Max Verstappen Defeats Mexico City and Formula 1 Have A New World Champion
We are midway through the penultimate triple header of the 2026 Formula 1 season and in Mexico City we crowned a new world champion. Here is everything that happened at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Friday
In this week’s FP1 session, almost half the grid sat out as one driver from each team made way for a test and reserve driver to take part; all except Ferrari. The drivers stepping in were:
Frederik Vesti for George Russell
Ayumu Iwasa for Max Verstappen
Leonardo Fornaroli for Lando Norris
Nikola Tsolov for Liam Lawson
Gabriele Mini for Franco Colapinto
Ryo Hirakawa for Esteban Ocon
Freddie Slater for Gabriel Bortoleto
Luke Browning for Alex Albon
Jak Crawford for Lance Stroll
Colton Herta for Valtteri Bottas
Ten minutes into the session, Isack Hadjar had a problem with his power unit and was driving slowly on the track, having to use the run off areas to avoid impeding drivers on a hot lap. Freddie Slater had finally gone out on track 25 minutes into the session after the mechanics had to keep adjusting the car. However, in the middle of his push lap, the Audi mechanics had realised they left one of the cooling fans on the side of the car around the front left tyre. After going back out, he was told to box again and later told to turn off the car without a timed lap set. Fornaroli had a massive lock up into Turn 1 going over the grass and he finished the session in P17. With 15 minutes remaining of the session, Jak Crawford had stopped at Turn 2 which caused a Virtual Safety Car. Freddie Slater had made a return in the session as with 8 minutes left, he set a time of 1:22.451. Near the end of the session, a few rookies were causing a bit of traffic with Fred Vesti in front of Carlos Sainz and Gabriele Mini in front of Charles Leclerc. Finishing the session in P1 was Charles Leclerc with a 1:18.128 and the rookie leaderboard was Vesti (P3), Iwasa (P5), Tsolov (P12), Mini (P14), Hirakawa (P15), Fornaroli (P17), Crawford (P19), Browning (P20), Herta (P21) and Slater (P22).
We had all of the drivers return for FP2 and the first yellow flag was brought out as Ollie Bearman had run off the track after the first turn as his car had some power issues. Leclerc ran over a couple of curbs at Turn 11. Max Verstappen had a moment with one of the VCARB drivers at the stadium section leading the session to be red flagged for marshalls to clear the debris. During this, Lance Stroll also reported to his engineer that the car was “completely broken”. Half way through the session, a yellow flag was brought out as Lewis Hamilton was told by his engineer that he needed to stop and he pulled over at Turn 4 and this later turned into a Virtual Safety Car. This stoppage was because Hamilton’s car had lost all power. Pierre Gasly had a moment at turn
Saturday
The news to start of the day was that Esteban Ocon would miss the remainder of the weekend, and reserve driver, Ryo Hirakawa would be stepping in to compete in his first ever F1 race. With his Formula 1 debut, this makes him the second oldest debutant in the sport at 32 years, and 7 months just behind André Lotterer who was 32 years old and 9 months. Later on in the session, Kimi had come across some traffic finding Max Verstappen in the early stages of his lap. Pierre Gasly had a moment out of Turn 11 with a snap of oversteer. Finishing the session on top was the McLaren of Lando Norris with a 1:17.600 with Kimi Antonelli just one thousandth behind him in second.
Qualifying was up next and early on in Q1, a red flag was brought out as Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso was told to stop the car and he parked himself just inside the stadium section. Being knocked out of Q1 was Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa finishing in P19 in his first qualifying, Stroll, Perez and Bottas. At the end of this session, Fernando was being investigated for not putting the steering wheel back on to his car. He was given a reprimand for this. Q2 soon got started and Lewis Hamilton had gone off the track at the stadium section and Norris going a bit deep in the same section. Isack Hadjar had a moment in the last corner as he found a little bit of traffic at the last corner before the start/finish straight. Many people who were completing their last flying laps of Q2 were improving, however, that was not the case for Oscar Piastri who couldn’t make it out of this part of the session and only qualified P13. Q3 went smoothly and it was Lewis Hamilton who earned his first ever pole position for the Ferrari team, closely followed by championship rival George Russell joining him on the front row.
