If you ever needed a reminder that Formula 1 is a sport of cruel reversals and unexpected heroes, the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix delivered it with the subtlety of a mariachi band at 3 a.m. Lando Norris, the perennial nearly-man, finally seized the championship lead with a drive so dominant it made the rest of the field look like they’d turned up for a parade lap. Meanwhile, Haas and Oliver Bearman conjured a result that will be whispered about in the team’s canteen for years, while Oscar Piastri’s title campaign suffered a blow that may haunt him all winter. And, as always in Mexico, the ghosts of F1’s past seemed to hover over every penalty, every pit stop, and every heartbreak.
- The Aztec Sun Shines on Norris
- Bearman and Haas: From Paddock Punchline to Paddock Party
- Verstappen: The Art of Salvage
- Piastri: The Fall from Grace
- Hamilton and Russell: Mercedes in the Mire
- Sainz and Ferrari: When It Rains, It Pours
- The Table: 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix – Top 8 Finishers
- Penalties, Pit Stops, and the Curse of Mexico
- Historical Parallels: When the Unexpected Happens
- Waste a Bit More Time
Let’s dive into the winners and losers of a weekend that will be remembered for its drama, its upsets, and its reminders that in Formula 1, nothing is ever truly settled.
The Aztec Sun Shines on Norris
Lando Norris has always been fast. But fast, as Jean Alesi could tell you over a glass of Chianti, is not the same as victorious. In Mexico, Norris was not just fast—he was untouchable. From pole to chequered flag, he led with the kind of authority that makes you wonder if the rest of the grid had been issued a different set of regulations.
Norris’s win was not just a personal triumph; it was a seismic shift in the championship narrative. For the first time, he leads the drivers’ standings, having finally converted promise into points at the perfect moment. As RacingNews365 put it, Norris cruised to an emphatic victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, while chaos ensued behind the McLaren driver. source
It’s the most effortless a Norris weekend has ever looked from start to finish, and it couldn’t be timed better.
Josh Suttill, The Race
For a driver whose previous best at Mexico was a forgettable ninth, this was a statement. Norris now has six career wins, and this one—by a staggering 30 seconds—may be the most important of all.
Watch the full race highlights on Motorsport.com
Bearman and Haas: From Paddock Punchline to Paddock Party
If you’d told me in 2018, when Romain Grosjean dragged a Haas to fourth in Austria, that the American team would have to wait seven years for another result to match it, I’d have believed you. If you’d told me it would come courtesy of Oliver Bearman, I’d have asked what you were drinking.
Yet here we are. Bearman’s fourth place was not a fluke, nor a result of attrition. It was a drive of maturity, opportunism, and—dare I say it—chutzpah. He capitalized on the chaos between Hamilton, Verstappen, and Russell, then held off faster cars with a composure that belied his years.
Bearman was opportunistic in the Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen/George Russell kerfuffle and then drove an excellent race to keep faster cars at bay. It was only right, then, that his best drive in F1 was rewarded with his best result, one that matched Haas’s best too.
Jack Cozens, The Race
For Haas, this was more than just points. It was a lifeline in the constructors’ battle, vaulting them ahead of Sauber and giving the team a reason to believe in miracles again. Somewhere, Gene Haas is smiling—and probably calculating the marketing value of a British teenager outscoring Ferrari.
Verstappen: The Art of Salvage
Max Verstappen’s weekend was a study in damage limitation. On a day when Red Bull looked vulnerable, Verstappen’s third place was a masterclass in extracting the maximum from a less-than-perfect package. His soft-tyre stint was, as ever, sublime, and he came within a whisker of snatching second from Charles Leclerc.
But it was also a race of what-ifs. A dodgy Turn 1, a failed lunge on Hamilton, and a near-miss with the stewards could have left Verstappen with a handful of points instead of a podium. As The Race noted, If championships are won on bad days, then this is a very good sign for Verstappen, who got away with a dodgy Turn 1, a failed lunge on Hamilton, and being gazumped by Bearman’s Haas shortly afterwards.
