended on lap seven with Verstappen in the lead, followed by Sainz, Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton in fifth. Verstappen retained the lead at the race restart, but Sainz kept within one second of the race leader. Surprisingly, Piastri didn't gain any places at the race start and was still in 17th place after the safety car and eight laps into the race. Sainz took back the race lead at the start of lap nine, with Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc all chasing him down behind. Norris and Verstappen have a repeat of Austin, with Norris ahead at the apex. Verstappen and Norris leave the track at Turn 4 and again at Turn 8 on one lap, leaving space for Leclerc to benefit and move into second place. The Turn 4 and Turn 8 incidents between Norris and Verstappen were noted and then investigated. Verstappen received a ten-second time penalty for forcing a driver off the track. He also received a second ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, giving him a 20-second time penalty to serve in his pit stop. On lap 14, Sainz led the Grand Prix, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, and Hamilton. Further behind, Piastri moved into 15th, with Perez into 11th. Russell overtook Hamilton on lap 15 for fifth place. Alonso was told to retire the car on lap 16 due to a brake issue related to cooling, an unfortunate ending to his 400th Grand Prix, just as the Ferrari drivers are told to keep it clean. Perez and Lawson battled for 10th on lap 18, battling it out for a few corners side by side, wheel to wheel, with Lawson staying ahead. Perez was then in trouble from Stroll behind, again going wheel to wheel. Perez was under investigation for forcing Stroll off the track, but it was ruled no further action. Perez pitted on lap 22 and served his five-second time penalty. He also picked up a big hole in his side pod from going wheel to wheel with Lawson. He came back out onto the track on medium tyres in 18th. On lap 25, Sainz was still in the lead, followed by Leclerc 4.5 seconds behind, Verstappen 5.7 seconds behind, and Norris within the DRS zone behind him. Further behind, Piastri overtook Colapinto, and Stroll moved up into 11th. Verstappen pitted on lap 27, serving his 20-second time penalty. He changed onto medium tyres and came out in 15th, in front of his teammate in 16th, as Stroll also pitted and came out in 17th.  © Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool Hamilton pitted on lap 29 onto hard tyres and came back onto the track in tenth place as Verstappen overtook Zhou and moved into 13th, trying to charge through the pack. On lap 30, Verstappen overtook Ocon as Hulkenberg stopped for hard tyres. Norris also pitted on lap 31 for hard tyres and rejoined the track in 4th, with Verstappen setting the fastest lap. Leclerc pitted on lap 31 from second and rejoined the track in second, as Russell also pitted and rejoined the track in 6th. Sainz pitted on lap 33 but had a 31.130-second gap to Leclerc behind him and rejoined the track still in first place nine seconds ahead of Leclerc. Russell overtook both Piastri and Lawson moving up into fourth, 11 seconds behind Norris. Lawson lost two places in two corners, being overtaken by both Piastri and Hamilton on lap 34. Hamilton then overtook Piastri on Turn 1 for fifth place. By lap 35, Verstappen had moved up into eighth place, with Sainz eight seconds in front of Leclerc. Perez however hadn't passed anyone still running in 16th place with the damaged side pod and floor. Russell lost time due to a broken front wing, just as Sainz complained about a misfire on lap 38. Colapinto complained that he had an issue with his steering, going stiff and then soft. Piastri and Lawson pitted on lap 40 with Piastri coming out in 13th and Lawson in 17th. Verstappen was up into sixth place 7.9 seconds behind Hamilton. Verstappen complained on lap 42 that it was getting dark with a small chance of rain at the end of the race, with Russell saying on his radio that he had small raindrops on his visor on the next lap. Perez pits for the second time, just as Zhou pits for the first time. Both return onto the track at the back of the pack. Verstappen's run through the pack finished at Hamilton when he started dropping back 0.4s a lap slower than Hamilton. Norris set the fasted lap on lap 47 as he tried to catch Leclerc for second place, chasing down the 4.5s gap. Norris had a 20-second gap back to Russell behind, with Verstappen dropping back to 10s behind Hamilton.  © Ferrari Media Colapinto took the fastest lap in 13th place as the Russell and Hamilton battle continued, with Hamilton unable to get quite close enough to make a move. Piastri gained on Hulkenberg to within 1.4 seconds, and Norris gained slowly on Leclerc to within 3.6 seconds. With 15 laps to go, Piastri passed Hulkenberg for P8, with Magnussen eight seconds ahead. Norris was still closing up to Leclerc, with just a 2.4-second gap. Leclerc was stuck in traffic in the stadium section, allowing Norris to move within 1.2 seconds of Leclerc. Hamilton and Russell still battled for fourth place, with a 28.8s gap to Norris in front of him. Norris set the fastest lap on lap 62 and was within DRS range of Leclerc, with Sainz eight seconds ahead in the lead. Leclerc went off track at the final corner and was lucky to rejoin the track after an incredible save as Norris went through into second. Russell and Hamilton still having their own little race for fourth place, with Hamilton still all over the back of Russell's gearbox, with Hamilton finally getting past on lap 66 after about 12 laps of trying. Lawson pitted again for a new wing and soft tyres after Colapinto clipped his front wing and was looked at after the race. Norris was still gaining on Sainz but was still 6.6s in front of him, with Leclerc 7 seconds behind and Hamilton 30 seconds behind him. With two laps to go, Leclerc pitted for soft tyres to try and take the fastest lap from Lawson and rejoined the track ahead of Hamilton. Perez also pits for soft tyres to try and take the fastest lap, with a fight between Red Bull and Ferrari for the fastest lap. Carlos Sainz wins the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Lando Norris in second and Charles Leclerc in third, with Leclerc also taking the fastest lap.  © Ferrari Media Race Results1) Carlos Sainz 2) Lando Norris +4.705 3) Charles Leclerc +34.387 4) Lewis Hamilton +44.780 5) George Russell +48.536 6) Max Verstappen +59.558 7) Kevin Magnussen +63.642 8) Oscar Piastri +64.928 9) Nico Hulkenberg +1 Lap 10) Pierre Gasly 11) Lance Stroll 12) Franco Colapinto 13) Esteban Ocon 14) Valtteri Bottas 15) Zhou Guanyu 16) Liam Lawson 17) Sergio Perez DNF Fernando Alonso DNF Yuki Tsunoda DNF Alex Albon Carlos Sainz, who wins his second race of the season in the Ferrari" “It’s incredible to see this crowd, I’ve been feeling their support all week and I feel like I’ve got a lot of fan support here in Mexico and they’ve given me a lot of strength. “Honestly I really wanted this one, I needed it for myself, I wanted to get it done, I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now four races left I want to enjoy as much as possible and if another one comes I will go for it.” On the overtaking of Max Verstappen: “I didn’t prepare to be honest. I was just a bit annoyed at the start having lost position to him and I said I need to surprise him one way or another, as he’s super difficult to pass, he’s proven it many many times. “I was a bit far back but I said I’ve got nothing to lose I’m just going to send one down the inside, I’ve been confident in the braking to Turn One this weekend and I knew I could make it.”  © Reuters  Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal
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