In a record-extending weekend, Max Verstappen dominated proceedings during the Mexico City Grand Prix as he claimed a 16th Formula 1 win of the season.

Despite his dominance on Sunday, there were several other drivers who presented performances worthy of competing for top honours in Motorsport Week’s driver ratings.

Max Verstappen – 9

Qualified: P3, Race: P1

Verstappen may have topped every single practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix but was unable to sweep the weekend after qualifying third.

Ultimately, that didn’t matter as it gave him a powerful tow on the approach to Turn 1, where he escaped the tangle that ended his team-mate’s race. From there, he was able to run away from the pack and build a comfortable lead.

The well-oiled machine that is the Verstappen-Red Bull partnership was truly in a class of its own and the near 14-second winning margin could have been far greater without the minor inconvenience of the red flag.

Sergio Perez – 2.5

Qualified: P5, Race: DNF

While there were scenes of jubilation on one side of the Red Bull garage, home hero Sergio Perez faltered on his biggest weekend of the year.

Mexico provided the perfect stage for a drive to reassert his claim to that second Red Bull seat. And while he was a respectable 0.160s off Verstappen in qualifying, the irony of them being split by Daniel Ricciardo wouldn’t reduce the growing pressure on his position.

Perez got a blistering getaway off the line and would challenge for the lead alongside Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. What followed was an epitomic case of ‘You can’t win a 71-lap race at the first corner’. Turning in on Leclerc, who was unable to make his car disappear, Perez’s desperation superseded talent and racecraft.

He later attempted to justify the move as the option his compatriots in the grandstand would have chosen over caution, but the true cost is greater than failing to finish his home race. Instead, he heads to Brazil with yet another massive blow to his confidence.

Lewis Hamilton – 9

Qualified: P6, Race: P2

Lewis Hamilton managed to recover from a sub-par P6 grid spot to drive to a second-place finish, providing some solace after forfeiting that same result in the United States through a breach of the technical regulations.

Hamilton was the far stronger Mercedes driver over the course of the weekend and he displayed great pace and determination after the red flag.

That determination was embodied in his dispatch of Leclerc for P2, also snatching the bonus point for the fastest lap on the final lap of the race.

George Russell – 5.5

Qualified: P8, Race: P6

George Russell was unable to match the seven-time champion in Mexico despite feeling strong behind the wheel. Compromised too by a lowly grid spot given the evident pace of the W14, Russell was unable to get to grips with the tyres during the race.

He made some forward progress after the restart, but that was halted when he was asked to address his overheating brakes and lost temperature in his tyres.

He then fell into the clutches of Norris and almost slipped further to seventh, crossing the line half a second ahead of a charging Ricciardo.

Charles Leclerc – 9

Qualified: P1, Race: P3

Leclerc claimed a 22nd career pole on Saturday, but while his poor streak of converting superior one-lap pace into a race win continues, was there really any answer for Verstappen?

The long run to Turn 1 saw him swamped and caught between the Red Bulls, but the Monegasque was a faultless victim in the opening lap carnage.

Despite picking up damage in the tangle, Leclerc was still able to keep Verstappen in his sights, only denied finishing second by the red flag resetting proceedings.

Carlos Sainz– 7

Qualified: P2, Race: P4

Sainz was able to join Leclerc on the front row but the Spaniard was still no match for his team-mate despite piloting an unwounded Ferrari.

Sainz too struggled with tyre degradation but was able to hold off Russell well in the latter stages of the event.

Even with the struggles, P4 secures a solid points haul Ferrari managed to outscore a resurgent McLaren outfit for the first time since Singapore.

Lando Norris – 8.5

Qualified: P19, Race: P5

Qualifying was a disaster for Norris as the Briton aborted his two early runs in Q1. That left him with no representative time and a spin by Fernando Alonso saw him eliminated.

Someone of Norris’ calibre should have been better prepared for the situation, particularly after being left with no real banker lap time and he was caught out.

Norris joked that his mistakes forecasted a more entertaining race. His recovery to fifth was emphatic. He carved through the field on an offset strategy, which will leave him ruing a compromised Saturday which cost him yet another podium finish.

Oscar Piastri – 6

Qualified: P7, Race: P8

The sole McLaren in Q3, the rookie showed some decent pace on Sunday and found himself in plenty of battles throughout the day.

One of those involved a coming together with Yuki Tsunoda, although the AlphaTauri driver was probably more to blame for the incident.

