Lando Norris dominates in Mexico taking the Championship lead and puts one hand on the trophy. Much like our 2025 Mexican F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which we did with one hand behind our back for fun.
This 2025 Mexican Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2025 Mexican F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Qualifying was a huge session in terms of potential Championship defining. Lando Norris blew everyone away with a sensational pole position lap, and meanwhile Oscar Piastri looked off the pace and out of sorts all weekend and he ended up qualifying 8th. Thankfully Carlos Sainz’s overtaking mishap from Austin moved him up a place. Max Verstappen’s recent comeback slowed a little as he only ended up 5th on the grid. With Ferraris and Mercedes in between Norris and Piastri, and Piastri was unable to explain his lack of pace which is a worry and gives no confidence of having a stormer of a race, Norris could take the Championship lead this weekend, and having the Championship lead was Piastri’s main weapon in the perceived favouritism from McLaren.
GRID (Starting Order) – NOR LEC HAM RUS VER ANT PIA HAD BEA TSU
Lap 1 – Lando Norris gets away ok but better than the Ferraris and they all thunder down into the first corner down the long run to turn one with Max Verstappen joining in making it almost four cars wide. As they approach the apex cars have to run wide and take to the run off area like scattered marbles and so it hard to know who’s in the lead. A Ferrari ends up in front of Norris but has to give back the place, so eventually by turn four it is Norris in the lead. Oscar Piastri made an ok getaway but had to drive carefully and was squeezed in the first corners, he ended the first lap in 9th place, a loss of two places and a Championship losing deficit. Oh, and Lance Stroll spun off but recovered with Colapinto possibly involved. At least two of those drivers shouldn’t be on the grid next season. George Russell is on the radio complaining about Verstappen and wanting a position swap, so this first lap may not be over yet. Well it is physically over, but you know what we mean.
ORDER – NOR LEC HAM VER RUS BEA ANT TSU PIA OCO
Lap 3 – Lando Norris is 1.4 seconds in front of Leclerc who sets a fastest lap for fun. The cars behind are all pretty close with Piastri is over six seconds behind in 9th. Liam Lawson pits for a new front wing, which looks to be from contact with a Williams. And George Russell is still unhappy with Max Verstappen.
Lap 4 – Oscar Piastri tries and fails to get past Yuki Tsunoda into turn one. Piastri needs to hurry up, he is on soft tyres while the Red Bull is on mediums, so staying behind is not great. He dropped 1.5 second to Norris on the last lap alone.
Lap 6 – Chaos in the places behind Norris. TV comes back from start replays to show Verstappen cutting the grass and Hamilton running wide, the Mercedes bunched up and Oliver Bearman in the mix too. In the fall-out Bearman gets ahead of Verstappen and the two Mercedes and grabs fourth place into the esses.
Replays show this all started from a very late and deep lunge by Max Verstappen on Lewis Hamilton into turn one, Lewis Hamilton turned in a little on Verstappen, possibly didn’t think it would happen, and then ran Verstappen off the track as well, hence the cars going everywhere.
Combined with first lap shenanigans, it could be a bunch of penalties on the way later.
ORDER – NOR LEC HAM BE VER ANT RUS TSU PIA OCO
Lap 8 – Piastri tries and fails again to get past Yuki Tsunoda, making his best effort so far, but not good enough. Which is a fair description of his entire weekend so far. He has to do something, it’s currently a Championship losing situation. Meanwhile Lando Norris is 2.6 seconds in front of Leclerc in second and is over 15 seconds in front of Piastri.
Lap 11 – Finally Piastri gets past Tsunoda into turn one for 8th, but George Russell ahead won’t be easier, in fact he will be much harder. Meanwhile Norris is on the radio and his race is going to plan and is told to open up a gap to Leclerc.
Lap 14 – Lando Norris sets fastest lap just to show his current dominance, and he has the entire pit straight between him and fourth placed Oliver Bearman, who is hanging on heroically. And hanging on is a little unfair, he has cleared Verstappen behind by 1.5 seconds, although the Red Bull is on the medium tyres which don’t seem to be the ones to have right now. Which means the soft tyre runners (front runners except Red Bull) may stay on the softs for a while yet.
