Ferrari civil war hands Verstappen victory. Antonelli is the new champion!

Another day and another defeat entirely of Ferrari’s own making. Just metres after the start, the Scuderia had first and second firmly in their grasp, but Charles Leclerc attacked team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Turn 4 and both went off the track. Hamilton was passed by Verstappen, while Leclerc received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, handing Max Verstappen the lead. He never relinquished it.

Sunday’s race featured red flags and a safety car deployment. Neither threatened Verstappen’s lead. After the race, however, all eyes were on Kimi Antonelli, who crossed the line third behind Verstappen and Hamilton to become the new world champion!

War breaks out at Ferrari at the start

The top four started on soft tyres – only Leclerc and Antonelli on the second row had fresh sets. Ferrari got their dream scenario: Hamilton emerged from the first corner in the lead, with Leclerc second. But Charles would not let it lie and tried again at Turn 4. Hamilton forced him off the track, Leclerc cut the chicane and rejoined in the lead, but could not give the position back because Lewis had already been passed by Max Verstappen.

There was battling further down the field too. Isack Hadjar spun after contact with George Russell at Turn 6 and dropped to the back. Having started second, George completely misjudged the first corner and fell to fifth. By lap 4, the order had settled: Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Russell, Lindblad, Colapinto, Norris, Piastri and Hülkenberg.

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin lasted only until lap 6 before he retired from the race. Lance Stroll retired shortly afterwards too. Race control briefly deployed the virtual safety car. Otherwise, there was little happening on track. Norris and Piastri worked their way past the midfield runners and were sixth and seventh by lap 12.

At that point, the stewards delivered their verdict: Leclerc received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Sky pundits Karun Chandhok and Nico Rosberg agreed with the decision, while acknowledging in Charles’s defence that Hamilton had left the track while defending, so his defence had not been entirely fair. Russell received a ten-second penalty for his contact with Hadjar.

Both men would have to serve their penalties in the pits, adding a fresh strategic twist to a race in which few overtaking moves had been expected. Leclerc, meanwhile, was extending his lead as Hamilton fumed over the radio. “The stewards are outright giving this win to Leclerc. We had agreed on it in the drivers’ briefing,” he said over the radio.

On lap 20, Leclerc led second-placed Verstappen by 4.6 seconds. Max, however, was on medium tyres, so strategically this was not quite a straight head-to-head fight.

Ollie Bearman was meanwhile starring in the midfield. He showed that overtaking was possible in Mexico – just as it had been earlier in Singapore – by first passing Gabriel Bortoleto and then putting Nico Hülkenberg under heavy pressure for the final point in tenth.

Pit stops

Of the leading teams’ drivers, Lando Norris was the one urgently calling for a pit stop towards the end of the first stint, having become stuck behind George Russell. But it was his team-mate Oscar Piastri who came in first, at the end of lap 26.

Leclerc pitted on the following lap, with Verstappen coming in alongside him. It was a strategic masterstroke from Red Bull. Max capitalised on Charles’s penalty to get ahead of him on track. Verstappen thus took the lead on soft tyres, while second-placed Leclerc fitted mediums and Hamilton, who stopped on lap 28, slotted in behind them.

“We basically need another of your Mexican stints,” engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told his driver, a five-time winner at this circuit. Leclerc therefore had a considerable problem on his hands. If he failed to win this race, everyone at Ferrari would tear him apart for his actions on the first lap. On lap 31, however, he was 1.3 seconds behind net leader Verstappen. Leclerc then encountered another problem when his engineer asked him to increase his “lift and coast”, apparently indicating that Ferrari were beginning to struggle with high car temperatures. Hamilton received the same instruction.

At the end of lap 33, George Russell pitted and served his ten-second penalty. Norris came in at the end of lap 39, badly overshooting his pit box and spending six seconds stationary. Even so, Lando rejoined comfortably ahead of Russell.

Antonelli was the last to pit, on lap 43, rejoining behind Hamilton and setting off in pursuit of fourth place and his first world title.

Bottas crash resets the race

The battle at the front was meanwhile unfolding very quietly and very unfavourably for Ferrari. “The car is very difficult to drive,” complained Leclerc, who was lapping more slowly than Verstappen.

On lap 44, Valtteri Bottas went off the track, hit the barrier and brought out the safety car. Verstappen and Hamilton had already missed the pit entry, but Hamilton, Russell and Piastri were able to stop. Lewis, however, dropped behind Antonelli, who had pitted only shortly beforehand.

The red flags were then shown on lap 45. Bottas had been badly shaken by the crash. Medical personnel headed to the scene, but Valtteri eventually climbed out unaided. Replays revealed a suspension failure on Bottas’s Cadillac, putting the blame for this heavy accident on quality control at the new team.

Hamilton, meanwhile, continued to voice his frustration over the radio. “We’ve got big problems. Big, big problems,” he told the team. But another start now awaited, potentially offering a fresh chance for Leclerc and Ferrari, particularly given Red Bull’s problems getting off the line.

Race control also gave them a helping hand, deciding to revert to the order before the red flags and moving Hamilton ahead of Antonelli into third. The top ten therefore lined up on the grid in the following order: Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Piastri, Lindblad, Colapinto and Hülkenberg.

When the red lights went out for the second time, the Ferrari drivers resumed their battle. Leclerc made a poor getaway from the dirty side of the grid. Hamilton moved into second, but could not get the better of Verstappen. Charles also suffered a huge lock-up at the first corner and was passed by Antonelli on the following lap.

Crucially, however, Hamilton had failed to pass Verstappen in what was, at that moment, the fight for victory. On lap 49, Leclerc also came under pressure from Norris, his race having unravelled from a fight for victory into a battle for fourth. Lewis pushed very hard in the opening laps after the restart, but overtaking in Mexico was almost impossible.

Verstappen’s victory was briefly threatened by a message from the FIA suggesting he might have been out of position at the start. But that threat soon passed without an investigation. Max then began to extend his lead and attention turned to Charles Leclerc, who was under intense pressure from fifth-placed Norris. Once again that day – just as at Monza – the Monegasque had bitterly disappointed the tifosi.

Lindblad crash brings another restart

Racing and overtaking in Mexico had been difficult even before the introduction of this generation of cars. Apart from the battle between Leclerc and Norris, the gaps then stabilised. Lando tried everything, but could not find a way past.

There was another twist on lap 59 when Arvid Lindblad crashed, bringing out the safety car. Replays revealed that a collision with Oscar Piastri had ended Lindblad’s race.

Another restart with nine laps remaining gave Hamilton another glimmer of hope. Lewis reacted very well to Max’s getaway, but the Red Bull was too fast on the pit straight. Hamilton’s only hope was a mistake from Verstappen, but he hardly ever makes them. Max therefore cruised to victory, for which he could thank above all the actions of the Ferrari drivers at the start, particularly Charles Leclerc.

Lewis crossed the line second ahead of newly crowned world champion Antonelli, who drove a low-key but superb race to become the 36th and youngest world champion in history. Leclerc eventually finished fourth, having fought tooth and nail to hold off fifth-placed Norris.

Russell, Piastri, Colapinto, Lawson and Gasly completed the points finishers.

The Brazilian Grand Prix takes place next weekend.