Again, Piastri’s struggles with tyre management limited his progress and saw him fall backwards in the latter stages of his stints.

Daniel Ricciardo – 9.5

Qualified: P4, Race: P7

As Perez floundered, Ricciardo delivered a stellar weekend almost effortlessly and, in doing so, cranked up the pressure on the Red Bull driver greatly.

He split the Red Bulls in qualifying with inferior machinery with a lap time that was within 0.25s of pole.

While the Perez comparison was erased at Turn 1, Ricciardo backed up his Saturday statement with some sturdy defence against the two Mercedes’ and McLarens.

While he eventually lost positions to Hamilton and Norris, Mexico showed flashes of the Ricciardo of old as he fought back to recoup those places, almost nabbing P6 from Russell.

Yuki Tsunoda – 4

Qualified: P15, Race: P12

Tsunoda qualified 15th after assisting Ricciardo to Q3 with a tow in Q1 and Q2, having sat out FP1 for Isack Hadjar. A grid penalty for new engine components already sentenced him to a back-of-the-grid start.

As Ricciardo proved, points were more than capable for AlphaTauri on Sunday and the same was true for Tsunoda.

That was at least the case until he twice made contact with Piastri at the opening complex. The second incident with Piastri saw him clumsily pitch himself into a spin at Turn 1 which jeopardised any chance of points after looking set for P8 behind Ricciardo.

Alex Albon – 8

Qualified: P14, Race: P9

Albon had twice placed second in practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend but was unable to carry the same pace into qualifying on the hotter track.

Still, he should have appeared in Q3 after having his final Q2 run deleted for a questionable track limits decision. However, he would further consolidate seventh in the standings for Williams as he picked up two important points with ninth place in the FW45.

Albon blamed the red flag for ruining his race slightly, but P9 still represented the expected maximum for the Anglo-Thai driver.

Logan Sargeant – 4

Qualified: P20, Race: DNF

The American faced a mountain to climb on Sunday if he wanted to emulate his team-mate’s success after consolidating his back-row start with a 10-place grid penalty for yellow flag infringements in qualifying.

Sargeant showed a solid pace early in a more encouraging Sunday when compared to his Friday and Saturday running.

A fuel pump issue led to retirement on the last lap as Williams sought to prevent any unnecessary damage to the engine.

Esteban Ocon – 6

Qualified: P16, Race: P10

Ocon looked comfortable in the Alpine, although there was an apparent lack of pace for the Anglo-French marque which resulted in a Q1 elimination. He was then promoted to 15th after the application of Tsunoda’s grid penalty.

It looked to be a pretty anonymous weekend for Ocon at first when he lost three places on the opening lap following the decision to start on the Hard tyre.

The timing of the red flag afforded a free pit stop and brought Ocon right back into contention as he passed team-mate Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg on his way to the final point.

Pierre Gasly – 6

Qualified: P11, Race: P11

It just seemed to be one of those weekends for Gasly, who was unfortunate to lose out on points given he had been the faster Alpine over the course of the weekend.

He ran in the top 10 early on, but in contrast to Ocon, he was hampered by the timing of the red flag which saw a chance at a small points haul slip away through no fault of his own.

Nico Hulkenberg – 6.5

Qualified: P12, Race: P13

Hulkenberg was surprised to have dragged the Haas to P12 on the grid, but the natural order seemed to be restored as soon as the Haas started to devour its tyres.

With plenty of retirements through the field, an unlikely point was lost after attempting to stretch the Medium compound to the end from the red flag.

Kevin Magnussen – 5

Qualified: P17, Race: DNF

Magnussen lagged behind Hulkenberg in qualifying again, but he had sat out FP1 for Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman and lost on FP3 running due to a wheel issue.

A rear suspension failure caused by overheating brakes triggered a red flag at the halfway stage after he found the walls in a high-speed off in the second sector.

His VF-23 was destroyed, but Magnussen clambered out unhurt and under his own power. Moments before, he had fallen to 17th behind Sargeant.

Guanyu Zhou – 4.5

Qualified: P10, Race: P14

Alfa Romeo sprung a surprise in qualifying with both cars advancing to the Q3 shootout, Zhou helped by the deletion of Albon’s final Q2 lap time due to track limits.

The pace disappeared thereafter creating a frustrating day for Zhou who said his race was destroyed by the red flag. Zhou suffered as a result of a tyre advantage and killed all hopes of progress. That was until a promotion from 15th to 14th by virtue of a time penalty for team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas – 4

Qualified: P9, Race: P15

Bottas was dropped from 14th to 15th as a result of a coming together with Lance Stroll in the stadium section.

