2024 Mexican Grand Prix | 7 talking points

Title battle hits a new low

A week after their contentious moment at COTA’s Turn 12, it happened again – not once, but twice. Following the early safety car intervention, Norris’s McLaren attacked Verstappen’s Red Bull at Turn 4 on lap 10. As they slithered hard on the brakes side by side both came close to wiping out Sainz, who was minding his own business turning in ahead of them. As it was, they narrowly missed the rear of the Ferrari and Verstappen barged Norris on to the grass.

Norris rejoined ahead of Verstappen, but we had little time to wonder whether he’d give the place back, because at Turn 7 the three-time world champion lunged up the inside, forcing both off the track as he moved ahead, with Charles Leclerc slipping past both.

Too much. Norris was immediately on the radio, claiming in reference to the first incident: “I was ahead the whole way through the corner. This guy is dangerous.” The stewards appeared to agree. Verstappen was hit with a double penalty, a hefty 10 seconds for each incident, which left him in damage limitation mode for the rest of the afternoon.

Having finished sixth, he pointedly chose not to engage Norris and McLaren in a direct verbal row – while still making his disdain for the penalties against him all too clear – and instead focused on Red Bull’s struggles to give him a competitive car, which was his real “problem.” The Dutchman complained of a chronic lack of grip on both the hard and medium tyre.

But as F1 heads direct to Brazil this week for the next round, the toxicity surrounding Verstappen’s approach and the debate on the ‘rules of racing’ will once again dominate the agenda. The rivals’ friendship is being stretched right now, in shades of Lewis Hamilton vs Nico Rosberg from the previous decade.

Meanwhile, Norris – much like Hamilton in 2021 – finds himself getting drawn into uncomfortable territory, standing up to what amounts to bullying racing tactics from the most headstrong racer on the grid. It’s ugly stuff and quite where it ends is the biggest concern with four races left to run.

Sainz shows his class

What a weird situation for Carlos Sainz Jr. He’s counting down his time at Ferrari, still smarting from the pre-season sensation of Hamilton taking his drive for 2025. He’s played a full part in making Ferrari the in-form team at this stage, but in the knowledge that he’ll soon be in a Williams – and who knows when he’ll next have a chance to win another grand prix?

So here in Mexico, he absolutely made the most of what’s underneath him right now, outperforming team-mate Charles Leclerc, taking a fine pole position, overcoming an early challenge from Verstappen, then winning in style. No wonder his joy was all too obviously mixed with a sense of regret.

Verstappen beat him to Turn 1 before the safety car neutralised the race, in the aftermath of Yuki Tsunoda’s high-speed shunt after unfortunate contact with Alex Albon’s Williams (neither was really at fault). Racing resumed on lap seven and two laps later Verstappen had no answer as Sainz made a controlled dive at Turn 1, confident on the brakes to keep it clean and tidy.

From there, his biggest concern was Leclerc once the US GP winner got past the warring title rivals. Trying to call off an intra-team battle, Sainz’s radio calls fell on deaf ears – although is that any wonder? Especially with Norris still looming. Ferrari couldn’t really call off Leclerc, even if it had felt charitable.

“Honestly, I really wanted this one, I really needed it also for myself – I wanted to get it done,” said a delighted Sainz in front of the huge grandstand of cheering fans . “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!”

Wonderful performance, a happy result. That was by far the best bit in Mexico.

Norris makes up ground

As for the title battle, those 20 seconds of penalties have kept it alive. Norris didn’t have enough to catch and challenge Sainz, but relieving Leclerc of second was great for the cause. Leclerc was just happy to have kept his Ferrari out of the wall after a frightening moment in the final turn as Norris loomed at the end of lap 62. The McLaren might well have passed the Ferrari anyway in those final laps, but Norris was saved the bother.

He now lies 47 points behind Verstappen with those four races to play, at Interlagos this weekend, then Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Whatever next?

Gloves off at Mercedes

The duel between the two Mercedes was also feisty as Hamilton counts down the races to his departure from the team. Once again, George Russell outqualified him, but Hamilton edged ahead in the melee on the run to Turn 1, then defended vigorously – perhaps a little too much – when Russell came back at him.

These have been tough days for Mercedes. The tricky W15 has fallen off the ultimate pace and repair bills have been stacking up following a spate of crashes. Russell had another big one in practice this time, which left him running in an older spec to Hamilton for the race.

A handling imbalance made him vulnerable to attack from his team-mate, but Russell gave as good as he got in defence. With little to fight for other than personal pride, the gloves were off between the pair – but they just about kept it clean. Hamilton finally unlocked Russell’s defences on lap 66 of 71 to claim fourth.

Magnussen shines as the end approaches

Beyond Sainz’s great drive to victory, Kevin Magnussen’s was the other standout performance in Mexico. The Dane is facing the end of his F1 career after Haas’s decision to drop him, but looks determined to prove he still belongs at the pinnacle. He outqualified team-mate Nico Hülkenberg in a fine seventh – and that’s where he finished after briefly threatening the Mercedes pair ahead of him.

That was hugely impressive for F1’s smallest team, which is mining a rich vein of pace in these closing races. Hülkenberg also added to the Haas tally with a couple of points in ninth, which moves the team ten points clear of RB in their battle for sixth in the constructors’ standings. Deeply impressive all round.

Pérez hits out at Lawson

What a miserable weekend at home for hapless Sergio Pérez. Slumping out of Q1 on Saturday was bad enough, but a year on from crashing out at Turn 1 Checo now found himself going to war with the driver who looks odds-on to steal his drive for 2025.

The battle with Liam Lawson’s RB was another ugly one in Mexico – in a grand prix which was hardly a great advert for F1’s quality of driving standards. The Kiwi probably stepped over the line in his defence, which resulted in a gouged hole in the side of Pérez’s Red Bull. In the end, Checo had no hope of scoring points and was sacrificed in the closing stages for an attempt to nick a point for the fastest lap with a late change of tyres. He failed at that, too.

He'd already branded Lawson an “idiot” on the radio, and afterwards made his opinion of the 22-year-old all too clear. Water off a duck’s back to feisty Lawson, who in Austin fell out with Fernando Alonso. But Checo’s view has to be coloured by the obvious and uncomfortable truth. After what even the 34-year-old himself admits has been a rotten season, the end of his F1 career is surely nigh. Clashing on track and ultimately losing out to the guy who looks likely to replace him is simply rubbing salt.

Alonso’s 400^th falls flat

Final word this week to Fernando Alonso. It wasn’t much of a celebration as the 43-year-old double champion marked his 400^th grand prix weekend (note: not the same as 400 starts). As Aston Martin limps towards the end of a sorry campaign, Alonso was an early casualty in Mexico, retiring to the pits with overheating problems on lap 17. Does he really need this at his age?

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.