Autobayng News Team
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L35 Russell says he has more pace than Antonelli, who he’s stuck behind. Hamilton picks off Tsunoda for eighth.
L34 Piastri passes Tsunoda for the second time today, moving up to seventh.
L32 Leclerc pits from second place, Verstappen is now second. Leclerc resumes third and Bearman passes Tsunoda for fourth place behind him.
L31 Hamilton easily passes Hadjar for ninth place behind Piastri. The McLaren driver is now within Verstappen’s pit window.
Sainz has a penalty for speeding in the pits. He reports his car was “jumping” when he put his limiter on.
L29 Russell has passed Bortoleto and is now within Verstappen’s pit window. Red Bull appear content to let this happen, hoping their pursuers struggle on the long stint on mediums they are now committed to.
Russell is edging into Verstappen’s pit widow with Piastri close behind. This may force Red Bull onto the soft tyre earlier than they wanted.
L28 Hulkenberg retires.
L26 Russell pits, Piastri didn’t have a very quick stop and so the Mercedes driver stays ahead.
L25 Bearman and Piastri pit. Antonelli flashes past the pits between them, passing Stroll.
Antonelli has come out behind Stroll so that may not have gone to plan for Mercedes.
L24 Hamilton pits and serves his 10-second time penalty. The stewards have also cleared Verstappen over the turn one incident with Hamilton.
Mercedes bring Antonelli in, he may have a chance to undercut Verstappen. Piastri still stuck
The stewards have taken no action over Verstappen’s turn three incident.
Verstappen has now been noted for potentially leaving the track and gaining an advantage at turn three. That may refer to lap one or another lap, it isn’t specified.
If McLaren are thinking about wielding Piastri’s undercut power on Verstappen, he may have a gap to Stroll soon.
The stewards confirm the Verstappen/Hamilton collision at turn one is under investigation.
L19 Piastri is now right on Russell’s tail, the Mercedes driver goes wide at turn four but stays ahead.
Verstappen has got back out of Antonelli’s DRS range.
L17 Norris’s lead is now 7.1 seconds over Leclerc. As it stands Hamilton’s 10 second penalty would drop him just behind Piastri.
Hamilton is now under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Looks very likely a penalty is coming – and sure enough he gets a 10 second penalty.
The stewards rule no investigation is needed over the Sainz-Alonso incident.
Ocon: “Dangerous defence there.”
L13 Tsunoda moves late to defend in front of Ocon – exactly what infuriated Bearman in Austin.
Verstappen has fallen out of DRS range of Bearman. Antonelli and Russell are within DRS range behind with Piastri closing quickly.
L11 Piastri passes Tsunoda who surprisingly doesn’t cover the inside line approaching turn one.
L10 Norris leads by 2.9s from Leclerc. Hamilton 2.4s behind him. Bearman another 2.9s back.
The stewards have noted Verstappen and Hamilton for an incident at turn one. Vertappen is still on nine penalty points so he really needs that decision not to go against him.
Sure enough Hamilton is under investigation for that rejoin.
Lawson has retired.
L8 Piastri all over Tsunoda on the way into turn four.
Hamilton didn’t rejoin the track correctly when he went off at turn four so he may get in trouble for that.
Verstappen tries to pass Hamilton, the Ferrari goes off and stays ahead of him. Bearman passes Verstappen but he’d gone off at turn seven and will surely have to give that position back.
Piastri started poorly and is running ninth behind Tsunoda, who has a chance to help his team mate in the championship now. Russell is still fuming on his radio about Verstappen’s start.
L2 Lawson pits with front wing damage.
Race control have noted the first corner incident. There’s a lot for them to sort out there.
Leclerc also cut part of the opening sequence of corners and is running ahead of Hamilton.
Russell is complaining Verstappen needs to give the position back.
Norris’s car appears to be smoking as he passes the pits. It may just be coming from his plank.
Verstappen goes off at the first corner and rejoins in third. He lets Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton through but he’s still one place higher than he was on the grid, ahead of Russell.
The 2025 Mexican Grand Prix is go!
The drivers take their positions on the grid ready for the start.
The drivers head off on their formation laps. As expected, the soft tyres Norris and Leclerc have chosen are the new sets they saved from qualifying.
Most drivers will start the race on softs. Verstappen, Hadjar, Tsunoda, Sainz, Bortoleto and Gasly have opted for mediums. Albon and Colapinto are the only starters on hards.
Max Verstappen says he’s seen “no real indications” his car’s race pace will be any better today than it was on Friday.
Esteban Ocon has had a fairly heavy kerb strike during his reconnaissance lap.
Leclerc is anxious to avoid McLaren’s fate in the sprint race last week: “We don’t want any collision between the two cars.”
Verstappen reports his drinks tube is leaking “like crazy” and he has to “chew the tube” to stop it spraying on him.
Hadjar reports he has too much air entering his visor.
The drivers are performing their reconnaissance laps. Norris has a little lock-up at turn one – no doubt practising his all-important braking point for the start. That won’t cause him a problem with his tyres as he’ll be running an old set which he’ll replace before the start.
Further back, Norris’s championship rivals Verstappen and Oscar Piastri start fifth and seventh respectively. They will be eager to make up places at the start but can’t afford to get involved in any incidents, which are not uncommon at this track.
Keeping the lead from pole position is not easy in Mexico City. It’s only been done once in the past four grands prix: Max Verstappen stayed ahead in 2022.
The immediate threat will come not from his team mate but the two Ferrari drivers. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton line up second and third.
In Spa, Norris lost the lead from pole position to his team mate Oscar Piastri on the long run to Les Combes at the start. He faces a similar threat today as the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has the longest run to turn one on the calendar.
Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix in emphatic style yesterday. It’s his first pole since the Belgian Grand Prix three months ago.
We’re one hour away from the start of the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix.
2025 Mexican Grand Prix
- Live: 2025 Mexican Grand Prix
- Alpine slower than last year for third weekend in a row in Mexico
- ‘I wish I’d qualified third’ says Leclerc after claiming front row spot
- Hamilton aims to take fight to Norris: ‘I don’t have anything to lose, he does’
- 2025 Mexican Grand Prix strategy briefing: All the data to follow the race with