The Finn had stopped just before the red flag which dropped him well down the order and he was not able to recover from there despite an impressive qualifying.

Lance Stroll – 6.5

Qualified: P18 (Pitlane start), Race: DNF

Stroll was unable to find grip during qualifying but his race performance showed quite the improvement on recent form, despite the end result.

The Canadian started the race from the pits after reverting back to the pre-Austin package.

He was quick to catch and pass his veteran team-mate, Fernando Alonso, and held P14 until the late nerf from Bottas led to Aston Martin calling time on his day.

Fernando Alonso – 5

Qualified: P13, Race: DNF

It was another disappointing weekend for the two-time champion, who was unable to extract anything of note from his Aston Martin in the race.

P13 in qualifying, he quickly began to slip backwards after picking up damage from debris left behind by Perez’s Lap 1 incident.

The pace difference to Stroll was enough to mean Alonso would let the Canadian by early on. The car was retired shortly after being passed by Sargeant post-red flag.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admits he was “very surprised” that Ferrari avoided fitting the Medium tyre to Charles Leclerc’s car for the Mexico City Grand Prix restart.

Max Verstappen had immediately got ahead of polesitter Leclerc at the start, stretching out a 4.6s lead by the time he pitted for the Hard compound at the end of Lap 19.

Ferrari, however, extended Leclerc’s first stint until Lap 32, one lap before its attempt to prolong a one-stop strategy was negated by Kevin Magnussen’s high-speed shunt.

Horner has echoed Verstappen’s admission that Red Bull had been angling for a two-stop prior to the race being suspended on Lap 35 to repair the damaged barrier at Turn 9.

Asked if a two-stop strategy had been Red Bull’s pre-race arrangement, Horner said: “Yeah. So we went aggressive today. The compounds had stepped down a compound.

“A one-stop felt, you’re hanging on a bit, so we felt we’d attack the race, and Max was very keen to do an attacking strategy even if he conceded track position to be on the right tire. And that was the plan from Friday.”

Like Red Bull with Verstappen, Ferrari opted to leave Leclerc on the Hard for the restart amid concerns over tyre degradation.

However, the Monegasque driver struggled on the white-walled compound, eventually succumbing to Lewis Hamilton on Mediums on Lap 40 and trailing home a distant third.

After Leclerc had managed to run almost half the race on the Medium, Horner says he was certain Ferrari would revert back to the middle-range tyre to attack Verstappen.

“That red flag was at the worst possible time in the middle of a two-stop. It neutralizes the race, and of course we’ve only got a Hard set of tires,” Horner explains.

“We thought Leclerc after that long first stint, I was convinced they’d take a set of Mediums because it’s worth about five meters off the start line. I was very surprised they went with the Hard tyre. You saw the Medium on Hamilton, and he was OK in the end.”

Although Ferrari reassured Leclerc that Hamilton’s Medium tyre would drop away, the Briton extended the gap in the closing laps and set the fastest lap on his final tour.

Having stormed to pole position on Saturday, Leclerc concedes that Ferrari’s troubles on the harder compound exposed the continued inconsistency of its SF-23 car in race trim.

“I think it still confirms the weaknesses of our car, where it’s a very peaky car,” he addressed. “And whenever we get out of the optimal window of the car, we are losing too much time. And that’s exactly what happened on the Hard.

“At first, I thought I could do quite a good job once we stopped. But then there was a red flag, the tyres cooled down, we went back out and the feeling was just not the same and I couldn’t find the feeling again with the tyres.

“So it’s a bit of a shame because before that it was really good, especially on the Medium. But we’ll look into it, again, on the Hard to try and understand what went wrong there, in order to improve that in the future.

“But I think short term, there’s no big fixes. I think every time we are, as I said, a bit out of the optimal window, we lose too much time.”

George Russell has revealed that overheating brakes were responsible for the tyre woes that saw him struggle during the closing stages of the Mexico Grand Prix.

Russell profited from Sergio Perez’s first-lap retirement to move up from eighth before a red flag stoppage on Lap 33 due to Kevin Magnussen’s crash also advantaged him.

The Briton utilised running Medium tyres at the restart to propel past Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo into fifth and was then heavily pressuring Carlos Sainz ahead.

However, Russell was unable to overtake the Ferrari, prompting him to be required to back off to cool his brakes which inadvertently saw him lose vital tyre temperature.

