Mexican GP takeaways: Sainz spoils party as Max, Lando get scrappy

We offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year and continue the 2024 schedule with the Mexican Grand Prix.

Moments that decided the race 👀

Ferrari's late resurgence

Ferrari is the winner of back-to-back races for the first time in over two years following Carlos Sainz's superb drive in Mexico.

Sainz was clinical all weekend. After getting pole position, his only slip-up en route to victory was a brief Lap 1 lead loss to Max Verstappen. The Spaniard's excellence was the latest proof that Ferrari isn't simply a sneaky underdog but a genuine threat.

With Sainz's impressive weekend and another podium finish by Charles Leclerc, the legendary outfit jumped Red Bull in the standings and now trail McLaren by only 29 points with four races to go.

The opportunity to return the constructors' title back to Maranello for the first time since 2008 is very much there.

Sainz's triumph was Ferrari's third victory since Formula 1 returned from the summer break in Zandvoort. Only McLaren has as many in that span. But since Leclerc's emotional win in Monza, no constructor has scored more points than Ferrari.

The constructors' championship is a fight fought by two drivers and an entire operation. With Oscar Piastri struggling and Sergio Perez mired in what feels like a never-ending slump, Ferrari has the most in-form driver pairing on the grid. The Prancing Horse's engineers are also bringing forward a lot of pace for Ferrari's SF-24, which collected 96 of a possible 103 points over the last two race weekends.

Momentum is on Ferrari's side, and with the duel between Verstappen and Norris heating up in the drivers' championship, the Scuderia look to be on pace to snatch the constructors' title from McLaren.

Verstappen crosses the line in fight with Norris

Formula 1 was reminded of the lengths to which Verstappen will go to maintain his loosening grip on the drivers' title. Another tussle with Norris, which began at Turn 4 and then culminated in a dangerous divebomb off the track into Turn 7, saw Verstappen go over the limit, and he was rightfully penalized.

The stewards laid not one, but two 10-second penalties on the reigning world champion, effectively removing him from podium contention. For most, it felt like deja vu, a reminder of 2021, when Verstappen employed an uncompromising yield-or-crash mentality on Lewis Hamilton in the season's final races.

Verstappen is a driver who is willing to test the limit, even if it means he risks crossing the line. The issue for Formula 1, its stewards, and other drivers - especially Norris - is it keeps working in Verstappen's favor.

Even though the three-time world champion was hit with 20 seconds worth of penalties and was outscored by 10 points by Norris, who finished second, it may not have been much of a loss at all. The McLaren pilot finished less than five seconds behind Sainz, who won the race. That easily could have been a win if he hadn't been run off the road by Verstappen and forced to hang behind him until Red Bull called him into the pits. Leclerc acknowledged this after the race.

"Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we've been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max and Lando at the beginning of the race, that slowed him down massively, and his second stint was very, very impressive," Leclerc told media.

Norris described his encounter with Verstappen as "not fair" and said it wasn't "clean racing." The stewards agreed. But it seems like Verstappen doesn't view it as fair or unfair. For him, it's simply what he has to do. In his own words, he's "being put into those kind of positions" due to the RB20's lack of pace.

In the end, Verstappen lost time, leaving him sixth, but it was Norris who ultimately lost more. His 10-point gain on the drivers' champion was short of what he needs to become the new king of F1.

Even when the Dutch pilot appears to be cornered, he finds a way.

Driver of the Day 🙌

Carlos Sainz: The smooth operator was in cruise control. After an incredible qualifying session, Sainz started from pole position. He was briefly taken over by Verstappen, but it wasn’t for long. Sainz passed the Dutchman on Lap 9 and sailed out of DRS zone. From there, the Spaniard was utterly dominant and had no problem holding off Leclerc and Norris. His victory and Leclerc’s podium finish helped push Ferrari up to second in the constructor’s championship. It's the first time in over 30 years that the squad finished atop the podium in Mexico. Sainz wants to leave Ferrari on a high note, and what sweeter way to do so than with his first multi-win season?

What were they thinking? 🤔

Liam Lawson is driving to potentially replace Perez at Red Bull, and the two racers were involved in a scrappy incident in Mexico.

Perez picked up damage to his car after the pair clashed, and the Mexican driver called Lawson an "idiot" over team radio.

Lawson later responded by flipping off Perez.

"Coming together with Lawson was very unfortunate," Perez said following the race. "I don't get it. He just went for the incident, damaging both our races.

"It was an incident that was totally avoidable. There was no need. It was Lap 11 and we were in a great position. I had the corner and he went off the track completely and just went straight. I was petrified to see him there and at that point it was too late."

The stewards decided to not hand out any penalties, and Lawson finished one place ahead of Perez.

They said what? 🗣️

McLaren CEO Zak Brown on Verstappen's 20-second penalty: "It's getting a bit ridiculous. I applaud the FIA stewards. Enough's enough. Let's just have some good clean racing moving forward."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner on Verstappen's incident with Norris: "Max didn't leave the track at Turn 4 and at (Turn) 7. Lando opened the door very late, both ran off there. I think we're going to get into dangerous territory. At what point is a divebomb going to be OK? Really, the FIA and the drivers need to sit down and decide what is acceptable and what isn't. I thought two 10-second (penalties) was a bit harsh."

Verstappen on his clash with Norris: "The problem is, when you're slower, you're being put in those types of positions, and I'm not going to give up easily. At the end of the day, it's not about agreeing or disagreeing about the penalties - 20 seconds is quite a lot - the biggest problem of today is the race pace is really not good. Even without those penalties, we had no chance at all to fight up front."

Verstappen on whether he's worried about losing the drivers' championship: "I'm not worried. This was just a really bad day for us."

Perez when asked if this will be his last Mexican GP in F1: "Zero (doubt). I'll be here next year and I will try to go for the victory because that is my dream."

Hamilton on optimism with Mercedes to end the season: "Really good to get fourth and fifth. ... It was a really insightful and informative race. I could feel exactly where the car was working and not. Good points, good data from both of us, and hopefully put us in a better position next race."

What's next?

The third leg of F1's triple-header takes place Nov. 3 at 12 p.m. ET in Sao Paulo with the Brazilian GP.

The Interlagos Circuit saw three different winners the last three seasons - Verstappen in 2023, George Russell in 2022, and Lewis Hamilton in 2021.