Lap 15 – Lewis Hamilton is given a 10 second penalty for his lap six incident with Max Verstappen. Seems harsh considering no one got a penalty for the first lap where it looked like everyone except Lando Norris left the track and gained an advantage. Good news for Piastri as it’s one less car to pass. Also bad news as Norris is now 6.7 seconds ahead of Leclerc and flying. Good news for Oliver Bearman as it means he’s currently in the final podium position.
ORDER – NOR LEC HAM* BEA VER ANT RUS PIA TSU OCO
* 10 Second Penalty
Lap 18 – Oscar Piastri is right on George Russell’s tail, enough to get DRS, no dice on this lap but looking quite fast and capable. He can’t quite stay with the Mercedes through the esses, where he has looked slowish all weekend. Carlos Sainz pits for new tyres from the midfield and celebrates by locking up and running off the track onto the grass at turn one.
Lap 20 – Now Max Verstappen is under investigation for his incident with Lewis Hamilton. So the two drivers could end up with a penalty each from the one racing incident. Both would help Piastri, and could even sneak a podium if he can clear the Mercedes on track or through the pitlane. It would be damage limitation he’d barely deserve but would take.
Lap 23 – Kimi Antonelli pits for new tyres, something McLaren could have considered for Piastri, and who knows, they may have asked Lando Norris and his dad and were told no. Antonelli rejoins in 13th and behind Lance Stroll, so might be better staying out.
Lap 24 – Lewis Hamilton stops for tyres and takes his ten second penalty while he’s there. That extra time rejoins him in 14th and behind Antonelli on track. The stewards conveniently advise at the same time that there’s no further action between him and Verstappen.
ORDER – NOR LEC BEA VER RUS PIA TSU OCO HAD BOR
Lap 25 – Oscar Piastri pits for new tyres which will hopefully jump him ahead of George Russell eventually. He rejoins in 13th behind Kimi Antonelli (10th) and sadly Stroll, ouch for him. But at least ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Oliver Bearman also pit from a magnificent third, and rejoins in 9th ahead of Antonelli. George Russell pits the next lap and rejoins just ahead of Oscar Piastri as the McLaren overtakes Alex Albon.
ORDER – NOR LEC VER TSU OCO HAD (No pit) BEA ANT (Pit) BOR STR (No Pit)
Lap 27 – Bad lap for Williams. Lewis Hamilton demotes Alex Albon another place, and the Williams is struggling on hard tyres. Carlos Sainz gets five second penalty for pitlane speeding too. Replays show Sainz had an issue with his pit lane speed limiter. Could be worse, Nico Hulkenberg retires with car failure, power unit apparently.
Lap 28 – Oliver Bearman takes Isack Hadjar for on track 5th, and on track for a podium. Another rookie Kimi Antonelli passes Hadjar a few corners later. George Russell overtakes a Sauber and sets fastest lap. Lots happening in the midfield. Unlike up front where Lando Norris is dominating this race with a 15 seconds gap to Leclerc, who has 13 seconds to Verstappen, who has 13 tseconds to Tsunoda.
Lap 30 – Oscar Piastri overtakes Hadjar too. So realistically at this stage, if he gets a move-on, the best Piastri can do is fourth or fifth. That will still mean losing the Championship lead, and that’s if he’s quick enough to catch those cars in front and pass, which has looked rather unlikely based on the weekend so far. Playing with a DNF voodoo doll for Lando Norris is his most likely way of now losing the Championship lead. But at least he’s under six seconds to fourth.
Lap 32 – Charles Leclerc pits from second and rejoins third losing a place to Max Verstappen. A place further back and a Red Bull loses a place – Tsunoda by Bearman who is highly impressive. If he’s not careful he’ll talk his way into a Ferrari drive.
Lap 33 – Both Mercedes gets past Tsunoda who is going tslower on his old tyres. For the second time this race Piastri is taking his sweet time getting past the Red Bull. But does so into turn one on lap 34.
Lap 34 – Race leader Lando Norris pits. An error free stop this time, so no need for adjustments, and he keeps the lead. It’s an easy day for the Briton who has been nothing less than majestic since Saturday. He may well get a crown on current form. Meanwhile George Russell is on the radio to say he has more speed, which translates to “Get Antonelli out of the way please”.
