Andrea Kimi Antonelli was topped World Champion as Max Verstappen gained at Mexico. Right here’s how the drivers fared on the System 1 Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in first adopted by Saturday’s pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. However it was Kimi Antonelli who made historical past on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by taking P3 and turning into the youngest-ever F1 World Champion.
Max Verstappen: 10
Grid Place: P5, Race Consequence: P1
Verstappen took his third win of the season on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday after an opportunistic transfer on the opening lap because the Ferraris squabbled gave him the benefit for the 71-lap race.
From there on, the Crimson Bull driver consolidated that benefit and took all of it the way in which to the chequered flag. Regardless of a decrease grid beginning slot, the 29-year-old drove a commanding race from lights to flag.
Isack Hadjar: 7.5
Grid Place: P7, Race Consequence: P9
Hadjar’s Mexico Metropolis GP unraveled in unlucky circumstances as he tangled with the Mercedes of George Russell on the opening lap, spinning out and falling all the way in which right down to P19.
However the French-Algerian racing driver put up a resolute restoration drive to pull his RB22 again into the factors on the chequered flag, albeit benefitting from three post-race penalties utilized elsewhere. That mentioned, over the course of the 71-lap race, Hadjar was down on tempo in comparison with his team-mate.
Lewis Hamilton: 8.5
Grid Place: P1, Race Consequence: P2
One may argue that Hamilton’s race was compromised by his personal team-mate. Leclerc’s aggressive transfer on the seven-time World Champion compromised him towards Verstappen who pounced on that chance to take the online race lead. And that’s a fairly coherent argument.
However having proven immense tempo on Saturday, by taking his maiden pole place for Ferrari, Hamilton was anticipated to place up a struggle towards the Crimson Bull. He did have an opportunity to make issues proper on the Crimson Flag restart however fell sufferer to a different ‘squeeze out’ within the opening advanced of corners, this time by Verstappen.
Nonetheless, his second-place end was a powerful end result for Hamilton, albeit one which was missing a form of assertiveness we had as soon as grow to be used to.
Charles Leclerc: 6.5
Grid Place: P3, Race Consequence: P4
Within the phrases of Martin Brundle, Leclerc’s opening lap transfer on Hamilton was one in every of ‘ambition forward of adhesion’. The Monegasque was by no means actually going to make that transfer stick into Flip 4, and but, he did.
The stewards did impose a five-second time penalty on Leclerc for leaving the observe and gaining a bonus however in all equity it wasn’t proportionate to the drawback he had brought on to Hamilton and Ferrari.
And it wasn’t as if he then redeemed himself by no less than sustaining his grid slot on the chequered flag. A late race lunge by Antonelli, who confirmed the Monegasque how these strikes are made, meant Leclerc had ensured Ferrari missed out on a fairly sure-shot double podium end.
Kimi Antonelli: 9
Grid Place: P4, Race Consequence: P3
It was a calculated 71-lap race for the Italian driver. That mentioned, it didn’t imply Antonelli was shy to get his elbows out.
In essence, the Mercedes driver wanted to complete the race to be topped World Champion, and end he did. However when a late-race alternative got here for him to safe that closing podium place, he made a definitive transfer on Leclerc to bag P3.
On the chequered flag, Antonelli grew to become the youngest World Champion the game had seen. However his drive on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was a testomony to his championship-winning season; measured however on the restrict when it mattered.
George Russell: 6
Grid Place: P2, Race Consequence: P6
With Antonelli topped World Champion, a form of grim actuality should have settled onto Russell. He knew he had misplaced arguably his finest probability to win all of it in his F1 profession to this point.
However his 71-lap race was additionally a fairly apt abstract of how his season had led to him relinquishing the highest spot towards his 20-year-old team-mate. His incident with Hadjar initially was clumsy to say the least, and the 10-second penalty thereafter ended any hopes of a top-three end.
This is able to be yet one more event the place regardless of a really sturdy beginning grid slot, the Briton has squandered a end result over unhealthy timing or simply outright miscalculation.
Lando Norris: 7.5
Grid Place: P6, Race Consequence: P5
Norris was caught in no mans land – competitively talking – throughout the 71-lap race on Sunday. The Briton believed he had the tempo however the fruits he had hoped to bear after lengthy first stint had been snatched away as soon as the Crimson Flag was referred to as out after Valtteri Bottas’ horrific suspension failure. With a tyre benefit now negated, Norris couldn’t enhance on his P5 place.
Norris handed over the baton to Antonelli on the chequered flag as his time because the reigning World Champion got here to an finish with a fifth-place end.
Oscar Piastri: 6
Grid Place: P12, Race Consequence: P13
It was a fairly intense afternoon on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Australian. Lightning quick reactions and a proclivity to remain out of bother meant Piastri had gotten himself into the factors on the very first lap.
And although he had completed the 71-lap race with a powerful seventh-place end result, a post-facto penalty for his incident with Arvid Lindblad meant he was demoted to thirteenth within the closing race classifications.
Liam Lawson: 8.5
Grid Place: P22, Race Consequence: P7
It was an incident-ridden weekend for Lawson at Mexico Metropolis. His follow conflict with Verstappen noticed him earn a one-place grid drop, and a technical gremlin throughout qualifying sealed his destiny with a pit lane begin – or so it had appeared.