Sunday
Heading into the grand prix, a few changes were made to the grid as Liam Lawson was due to start from the pitlane after being disqualified from qualifying due to a technical breach and Valtteri Bottas having a 50 place grid penalty for power unit changes. Sergio Perez was set to start his 300th Grand Prix at his home race in front of the Mexican fans.
The lights went out and Hamilton kept his lead into the first corner with Leclerc sliding into P2. However, Leclerc was fighting with Hamilton and ended up overtaking him off track at Turn 4 as Isack Hadjar had a spin following this incident and dropped to 22nd. Leclerc and Hamilton had a collision on Lap 1 and it was under investigation. George Russell was also under investigation for causing a collision with Isack Hadjar.
Fernando Alonso didn’t make it too far in the race as he was told to box to retire the car on Lap 6 making this his 4th DNF in a row. On this same lap, Lance Stroll had stopped at Turn 6 after being told to stop the car, causing the VSC to come out. The VSC ended on Lap 9 and Isack Hadjar was the only one to box as he changed to the medium compound of tyres. On Lap 13, Charles Leclerc was given a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and a 10 second penalty for George Russell who collided with Hadjar on Lap 1. Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson had pitted before Lap 20 in hopes that a two stop strategy would work and they came back out into 17th and 18th place.
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen had both pitted on Lap 28 with Verstappen changing from the medium to the softs and Leclerc going from the softs to the mediums. Sergio Perez had pitted on Lap 32 however, he had a slow stop with a problem with the front left tyre not coming off the car. George Russell had served his penalty on Lap 34, changing to a new medium compound and ended up coming out behind Franco Colapinto in eighth position.
At half race distance, Kimi Antonelli was leading the race with Norris behind him, both of them needed to complete their mandatory pit stop so the technical leader of the race was Max Verstappen. On Lap 43, Charles Leclerc reported that he had problems with driving on the medium tyre as this had a worse performance than the soft compound. Antonelli had finally come into the pits on Lap 44 however, the rear left tyre was slow and he had come back out in P4 behind Verstappen, Leclerc and Hamilton.
The race had changed had Valtteri Bottas had crashed on Lap 45 and Lewis Hamilton took advantage of this was Lewis Hamilton as he changed back onto the soft tyres as the safety car came out. This crash also resulted in a red flag being brought out for the marshalls to repair the barrier on lap 46 after his suspension broke on the pit straight.
The resumption time was 15:45 local time with a standing start and Max Verstappen was on pole with Charles Leclerc beside him in P2. The lights went out for the second time and Leclerc didn’t get a good start as Hamilton overtook him and he locked up into Turn 1 avoiding any collisions, but he did flatspot his front tyres. Nico Hulkenberg was noted for causing a collision at Turn 4. Just one lap after the restart, Nico Hulkenberg had contact with Ollie Bearman who was wheeled back into the garage and Nico was being investigated. The stewards had given him a 10 second time penalty and Verstappen was noted for being investigated for being out of position at the restart. This resulted in no further investigation. Lando Norris went wide at Turn 12 whilst fighting Charles Leclerc for P4.
Lap 59 was the next bit of action as Oscar Piastri had collided with the rear left of Arvid Lindblad who ended up in the wall at Turn 2. Oscar had been noted for causing a collision and this was investigated after the race. Oscar had come out of that collision missing a bargeboard. Perez had received a penalty for causing a collision with Hulkenberg. Max Verstappen restarted coming out of the stadium section as one of the Alpine’s went off the track and had to give the position back. For a few laps, Lando Norris had been on the back of Charles Leclerc’s gearbox, still looking for P4.
However, crossing the finish line first was Max Verstappen followed by Lewis Hamilton and then Kimi Antonelli, our newly crowned World Champion!
Now we move on to Saõ Paulo. Can Mercedes walk away with the title here?
Article Written by Sophie W
