Introduction
Carlos Sainz has sealed an assured victory in the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver bouncing back after initially losing the lead to Max Verstappen to score a stunning fourth win in Formula 1.
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Verstappen had initially moved into first place during an eventful start, but Sainz snatched the position back on Lap 9. Drama then unfolded in the following laps as Verstappen engaged in a scrap with title rival Lando Norris – leading to Verstappen receiving two 10-second penalties for his moves on the Briton.
That melee allowed Charles Leclerc through into second, and from there, the Ferrari duo enjoyed a mostly unchallenged drive at the front – until Norris managed to chase Leclerc down in the latter stages and take second place after a wide moment for the Monegasque.
While Norris tried to cut into Sainz’s lead, the Briton ultimately ran out of time and had to settle for second as his former teammate claimed the win by 4.7s. Leclerc made it a double Ferrari podium in third, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, the seven-time world champion winning out in a late-race intra-team fight.
After that 20-second penalty, Verstappen put in a recovery drive to cross the line in the sixth on a tough day for Red Bull. Behind him was a better Sunday for Haas as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg ended the event in seventh and ninth, respectively.
Sandwiched between them was Oscar Piastri, the McLaren man having climbed through the field from P17 on the grid, while Pierre Gasly claimed the final point for Alpine in P10.
Lance Stroll was Aston Martin’s sole finisher in 11th, ahead of Williams’s Franco Colapinto in 12th. The Argentinean was hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision in a battle with Liam Lawson in the latter stages, but that didn’t affect his finishing position.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon followed in 13th for Alpine, with the Kick Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in 14th and 15th respectively.
Lawson ended the race down in P16 for RB, while it was a disappointing home event for Sergio Perez, the Red Bull driver ultimately crossing the line as the last classified racer in P17.
Fernando Alonso was forced to retire his Aston Martin, marking a disappointing end to his 400th Grand Prix weekend, while Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda were early casualties after making contact on the opening lap, leading to the RB crashing out at Turn 1 before Albon’s Williams also subsequently limped off the track.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
It was a race that provided plenty of excitement right from the start before gradually settling down, at least as far as the leaders were concerned, before livening up again towards the finish with duels between Leclerc and Norris and an even longer one between Hamilton and Russell. There was plenty of action behind the top five, and at the very end, several drivers pitted for fresh tyres to go for the fastest race lap.
Regarding strategy, the predictions going into the event were confirmed, with the one-stop being the outright favourite and starting on the Medium before switching to the Hard, proving to be the quickest of all the various combinations. Piastri was an excellent example of this because even starting from a long way back on the grid, he adopted the same strategy as those at the front and could finish in the points.
Usually, one-stop races require careful tyre management, but today, we saw that the drivers could push without worrying too much about degradation, which was very limited on both compounds. The Medium showed a few signs of graining, but that did not affect performance excessively, while the Hard always performed well, even for those running the most extended stints, which came close to the 50-lap mark.
The day on the track:
14 drivers opted to start on the Medium, while six (Perez, Ocon, Colapinto, Lawson, Bottas and Zhou) went with the Hard. The Safety Car was required right from the opening lap following the collision between Tsunoda and Albon, leading to both retiring. In the first few laps after the restart, the race was action-packed, with drivers passing and repassing, giving the Stewards plenty of work to do… Then the race settled down, especially the leading positions, before springing back to life in the closing stages with duels between Leclerc and Norris and the Mercedes pair. The only unusual aspect was Verstappen’s climb through the field, dropping down the order with a double penalty totalling 20 seconds before he eventually made it up to sixth place. There was also a long-distance chess game as some drivers tried to gain, or stop others from gaining, the extra point for the race’s fastest lap.
Piastri drove the longest stint on the Medium, doing the opening 39 laps on a set of the C4. The longest stint on one set of tyres came from one of the specialists in this discipline, Bottas, who ran 49 laps on the Hard.
Aside from the final pit stops at the very end of the chase for the fastest lap time, all the drivers ran a one-stop race except for Perez, who, starting down the back, tried something different.
2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:40:55.800 | 25 | 240 |
| 2. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +4.705s | 18 | 315 |
| 3. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +34.387s | 16 | 291 |
| 4. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +44.780s | 12 | 189 |
| 5. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +48.536s | 10 | 177 |
| 6. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +59.558s | 8 | 362 |
| 7. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +63.642s | 6 | 14 |
| 8. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +64.928s | 4 | 251 |
| 9. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +1 lap | 2 | 31 |
| 10. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | +1 lap | 1 | 9 |
| 11. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 24 |
| 12. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | +1 lap | 0 | 5 |
| 13. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 5 |
| 14. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 15. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 16. | 30 | Liam Lawson | New Zealand | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 2 |
| 17. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +1 lap | 0 | 150 |
| 18. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 62 |
| 19. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | DNF | 0 | 12 |
| 20. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 22 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 566 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 237 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 512 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 366 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 86 |
| 6. | Haas F1 Team | 46 |
| 7. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 36 |
| 8. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 9. | Alpine F1 Team | 14 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 0 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
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