The Mercedes driver was powerless to defend against the recovering Lando Norris and only narrowly resisted the threat posed by Daniel Ricciardo to retain sixth at the end.

Reflecting on his race, Russell, who eventually classified 27s behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second place, said: “It was just a race dictated by tyres once again. The car felt really strong, right behind Carlos, I just couldn’t quite make the overtake.

“We had to back off as my brakes were overheating, as they were for many drivers. As soon as I backed off, I totally lost all the temperature in my tyres, I could never recover it. It was like driving on ice for the last 15 laps. A really miserable feeling and very lucky to finish P6.”

Russell concedes his issue meant he didn’t enjoy his battle with Norris, who perfectly lined up a move into Turn 4 to execute a switchback move on the exit of Turn 5.

“It’s never fun when you’re on the defending driver on the back foot, again, just really struggled throughout that race with the tyres, it was pretty clear, as soon as I backed off, I lost all the grip and I couldn’t recover,” he explained.

“Not too concerned, because I know the reason for it. It’s been two race weekends in a row for two different reasons, last week for fuel and I lost the tyres because I backed off to manage the fuel, this weekend it was the brakes. That’s at least some clarity.”

Russell managed to marginally keep Ricciardo at bay on the final lap, but the ex-Williams racer admits the Australian would have been past him with one more lap.

Asked if he was expecting the AlphaTauri to overtake him, Russell replied: “No, but for sure one more lap he would have done. He’s had a really great weekend, really happy to see him performing well. Deserves it.”

While Hamilton has maximised the improvements provided by Mercedes’ recent floor upgrade in Austin to score successive second places, Russell has lagged considerably behind his team-mate.

Russell is hoping that the next round in Brazil this weekend won’t be overshadowed by the same problems many drivers encountered with the operating range of the Pirelli tyres.

“We were strong here last year, qualified on the front row. Probably should have had two cars on the podium last year,” Russell acknowledged. “So, it’s definitely performing well, but this weekend has been a weekend about tyres as it has been for everyone.

“Yesterday was a total surprise for many teams, for good or bad. I’m hoping Brazil won’t be that sensitive,” last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix winner concluded.

Haas have confirmed that the suspension failure which dumped Kevin Magnussen out of the Mexico Grand Prix was triggered by a “heat issue” with the Dane’s brakes.

Magnussen’s VF-23 suddenly snapped and pitched the Dane straight into the TecPro barriers at Turn 9 on Lap 32, triggering a red flag for the clean-up operation and barrier repairs.

Magnussen was able to remove himself from the car unaided just moments before a fire erupted at the rear of the heavily damaged Haas.

Replays showed that Magnussen had suffered a rear left suspension failure as he traversed the high-speed esses after running in 17th.

Prior to the incident, Magnussen had been under pressure from Logan Sargeant and had shifted his brake balance rearwards in an effort to fend off the American.

Sargeant found his way past Magnussen a few corners before his eventual accident, which was caused by heat from the brakes leading to a suspected track rod failure.

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner told Autosport: “It was a heat issue which caused a suspension failure. It was heat from the brakes.

“Kevin was defending, and it tipped over. It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage it better. Nico’s car was OK.”

On his return to the paddock, an unharmed Magnussen said: “Yeah, suspension gave up. I haven’t seen the team yet so perhaps they have some more information, but the rear left specifically, lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before and then it gave up.

“I think it was going alright. At the beginning of the race it was better and suddenly I fell off more than the others and then the suspension gave up. So I don’t know if it’s related, maybe there’s something there but I need to talk to the guys.

“It happened in a bad place and I hit the wall, so I got a knock on my hands and they hurt a little bit, but they’re fine.

One lap before the crash, Magnussen was seen running over the astroturf and kerbs at the exit of the final corner having spent much of his afternoon in traffic.

“Before that, it was going okay, I was stuck in traffic for a long time and cooked my tires, but I don’t know if whatever caused the failure had an impact for a while beforehand,” he added.

Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg looked to contend for points but had to settle for 13th at the chequered flag after struggling to hold onto his tyres.

“Nico was in a good position to get points, but then with the red flag, which we caused ourselves, we couldn’t keep the tyres in the last stint,” Steiner conceded.

“Our car can’t keep life in the tyres as other cars. We could fight for almost the whole distance, but almost isn’t good enough. Otherwise, it seems like the whole team performed well and Nico drove fantastically to try and get something.”

