The Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix may have been in Ferrari‘s league” – at least for Carlos Sainz.
The Spanish driver, who is leaving the Scuderia at the end of the season, won easily at the Rodriguez Brothers circuit despite being overtaken by Max Verstappen at the start. A safety car came out, because even before the first turn, Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon crashed out and collided.
Sainz only waited until the 9th lap to pass Max. Shortly after, the three-time world champion got involved in another scandal with his main competitor for the title, Lando Norris. The Briton was clearly faster, but Verstappen in his typical style did everything to defend himself. And as a result he received two penalties of 10 seconds each – for dangerously pushing his McLaren rival off the track and for leaving the contours of the track to gain an advantage. Just a week ago in the USA, Norris lost a place on the podium due to a penalty for similar behavior in the battle with the Red Bull driver.
After pitting, Verstappen returned to 15th, but quickly progressed to 6th. This was the maximum because of tire wear and the inability to fight with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes.
Ferrari missed out on a double win as second-placed Charles Leclerc made a mistake, nearly hitting the wall, and Norris took advantage to finish second. With a 10-point gap from this race, Landau is now 47 behind Verstappen in the overall standings with 4 rounds to go.