Mexican Grand Prix; Kimi Antonelli officially becomes the 2026 world champion, while drama lingers around the paddock.
The Mexican Grand Prix was a whirlwind of emotions of 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli as he joined the exclusive world driver champion club and became the youngest champion in history. To top off his weekend he also secured a P3 finish, driving a surprisingly calm and composed race. George Russell faced a difficult day as he dropped to P4 in the driver’s championship. With an early 10 second time penalty for a collision with Hadjar, he struggled to get back into the top 3 and even fight his teammate. He would go on to finish P6.
For Max Verstappen though, it was another race win in Mexico amounting to his 6th win at the circuit. It was an impressive showing, maintaining position for most of the race with very little movement. His teammate Isack Hadjar appeared to struggle at times through the race, however despite that he still secured points at the end of the day, finishing P9.
Ferrari had a tough weekend. The team struggled to make team orders stick, and it cost them on the first lap with an error resulting in a 5 second time penalty for Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton appeared extremely frustrated throughout most of the race even quoting at one point that the team had “Big, big problems”, in relation to no call for giving a position back. Hamilton would finish P2 after an impressive restart after a red flag situation. For Leclerc however, due to a major lockup on that restart, he was forced to settle for P4, with significant tyre wear on his front left, preventing him from pushing too much.
McLaren faced another weekend with mixed results. For Lando Norris it was another strong weekend, spending a lot of time, fighting for P4 against Leclerc, but forced to settle for P5. For Oscar Piastri however, the race result began well and eventually got worse. Having ended up in the top 10, Piastri was looking to be locking in some points, until a decision post-race dropped him down to P13, due to an incident with Arvid Lindblad.
Liam Lawson was able to secure vital points for Racing Bulls to remain P5 in the constructor’s championship, as he finished P7. For Arvid Lindblad however, his day was over after that racing incident with Oscar Piastri, which caused significant damage to his car, ultimately ruling him out.
Gabriel Bortoleto was able to finish P8 with some late penalties which helped him finish P8. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg struggled for pace in the race and only managed to finish P14.
Haas had a difficult weekend. After an incident between Esteban Ocon and the team, it was decided that Ocon would not be racing in Mexico, and he was sent home. In his place was Ryo Hirakawa, one of two reserve drivers at the team. Despite being thrown in last minute and struggling in qualifying, Hirakawa managed to finish P10 and score a single point for himself and the team. There is no confirmation for the driver during this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix as of yet. Oliver Bearman was forced to retire the car after an incident with Hulkenberg, which damaged Bearman’s car.
Both Williams drivers had a better showing and were extremely close to point scoring positions. Alex Albon was just out of the points, finishing P11 and Carlos Sainz was in P12, only about a second behind his teammate.
Alpine were faced with a great weekend, before having a double penalty going their way. Pierre Gasly was expected to finish P10 before a post-race 10 second penalty was brought about due to failing to slow under yellow flag conditions. Franco Colapinto also joined his teammate, missing out on points for the same reasoning related to failing to slow for yellow flags.
Sergio Perez had a happy ending to his home grand prix, as he finished the race in P16. This was an achievement and one to be proud of being in Mexico. However, on the other side of the garage, Valtteri Bottas faced yet another DNF after a complete front-left suspension failure occurred on lap 45. Bottas was okay and able to get out of the car, but the damage to the car was extensive, and this incident ultimately brought out a red flag.
Aston Martin had their worst weekend of the season with both drivers forced to retire on lap 5 for Fernando Alonso and on Lance Stroll joined him by lap 7 of the race. The reasoning behind the double DNF is associated with power unit issues, with Alonso having difficulties in qualifying as well.
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