Lap 36 – Another DNF and they seem to be coming in age order now as Fernando Alonso retires with mechanical problems. Could be a DNF on track as the Mercedes start to get close and discuss strategy on radio. Russell thinks he can get a podium, that’s good news for Piastri who is less than a second behind Russell.
ORDER – NOR VER LEC BEA ANT RUS PIA HAM SAI BOR
Lap 39 – George Russell is getting quite grumpy now on the radio, and that’s because he has an Oscar Piastri right up his arse. Piastri looks quick for the first time this weekend, as Russell claims to be quicker than Antonelli. If either Russell or Piastri can get ahead of the car in front a podium could still be on. Meanwhile we missed Max Verstappen’s pitstop, he dropped to behind Lewis Hamilton but is on the better soft tyres.
Lap 41 – The Mercedes team advise Kimi Antonelli to swap positions after a relentless campaign from George Russell. Oscar Piastri could have taken advantage of the swap but didn’t, which sums up his weekend. Back to Mercedes, if they ended up swapping, why did they wait so long? In saying that, George Russell hasn’t exactly disappeared from Antonelli.
ORDER – NOR LEC BEA RUS ANT PIA HAM VER SAI OCO
Lap 44 – Oscar Piastri is making no ground on the Mercedes in front, and radio from McLaren to Norris suggests they could be thinking about a soft tyre change for Piastri. They might need to if he can’t get past the Mercedes. Behind him, on soft tyres, Max Verstappen is significantly quicker. Piastri might need to do something, as his current mediocrity won’t save him.
Lap 47 – Piastri looks like he’s going to pit but tries for one more lap to pass Antonelli. He gets close, but not in front. Behind them, Max Verstappen is flying and passes Lewis Hamilton. A bit cleaner this time around.
Lap 49 – Antonelli and Piastri pit together as well Lewis Hamilton, and in his first bit of good juju for the weekend gets ahead of the Mercedes. They’re all on soft tyres and could have a bit of fun in this last section of the race. They rejoin 7th, 8th and 9th.
Lap 50 – George Russell joins the tyre changing fun as well as Oliver Bearman. Bearman stays out in front in 4th place but Russell comes out just in front of Ocon and just holds onto 5th place. Oscar Piastri nips past Ocon as well in a brave, cheeky move into a corner where overtaking isn’t expected. Great move, and needed. He’s sixth but within reach of Bearman in 4th.
ORDER – NOR LEC VER BEA RUS PIA ANT HAM OCO HAD
Lap 51 – Taking a breath from all the tyre changing, order swapping action, Lando Norris is 23 seconds in front of Leclerc, who is a reducing 12 seconds in front of Max Verstappen. Verstappen is on soft tyres and going fast, while the cars in front are cruising on mediums. One wonders if the top two will take or need to take another tyre stop if Verstappen keeps going.
Lap 56 – A train is developing between Oliver Bearman, George Russell and Oscar Piastri for fourth. Further ahead Max Verstappen is closing on Charles Leclerc.
Lap 60 – Oscar Piastri dives down the inside of George Russell into turn one and just keeps the position as they go through the subsequent left and right. Oliver Bearman and fourth place is in his sights, and if he steals that, he will keep the Championship lead. Bearman is three seconds up the road. But surely, based on the 2025 season, a McLaren should pass a Haas with ten laps to go…….
ORDER – NOR LEC VER BEA PIA RUS ANT HAM OCO HAD
Lap 62 – Showing either a sense of humour or ambition or both, Antonelli is on the team radio asking for his position back. Fantastic. They do swap positions on lap 63.
Lap 63 – Gabriel Bortoleto wins the battle of rookies as he takes the final point off Isack Hadjar.
Lap 64 – Oscar Piastri closes within two seconds of Bearman and Verstappen within three of Leclerc. Six laps to go to change the order, and in some cases, the Championship order.
Lap 66 – Max Verstappen is now within 2.5 second of Leclerc and Piastri within 1.3 seconds. Lining up for a double last lap special here.
Lap 68 – Piastri has closed to within a second so DRS will be available on the next time they go down the pit straight. Max Verstappen is almost within DRS to Leclerc. But not quite.