The failure to score points means that Haas now dropped to the bottom of the Constructors’ standings as a P7 finish for Daniel Ricciardo saw AlphaTauri draw level with Alfa Romeo.

Daniel Ricciardo believes he “definitely” could’ve finished higher than seventh in the Mexico Grand Prix without the red flag stoppage.

Having endured a tough return outing in the United States, Ricciardo excelled from the outset at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, winding up fourth in qualifying.

Although Lewis Hamilton soon overtook him on Lap 11, the Australian was comfortably sitting fifth when Kevin Magnussen’s hefty crash prompted a red flag on Lap 33.

Ricciardo, who could only opt for the Hard tyre on the restart, lost out to George Russell on Mediums at the second start before the recovering Lando Norris also passed him.

“I think everything was actually working pretty well,” he reflected. “Honestly the red flag I think hurt us. But I don’t want to say it too selfishly, because there was a big accident, I believe a car failure, so nothing Kevin could do. Yes, as much as that hurt our race, I would like to think because strategy and everything was looking pretty smooth; obviously the main thing is he’s OK.

“It obviously bunched everyone up and allowed some cars to use the Mediums, which we didn’t have. So yeah. I think at that point, it was probably a bit more nervous on [the] pit wall, but to still come out with seventh and six points, and nearly eight points, we got very close to George at the end, I think big picture, we have to be very happy.”

With Russell increasingly struggling in the latter laps, Ricciardo closed up and had a look into Turn 4 on the final tour, but his advances were rebuffed by the Briton.

However, Ricciardo asserts that even battling a Mercedes in his AlphaTauri usurped the frustration of marginally missing out on securing an extra points position.

“I was honestly trying as much as I could,” he said regarding the late tussle. “It was a little weird, at the start of the stint, I didn’t feel as good as towards the end. It felt like it took me a little bit to get a rhythm with the tyre.

“Then the last probably 10 laps, I was able to really start pushing harder, and yeah, I think Lando getting George probably hurt George’s tyres a little bit, so that brought him back to me.

“It was tough. I probably didn’t expect to get that close. When you’re that close, you’re like ah, we could’ve! But he protected well in Turn 4. At one point, I was trying to go on the outside, but I could see we were both going to run off and had to abort mission. He did well, he did well to defend.

“We tried, but yeah. I think ultimately, just to be battling a Mercedes at the end, that makes me more happy than just missing out on sixth.”

While he is unsure whether he could have held Norris at bay, Ricciardo is certain he would have bettered seventh if the race hadn’t been suspended midway through.

“I don’t know if Lando’s pace in that second half of the race was as good as the first half,” he assessed. “Yeah, we were let’s say holding Oscar [Piastri] at bay.

“We had gaps… it felt like at that moment, I was like, this could be a nice, lonely fifth place, and I was OK with that.

“I definitely think we could have been better than seventh, let’s say that, without the red. That’s racing. On one hand, you could say unlucky, but it can always be worse. The restart we could have had a crash or something, so to still come through, I’m happy.”

Ricciardo’s six-point haul followed up Yuki Tsunoda’s five points from Austin last weekend, elevating AlphaTauri into eighth position in the Constructors’ Championship.

“I think after last week, Yuki got five points and it was huge for the team, everyone was cartwheeling and backflipping,” he remarked. “A week later to do six points, I’m very happy.”

Max Verstappen says it would’ve been “interesting” to see how his two-stop strategy would have unfolded without the mid-race stoppage in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Starting third, Verstappen executed an excellent launch to slice in between the Ferraris, positioning his car to the inside on the approach to Turn 1 to seize the lead.

Verstappen had extended his advantage over Charles Leclerc to 4.6s when Red Bull pitted him to discard his Medium tyres for a set of the Hard compound at the end of Lap 19.

Having saved two brand-new sets of Hards, the Dutchman reveals that securing first place at the start initially aided his prospects as he was always intending to stop twice.

“I think that start definitely made it a bit easier for me in the first stint as well,” he said. “Also, because I was going to do a two-stop, so that, of course, gave me those extra couple seconds that would look great on the plot anyway, if we would have made it happen.

“So, yeah, just the tyres around here, it’s always very hard to manage, but I think we had quite decent pace in them. And then of course, we opted to box a bit earlier. And yeah, I think also on the Hard tyre, we were quite competitive, and I closed a lot of that pit stop back down.”