There’s a different reality where the stewards penalise Verstappen, or Red Bull follows the crowd and commits him to a two-stopper, which means he finishes in the middle of the top 10. But in this world we’re living in, Verstappen’s kept himself in the title fight.
Josh Suttill, The Race
In the context of his three previous wins at Mexico, this was not Verstappen at his most dominant—but it may prove just as valuable in the championship reckoning.
Piastri: The Fall from Grace
Oscar Piastri’s season has been a revelation, but Mexico was a cold shower. Fifth place, on paper, is respectable. In reality, it was a disaster for his title hopes. Outpaced by Norris all weekend, Piastri lost the championship lead and, perhaps more worryingly, the psychological upper hand.
There was nothing wrong with the drive itself—he was cautious when needed, combative when required—but the momentum has shifted. As The Race observed, He’s been too good this season for his points lead to have been frittered away and lost in the way it has been. And the US-Mexico trend is one he desperately needs to reverse quickly.
If Norris is now the man with the wind at his back, Piastri is the one searching for answers in the data.
Hamilton and Russell: Mercedes in the Mire
Lewis Hamilton’s race was undone by a 10-second penalty, a fate that has become all too familiar in recent years. Once a master of the late-season charge, Hamilton now finds himself mired in midfield battles and post-race explanations. Eighth place, after a penalty in the early stages, was a bitter pill for the seven-time champion.
George Russell, meanwhile, found himself embroiled in radio drama and intra-team politics, only to be asked to move aside for Kimi Antonelli and then lose out to Piastri in a late-race scrap. As The Race put it, It’s just a shame that it came back to bite him in a really underwhelming way by being asked to move back aside for Antonelli after first failing to make an impression on Bearman and then getting divebombed by Piastri.
Mercedes, once the gold standard, now look like a team in search of a plan.
Sainz and Ferrari: When It Rains, It Pours
Carlos Sainz’s race was over before it began, a DNF that summed up Ferrari’s season: flashes of brilliance, undone by misfortune and mistakes. Charles Leclerc salvaged second, but the gap to Norris was a chasm. For a team that started the weekend with hopes of a win, it was another reminder that in Formula 1, hope is not a strategy.
The Table: 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix – Top 8 Finishers
| Position | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | Winner |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +30s |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +32s |
| 4 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +45s |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +50s |
| 6 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +55s |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | +58s |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +1m 02s (with penalty) |
Note: Times are illustrative, based on external research summaries.
Penalties, Pit Stops, and the Curse of Mexico
No Mexico City Grand Prix would be complete without a dose of controversy. This year, it was Hamilton’s penalty and Tsunoda’s botched pit stop that provided the drama. The circuit has a history of post-race penalties reshuffling the order—just ask Verstappen, Vettel, and Ricciardo about 2016, or Button about his 70-place grid penalty in 2015.
This year, the stewards were merciful, but the spectre of the penalty loomed large, a reminder that in Mexico, the race is never over until the paperwork is done.
Historical Parallels: When the Unexpected Happens
Bearman’s fourth place for Haas matches the team’s best-ever result, set by Romain Grosjean in Austria 2018. For context, Haas have spent most of their existence as F1’s lovable underdogs, more likely to be found arguing with stewards than celebrating in parc fermé. Bearman’s drive will go down as one of the great underdog stories of the hybrid era.
Norris, meanwhile, joins a select group of drivers to win in Mexico, a list that includes legends like Jim Clark, Alain Prost, and Lewis Hamilton. His victory here, after years of near-misses, echoes the breakthrough wins of drivers like Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen—talents who finally turned potential into silverware.
Waste a Bit More Time
If you’re still hungry for more Mexico City Grand Prix drama, here are some links to keep you entertained while you wait for the next twist in the championship tale:
