Lando Norris takes the lead of the championship for the first time since April after comfortably winning the Mexican Grand Prix.
It was a chaotic start to the race as four drivers that were side by side going into turn 1, though Verstappen would lock up and be forced to cut the opening chicane, while Leclerc would also be forced off track.
Elsewhere, Piastri’s start was poor, falling to 9th place, Bearman would have a fantastic start, climbing up to 6th.
Norris was breaking away from the pack very quickly, breaking out of DRS only a couple of laps into the race.
Meanwhile, the chaos would continue behind him, as Verstappen attempted to make an audacious move into turn 1 on Lewis Hamilton, forcing Hamilton off track, though the Ferrari driver would give him a taste of his own medicine at turn 2.
This left them going side by side heading into turn 4, with each of them locking up, but Hamilton would have to cut the corner, while Bearman would place his car perfectly, taking advantage of the commotion to overtake both Russell and Verstappen to climb into 4th place. Hamilton would gain a 10 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage following this incident.
Piastri was struggling to overtake Tsunoda, who was doing all he could to help his teammate’s championship fight. However, after dropping away from Russell, Tsunoda would become a lot more vulnerable, and Piastri would manage to take 8th place.
Soon after Piastri overtook Tsunoda, he would be on the rear of Russell, but he would be stuck without an opportunity to climb another position. He would try the undercut after putting on lap 25, but with Russell pitting one lap later, he was unable to make it work.
He would make a net gain of a position though, as Hamilton’s 10 second penalty would put him behind the fight between Russell and Piastri. It also meant that Bearman was in a net 3rd place.
Norris’ race was exceptional up to the half way point, to the point where after his one and only pit stop, he was still 8 seconds ahead of Verstsppen in second, who was still yet to pit.
The fight between Piastri and Russell continued, with Russell getting increasingly annoyed by the fact that Mercedes were not allowing him to swap positions with Antonelli, as he felt he could challenge Bearman for the podium but was currently at risk of dropping to sixth.
Mercedes would finally swap the positions on lap 41, and while Piastri was close to snatching a position from one of the drivers, Russell and Antonelli would keep 4th and 5th, much to Russell’s sarcastic delight.
Running out of options to overtake Antonelli, McLaren would choose to pit Piastri a second time, though Antonelli would also box right in front of him. Fortunately for Piastri though, Antonelli would have a slow stop, and he was able to gain the position in the pits.
This would also trigger pit stops for Bearman and Russell, which would promote Verstappen up to third, Bearman 16 seconds behind Verstappen. Ocon tried to fight Russell and Piastri, and while Russell was able to stay ahead heading into turn 1, Piastri had to really work for a quick overtake, making a sly move down the inside of turn 6 when there was very little space available.
By lap 61, Piastri was able to pass his nemesis of this race in George Russell, making a big move coming down into turn 1, and while Russell attempted to hold it around the outside, but would be make to back out by turn 2.
The dying laps of the race would be characterised by two chases, Verstappen on Leclerc and Piastri on Bearman. While both Verstappen and Piastri would be able to get so close to their prey, a virtual safety car because of Carlos Sainz’s car giving up would kill either driver’s chances of gaining another place.
With the results, it means that Norris tops the championship standings since the Bahrain Grand Prix, holding a lead of just one point ahead of Piastri. Verstappen is now 36 points behind 1st place.
The next race is the Brazilian Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday, November 9.