Emerging in seventh, Verstappen had scythed through the cars ahead yet to pit, resuming in the lead once Leclerc, who had run a longer stint, finally pitted on Lap 32.

One lap later, however, Kevin Magnussen’s high-speed shunt into the barrier at Turn 9 prompted the Safety Car to intervene before being upgraded to a full red flag stoppage.

“I think it would have been quite interesting to the end, you know, to see how much faster I could have gone a new set of Hard tyres,” he added. “Yeah, I think the strategy was looking great.

“But then, of course, we had the red flag. So basically, everything that we did, we could throw in the bin and start over.”

Despite remaining on the Hard tyre he had fitted before the suspension, Verstappen nailed the second start of the race to comfortably retain the lead into Turn 1.

“It was all about having a good start and trying to keep the lead into Turn 1, which we did,” he continued. “And after that it was just pace management to the end to keep the tyres alive, looking after the car, the brakes, you know, everything.”

He added: “Well, for me, it was quite clear that we had to do the last stint on that Hard tyre. Luckily, it had only done one lap. So that helped.

“But of course in the start, normally, the Hard tyres is a bit more difficult to get off the line, but we actually had quite a decent start on that tyre as well.”

Although Lewis Hamilton on the Medium compound overhauled Leclerc, Verstappen progressively increased his superiority to take the chequered flag with a 13.8s margin.

The three-time champion’s fifth victory in Mexico City also marked his 16th win of the 2023 season, surpassing the record number that he managed to achieve last season.

“It’s been another incredible season. I mean, the car has been unbelievable to drive in most places,” he exclaimed. “So, you know, when you then, as a team, work really well together and you try not to make too many mistakes over the whole season, then you can achieve something like this.

“So of course, I’m very proud of the achievement, because I think after last year, when I won 15, I was like, ‘well, if I can ever try and replicate something like that, I will be very happy’ and now we are here with 16.

“So yeah, just very happy with everyone’s performance in the team, you know, for the whole year for basically not making a lot of mistakes.”

Lando Norris has demanded that some Formula 1 drivers show “a bit more self-awareness” after he had to “avoid a very big crash” on the restart in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Norris had progressed from 17th to 10th in the opening half of the 71-lap encounter when the race was suspended on Lap 33 after Kevin Magnussen crashed at Turn 9.

But he lost out four places on the restart, with replays showing the Briton experienced a lethargic getaway before getting out of the throttle ahead of the approach to Turn 1.

Explaining the incident post-race, Norris reveals that he had to evade a potential crash when multiple drivers were jostling for position on the 890m blast to the first corner.

“I enjoyed the whole thing, apart from my restart,” he said.“I don’t know if you saw it but yeah, I probably had to avoid a very big crash, just people coming across not realising that people can be three abreast.

“So I avoided two extremely big crashes which would have been very nasty so, a bit more self-awareness from some drivers would be great.”

However, Norris has denied that the near miss was responsible for the setback.

He added: “It’s not why I lost out, I lost out because of a bad start but I lost out even more because of these things.”

Norris mounted a charge across the remainder of the race to gain nine places to fifth, prompting McLaren’s Andrea Stella to hail it “one of the best races” he’s seen.

The 23-year-old was equally enthused by McLaren’s pace despite running a compromised setup for overtaking, believing only the top two finishers were quicker.

“The pace was amazing already from Lap 1,” Norris beamed. “There was a lot of management involved and already when I came over the line the first time I got told to cool the engine.

“So we maybe weren’t perfectly set up for these things and I couldn’t push as much as I wanted to at times but at other times I could which was a lot of the second stint.

“The pace was excellent to go from 14th, 15th to 5th, to have better pace than almost everyone bar than [Lewis] Hamilton and Max [Verstappen] was very encouraging for us. So, yeah. As perfect a day as I could have probably asked for.”

Having navigated his way past both Alpine cars, Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon, Norris rapidly caught team-mate Oscar Piastri, resulting in McLaren using team orders.

“I didn’t ask to go past or anything,” Norris revealed. “I was happy to race against him. but I think it was clear from [the] pace and points that I eventually went on to get it, that was the correct thing to do from a team perspective. Thanks again to him.”

Norris then proceeded to reel in both Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell, who was struggling increasingly on his Medium tyre.

After dispatching Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri with a bold move around the outside into Turn 4, Norris used the same corner to set up a clever switchback on Russell into Turn 6.

“You know deep down, I know these guys really well, I know Daniel but he’s not going to want to give it up easily at all, right! Two tough ones but enjoyable,” he reflected.

