Sainz wins F1 Mexico City Grand Prix as Norris makes Verstappen pay penalty

Ferrari might have claimed an impressive win at the Mexico City Grand Prix but it was a race notable as Max Verstappen suffered a double blow of his own making and significantly adverse impact, his repeatedly uncompromising driving against the world championship rival Lando ­Norris deemed unacceptable and proving costly to his title charge.

Carlos Sainz took a commanding victory for Ferrari at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, a tour de force for the Spanish driver with his teammate Charles Leclerc in third that establishes the Scuderia as very much now a leading force on the grid who may yet play a significant role in the world championship.

Yet after their testy and contro­versial conflict at the last round in ­Austin once more it was Verstappen and Norris who were centre stage. Norris finished in second place for McLaren with Verstappen in sixth. The result is vital for Norris as he attempts to catch the world champion and take the title fight to the wire, with a 10‑point swing closing the gap to Verstappen from 57 to 47 points, with a further 120 still on the table. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell claimed fourth and fifth for Mercedes.

Verstappen can really only hold himself to blame for letting his rival back in the chase. The pair might have been set for a race-long battle, at least for the podium given how quick the Ferraris were but the points dif­ferential might have been minimised were it not for Verstappen insisting on being entirely intransigent in both his defending and attacking.

After an early safety car period and with Norris quicker than Verstappen the British driver went to pass. With sharp echoes of Texas, Verstappen once more pushed the British driver wide as he took the place. Norris was furious. “This guy’s dangerous, I just have to avoid a crash, I’ll end up in the wall,” he said.

The pair are good friends but on this form, how much of Verstappen’s attitude to wheel to wheel to racing Norris is willing to accede to in good humour must be in question.

As the pair continued to vie, with Norris once more refusing to cede his position, Verstappen came back on him and took the place back by going wide and forcing Norris off. The stewards swiftly awarded the Dutchman a 10-second penalty for the first incident at turn four.

Verstappen was told there had been a “lot of whinging” from ­Norris but worse was to follow as he was given another 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the second incident at turn eight. Verstappen had track position but with 20 seconds to come, he was now chasing damage limitation.

Verstappen had been the beneficiary in Austin but this time it had been hugely costly and once more provoked a heated debate that will not die down quietly. On Friday the drivers had met to discuss the ­driving rules, particularly in reference to pushing one another off track, as set out in the FIA driving standards guidelines document and there was apparent consensus they should be adapted to prevent further incidents.

The FIA had agreed to address it with expected modification set to be agreed with drivers in two races time at Qatar. However the stewards in Mexico felt Verstappen had clearly overstepped the mark, twice and perhaps a more urgent meeting will now be convened before the next round in Brazil next weekend.

Verstappen was aggrieved as ever, but it was impossible to ignore that being just a little less aggressive he would have been at least in position to finish within a couple of places of Norris.

During the only round of pit stops Verstappen took his penalty with a painfully slow wait in his box and emerged in 15th. He charged hard to come back but the damage had been done, If Norris can push this tight fight to the wire, Verstappen might look back on these moments of ­bullishness with some regret.

Norris managed to take second from Leclerc on lap 63 but Sainz and Ferrari claimed a deserved victory. The Scuderia have two wins on the bounce for the first time this season and it was another very significant victory. They have finally taken a real step forward as one of the quickest cars on the grid.

For Norris there are just four meetings to come, with two sprint races and while he remains the outsider in the title fight he has at least kept it alive and narrowed the gap. One or two more blows to Verstappen and it could yet go all the way.