The Kiwi racing driver, nonetheless, put up a spirited restoration drive, making an immense cost up by the sector and ending within the factors as soon as once more for the Faenza-based squad.
And whereas a model new RBPT-Ford PU behind his automobile might need made issues simpler for Lawson, it can’t be ignored that he’s giving Racing Bulls little or no room to make a adverse determination on his future for 2027.
Arvid Lindblad: N/A
Grid Place: P8, Race Consequence: DNF
It was a woeful end result for the British-Swedish racing driver at Mexico on Sunday. A really sturdy qualifying efficiency noticed him convert that tempo right into a stellar P7 mid-way by the 71-lap race.
Contact with the McLaren of Piastri, nonetheless, despatched Lindblad barreling in direction of the limitations and out of the race at Flip 1 on Lap 59.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 7.5
Grid Place: P13, Race Consequence: P8
Bortoleto’s eight-race-long pointless streak got here to an finish on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.
The Brazilian racing driver was categorised eighth, after taking the chequered flag in a stable P11 and accounting for the post-race penalties imposed on Piastri, Gasly and Colapinto.
Nico Hulkenberg: 6
Grid Place: P10, Race Consequence: P14
Hulkenberg took the onus on himself after his incident with Bearman. A top-10 beginning grid slot was squandered by the German driver and his incident with the Haas solely compounded his miseries as he struggled to maintain up with the midfield runners all through the 71-lap race.
Ryo Hirakawa: 8
Grid Place: P18, Race Consequence: P10
It was a rollercoaster weekend for Hirakawa who made his F1 debut after an unceremonious ousting for Esteban Ocon from Haas.
The Banbury-based crew introduced that Ocon wouldn’t participate within the proceedings on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after FP2, and the Japanese racing driver stepped in.
Ranging from 18th on the grid, he did drive a stable race to seize thirteenth on the chequered flag. However penalties for the likes of Piastri, Gasly and Colapinto meant Hirakawa was promoted to P10 – securing his maiden F1 championship factors on his debut.
Oliver Bearman: N/A
Grid Place: P14, Race Consequence: DNF
It was all going nicely for Bearman till instantly it didn’t. The Briton confirmed exemplary tempo in his VF-26, strongly within the struggle for factors for almost all of the race.
That mentioned, a late-race incident with the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg noticed Bearman crash out of the 71-lap race.
Alex Albon: 6
Grid Place: P16, Race Consequence: P11
Albon can be eagerly ready for the 2026 season to finish. It was the British-Thai driver’s thirteenth consecutive race ending outdoors the highest 10.
Carlos Sainz: 6
Grid Place: P15, Race Consequence: P12
The Spaniard was in tyre conservation mode all through the 71-lap race as Williams opted to place him on a divergent one-stop technique.
This meant he may solely muster a Fifteenth-place end on the chequered flag. A reasonably uneventful race for Sainz, who did, nonetheless, should navigate himself and his FW48 by all of the chaos ensuing forward of him. Time penalties for Piastri, Gasly and Colapinto noticed him being categorised as twelfth.
Franco Colapinto: 6.5
Grid Place: P11, Race Consequence: P15
Unhealthy luck has been swarming the Alpine duo off late, and the 71-lap race was no completely different.
Colapinto drove a stable race into the factors however a yellow flag infringement meant all that effort was put to waste with a post-race penalty bumping him out of the factors.
Pierre Gasly: 6.5
Grid Place: P9, Race Consequence: P17
Very like his team-mate, Gasly additionally bought himself into sizzling water with the stewards after the race.
The Frenchman had initially taken the chequered flag in P10 however the stewards famous him for failing to decelerate sufficiently beneath yellow flags and demoted him post-facto to seventeenth.
Sergio Perez: 7
Grid Place: P20, Race Consequence: P16
It was a gentle race for home-hero Perez on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. And that’s the truth is a feather in his cap after a tumultuous and incident-ridden 2026 in what’s Cadillac’s maiden F1 marketing campaign.
Perez as soon as once more had the measure of his team-mate Bottas, and celebrated his three hundredth Grand Prix begin with a comparatively stable end result for the Silverstone-based crew.
Valtteri Bottas: N/A
Grid Place: P21, Race Consequence: DNF
Cadillac has been combating reliability all all through the 2026 season. This time, it was a sensational suspension failure that left Bottas a mere passenger as his automobile floated in direction of the limitations on the skin of the Flip 1-2 advanced.
Fortunately for the Finn, he appeared out of the carnage with none harm.
Lance Stroll: N/A
Grid Place: P19, Race Consequence: DNF
Stroll made it solely six laps into the race on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez earlier than an influence unit challenge meant Aston Martin needed to instruct the Canadian racing driver to park up his AMR26 on the protected place on the observe.
Fernando Alonso: N/A
Grid Place: P17, Race Consequence: DNF
Alonso was already perturbed by his Honda engine gremlins throughout qualifying, and the identical challenge reappeared early on within the 71-lap race forcing him to retire from the Mexico Metropolis GP capping off a double DNF for the Silverstone-based crew.
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