“All the racing got done after the restart. It was fair, tough and hard and that’s when it’s good fun!”

Following his costly Q1 exit in qualifying, McLaren elected to diverge from the rest of the competition by starting Norris on Softs.

Norris believes it “absolutely” worked out for him, crediting his McLaren team for helping him to maximise the best possible result.

“It just helped me in the start, off the line and things like that,” he said. “Turn 1 can go your way, it cannot go your way, but I think we played everything smart. I think played it well.

“Maybe the Safety Car and a couple of things weren’t perfectly timed for us. The VSC and so forth. Otherwise, everything pretty much went our way, and we maximised today, the Softs included.”

Lewis Hamilton admits that he tried to chase down Max Verstappen at one stage during the Mexico City Grand Prix but relented once he realised the Red Bull was “cruising”.

Starting sixth, Hamilton immediately gained a position after Sergio Perez clashed with Charles Leclerc at the first turn before displacing Daniel Ricciardo on Lap 11.

Having latched onto the back of Carlos Sainz, Hamilton successfully undercut the Ferrari prior to the race being stopped on Lap 33 due to Kevin Magnussen’s Turn 9 crash.

The Briton took advantage of running the Medium tyre for the remainder to overhaul Charles Leclerc shortly after the restart to cement his finishing position of second.

Reflecting on his charge to the podium, Hamilton said: “Yeah, great day. I was not expecting to be up here with these guys.

“Difficult weekend, it started out, but yeah, I just kept my nose clean at the beginning of the race and then just really trying to manage the tyres and maximise and progress forwards.

“And when I noticed that I had the pace on Carlos, I knew that with the undercut, it really worked quite well. So, the team did a great job I think with strategy.

“And then of course the red flag probably played into our hands in terms of getting onto the fresher tyre at the end. But I just I didn’t know if whether or not the Medium would make it that long.

“I was trying to see if I could close the gap to Max but he was long gone and I could only just about equal his times. But great result for the team, really proud of everyone.”

Despite running a softer compound of tyre and being situated on the clean side of the grid, Hamilton was unable to get by Leclerc on the run down to Turn 1 on the restart.

After remaining in close proximity to the Ferrari for several laps, Hamilton utilised the slipstream and DRS to slip up the inside of Leclerc into the first corner on Lap 40.

Hamilton asserts that he virtually “pressed every button on the steering wheel” in order to mitigate the substantial time loss Mercedes was spurning on the straights.

“Yeah, honestly, this weekend, we’ve been very, very slow on the straight,” he explained. “In general, we’ve were quite draggy on the straights more often than not but this weekend, you know, like yesterday, we were losing like two-and-a-half tenths just into Turn 1 before we even start braking.

“So, these guys were very slippery on the straights so, trying to follow closely through Turns 16 and 17 was, was really the only way that I could get close enough and have an opportunity to make the DRS impactful.

“And finally, I pressed every button on the steering wheel, maximum power. And I didn’t know how far across he was going to go. But split second decision, I decided to go to the right. There’s just enough space there but Charles was really fair. But yeah, great racing.”

Hamilton revealed that using “sweet finesse” was the key to him preserving his Medium tyres to the end to maintaining the advantage he had built up over Leclerc.

The seven-time World Champion disclosed that he did push on in an attempt to reduce the deficit to Verstappen, but he swiftly figured the Dutchman was coasting.

Asked if his successful attempt at the fastest lap on the final tour suggested he could have extracted more from the last stint, Hamilton said: “Yeah, for sure. I could have pushed a little bit harder but I did at one time try to see, okay, I think I’ve saved enough, let me see if I can try and close this gap to Max.

“I think it was like 10 laps to go, and I did a 22.0 and Max did a 21.9. I was like, ah, I’ll leave it. He was just cruising at 21.9. So yeah, so I thought I’d leave it there.

“And also, I had to be cautious, just careful because obviously my tyres… if I really pushed them for the last 10 laps, they probably would have opened up, and who knows, maybe Charles would have caught me up. So, I just had to be cautious with that.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Max Verstappen have defended Sergio Perez’s attempted move at Turn 1 on the first lap that sent him out of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Starting third and fifth, both Red Bulls got away excellently from the grid enabling Verstappen to slice in between the Ferraris and Perez to utilise the slipstream ahead.

As Verstappen positioned his car to the inside to gain the high ground, Perez swung to the outside of polesitter Charles Leclerc to make it three abreast into the first turn.

