An exciting start and a brilliant first leg, then a boring little train ride: that was the brief introduction of the Mexican Grand Prix, which was won by Carlos Sainz.
Max Verstappen made a great start and took the lead, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. However, the Dutchman couldn't enjoy his position for long, as a nasty accident involving Yuki Tsunoda brought out the safety car. Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez also had a great start, but the Mexican was already failing to find his own position on the grid. So, despite the Red Bull driver improving a bunch of positions, he immediately lost them due to a penalty. After five laps, the race was able to continue, and Sainz arrived and traded his pace for position, reclaiming first place from Verstappen. The race didn't go well for the lead Red Bull Racing driver either, as he got involved in a battle with Lando Norris and committed an infringement against the Briton, which also resulted in a harsh penalty.
Meanwhile, the Mercedes teams were battling it out, and Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from his anniversary race due to a technical failure.
At that point, the standings were Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen, but the latter driver received a 20-second penalty, which meant Red Bull dropped out of the fight for the constructors' championship. As the first pit stops were made, the intensity of the race also diminished. The leading group stabilized, and from then on, we only saw a small train. Scuderia Ferrari, Lando Norris, Mercedes—that was the pattern, and we were already on lap 51, but in the final stint, only a significant exchange of positions occurred.
Carlos Sainz took a comfortable victory, but Lando Norris closed in on him, beating Charles Leclerc, who was able to console himself with a point for fastest lap. Let's just say it wasn't the best Mexican Grand Prix of all time...
