Ferrari celebrates its next victory at the Mexican GP. Carlos Sainz, who started from pole position, triumphs ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren, who makes up ten points on Max Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz was in supreme command on the way to his fourth GP victory, his second of the season after the one in Australia. The Spaniard, who started from pole position, initially lost the lead to Max Verstappen. However, after the six-lap safety car period, which had become necessary due to the collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon immediately after the start, Sainz quickly snatched back the top position.
Subsequently, the 30-year-old significantly increased his lead over the competition. His teammate Charles Leclerc was his first pursuer from lap 10 onwards. The Monegasque had benefited from the hard-fought duel for second place between Verstappen and Lando Norris. Because the Dutchman in the Red Bull behaved incorrectly towards his rival in the McLaren in two situations according to race control, he was handed two 10-second penalties.
In the intermediate standings, Verstappen's lead over Norris shrank by ten points to 47. There are still four Grands Prix and two sprint races to go.
Team Sauber was also a distant spectator in the distribution of points at the 20th race of the season. Valtteri Bottas at least made it through the first part of qualifying on Saturday. Starting from 15th on the grid, the Finn ended up 14th, while Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu finished 15th.
Fernando Alonso failed to score any points on his 400th GP weekend in Formula 1 - and 397th race start. The Spaniard had to retire due to a technical defect in his Aston Martin-Mercedes.
SDA