But the Ferrari driver was caught in between the two Red Bulls, resulting in contact that sent Perez momentarily into the air and damage that brought his race to an end.

After Perez conceded that his approach was centred on gunning for victory, Horner believes that “you can’t blame” the Mexican for trying to seize the lead at his home event.

“Yeah, absolutely two contrasting emotions,” Horner said. “One absolutely gutted to see Checo go out on the first corner. He had probably his best start of the season, got the draft and the tow from the three cars ahead, and so arrived with massive overspeed.

“And you can’t blame him at his home race, going to try and take the lead of the grand prix. I think you have to call it a racing incident, because three into one doesn’t go. Charles couldn’t get out of it, he braked late.

“So yeah, frustrating for Checo and really disappointing for his fans to lose him at the first corner. And the guys did their best to get him back out. But there was just too much damage to the floor and the underbody of the car. Charles is in a bit of a Red Bull sandwich.”

Horner added: “It’s a tough moment for him. It’s in front of his home crowd, he’s very emotional. And yeah, just said to him, next race next week, you’re going for the lead in your home race, you wouldn’t be a racing driver if you weren’t going for it.”

Although Verstappen insists that Perez potentially could have afforded more room on the outside, the Dutchman has also sympathised with his team-mate’s situation.

“I understand [the move] because it’s his home Grand Prix,” he noted. “You want to be on the podium, I fully understand that he went around the outside and he tried.  

“Looking, of course, at the footage, I think he could have left a little bit more space but on the other hand if it would have worked, you look amazing. I think it’s just more that excitement of wanting to be on the podium and this time it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”

Verstappen admits that it was only until he saw the footage in the cooldown room post-race that he understood the chaos that had materialised to his left at the first turn.

“At the time, I didn’t really see a lot,” he professed. “At one point, I just saw that a car was a bit flying in the air, but then I saw the footage after the race and then you can comment on it.

“But while driving it’s a bit hard because I was mainly focusing on Charles, because I couldn’t see what was happening on the outside.”

Verstappen eventually survived a mid-race red flag restart to notch a record-breaking 16th win of 2023 by a comfortable 13.8s margin over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Horner is convinced that Perez would have accompanied his team-mate on the podium without the extensive damage that prevented Red Bull from returning him to the track.

“I think he would have been on the podium for sure today,” Horner relayed. “That was never in doubt. It’s a big loss for him today here with obviously a car that was capable of being on the podium.”

Charles Leclerc insists he “had nowhere to go” in the opening corner clash that sent Sergio Perez out of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Starting from pole position, Leclerc endured a sluggish getaway from the line and was immediately swarmed by Max Verstappen, who cut in between the two Ferrari drivers.

Behind them, Perez had also made a good launch and utilised the slipstream to position his car to the left of Leclerc into Turn 1 in an attempt to sweep right around the outside.

However, Leclerc ended up getting pinched between the two Red Bulls, resulting in the Ferrari driver making contact with Perez’s RB19 and sending it momentarily into the air.

Although Perez was able to nurse his car back to the pits, Red Bull elected to retire the Mexican after inspecting the damage, bringing a premature end to his race.

Leclerc would eventually battle through to claim third but was booed heavily post-race by the hoards of Mexican fans present at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Monegasque driver defended his involvement in the incident to the local fans, citing that he was unable to do anything to prevent the touch that sent Perez out.

“A lot of booing…guys,” he said. “I mean, honestly, I had nowhere to go. I was a bit in between the two Red Bulls and, unfortunately, I touched Checo, but I had nowhere to go. So, it’s life.

“It damaged my car. And unfortunately, it ended the race of Checo, but on our end, we maximised our race.

“Of course, I’m disappointed to end the race of Checo like that, but I really didn’t do it on purpose. I had nowhere to go.”

Despite having picked up minor wing damage, Leclerc had extended his opening stint to be running a comfortable second until the race was stopped on Lap 33.

Kevin Magnussen suffered a rear suspension failure that pitched his Haas car into a high-speed impact with the barrier at Turn 9, prompting the red flag to be displayed.

Leclerc, running the Hard tyre, was able to resist Lewis Hamilton on the restart but was powerless to defend from the Mercedes on Mediums, succumbing on Lap 40.

“We struggled a little bit with the Hard after the restart,” Leclerc conceded. “Lewis was really quick on the Medium and then they managed to have a really good degradation, so they were just better today and it’s life.”