Lap 69 – Piastri within 0.6 seconds with DRS, but still behind, and two laps to go. Verstappen still not within a second.
Lap 70 – Max Verstappen jinks and looks to get past Leclerc into the first corner but doesn’t quite manage. Ditto for Piastri on Bearman but not quite as close.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
What a party pooper.
It was caused by a broken down Carlos Sainz, although the car looked to be out of danger on a slow corner. The stewards have robbed us of a great finish. Clowns.
FINAL LAP – VSC Ends halfway around the last lap just for fun and no good reason. It doesn’t stop Lando Norris cruising to win. Further back how does second end up? Leclerc hangs on. Further further back Piastri can’t get past Oliver Bearman who takes magnificent fourth place for Haas.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR LEC VER BEA PIA ANT RUS HAM OCO BOR
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
A simply magnificent weekend. Not only did he demonstrate his speed and racecraft, he did so while his team mate had a shocker. Smashes the Championship deficit and takes the lead by one point and grabs momentum as Max Verstappen struggles a little as well. It’s his title to lose now.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
OLIVER BEARMAN – What a drive from the rookie, who has occasionally shone on various weekends this season but was top shelf in Mexico. Qualified well, made a decent start, then ran fourth early as he took advantage of the Verstappen-Hamilton shenanigans. Then after the pitstops the rookie Brit ran a confident third at times, and was top five for most of the race.
CHARLES LECLERC – A solid second in qualifying and the race is best of the best, no more, no less.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Good damage limitation, kept us entertained.
THE GRAPE-EST – OSCAR PIASTRI
A complete mystery how he can be so slow in comparison to his team mate, and sadly with vibes of Daniel Ricciardo’s time at McLaren, he can’t work out why. And we know how that ended up. Started too far back to salvage too much for the weekend as he wasn’t fast enough to carve through cars that his team mate probably would have. A very bad downward trend that sees him lose the Championship lead, momentum, and form. One has to cynically wonder about the influence of Webber.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
NICO HULKENBERG – A DNF ended a reasonably obscure and forgettable race.
FERNANDO ALONSO – Ditto
ALPINE – So slow
WILLIAMS – So disappointing.
LANCE STROLL – So Stroll.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 4 / 5
Qualifying was an incredible session which (before knowing the race result) could have huge Championship implications.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 7 / 10
Aside from the first two running and hiding, the race saw lots of on track action, even if there was a lack of amateur hour that we love so much. A mix of different cars in potential podium positions, plus the wondering of how much damage limitation Oscar Piastri could do made for a good contest.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
Oscar Piastri’s lack of pace. Oliver Bearman’s strong showing. The Red Bull being a little off the pace from recent races.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5
The lead in the Drivers Championship changed hands, so yeah, pretty big deal. Max Verstappen with 36 points now as well.
ENDING – 3 / 5
Oscar Piastri’s move and chase of Bearman for fourth was exciting enough, and some late moves within the midfield makes up for the lack of action right up the front.
OVERALL RATING – 23 / 30
A good fun race, with huge Championship implications, and a decent timeslot of those on another side of the world.
2025 F1 Season Race Ratings
R1 – Australian Grand Prix – 27/30
R2 – Chinese Grand Prix – 11/30
R3 – Japanese Grand Prix – 18/30
R4 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 19/30
R5 – Saudi Arabia Grand Prix – 17/30
R6 – Miami Grand Prix – 17/30
R7 – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – 20/30
R8 – Monaco Grand Prix – 21/30
R9 – Spanish Grand Prix – 15/30
R10 – Canadian Grand Prix – 18/30
R11 – Austrian Grand Prix – 20/30
R12 – British Grand Prix – N/A but was great
R13 – Belgian Grand Prix – 13/30
R14 – Hungarian Grand Prix – 22/30
R15 – Dutch Grand Prix – 22/30
R16 – Italian Grand Prix – 16/30
R17 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 20/30
R18 – Singapore Grand Prix – 20/30
R19 – United States Grand Prix – 21/30
2025 F1 Season Preview Gear
F1 2025 SEASON – THINGS TO LOOK FOR AND AVOID
F1 DONKEY AUSTRALIAN GP BOLD PREDICTIONS
