F1 Mexico Grand Prix RECAP: Lap-by-lap updates as Lando Norris cuts gap to Max Verstappen after Dutchman was given HUGE penalty

Thanks so much for joining us for full coverage of the Mexico GP. Carlos Sainz reigns victorious after another dominant Ferrari showing and we will be doing it all again in Brazil next weekend!

The world championship leader has just been analysing his race, but didn’t want to get caught up in another furious debate about overtaking but does fume he won’t give up his approach to racing.

Verstappen told Sky Sports:’The problem is when you are slower you’re being put in those positions. I wont give up easily, its not about agreeing or disagreeing about the penalty but 20 seconds is a lot.

‘The biggest problem that I worry about is the race pace. Even without those penalties we had no chance to fight Ferrari. This was a really bad day for us but I know we can do much better.’

You’d expect nothing less than to see the Red Bull team chief defend Verstappen after his torrid penalty-ridden race and Christian Horner has just done exactly that.

Horner suggested the stewards were wrong to give Verstappen such a big penalty and urged there to be greater clairifcation on racing rules.

Analysing Verstappen’s penalties, Horner told Sky Sports: ‘Max didn;t leave the track at turn four and then at seven Lando opened the door very late and both ran off.

‘We are going to get into very dangerous territory of what point is a divebomb going to be ok. The FIA and drivers eed to sit down to work out what is acceptable and what isn’t.

‘I think two 10 second penalties is a bit harsh. You’ve always got to play to the rules and will learn from this race. We didn’t have the pace today and that’s where our focus will be over the next five days.’

That was a brilliant race with plenty of talking points to cover, the biggest one being Verstappen’s sixth-place finish that has left Red Bull fuming!

Verstappen was punished with two separate 10 second penalties for forcing Norris off the track and gaining an advantage on the McLaren when he went off the track as well on the first lap.

That ruined his race and Norris has admitted he is now ‘expecting’ such moves from his title rival.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Norris said: ‘I knew what to expect.

‘I respect Max a lot as a driver but I was ready to expect something like this and it’s not very clean driving in my opinion.

‘I avoided it and it was a good race. I just keep my head down, we are doing a very good job as a team and we just keep our head down and keep pushing.’

Verstappen had his eyes set on victory but really only has himself to blame after over aggressively trying to defend against Norris and being slapped with a combined 20 second penalty for his actions!

He doesn’t take the win but that could be the race where the momentum pendulum firmly swings Norris’ way as he gains huge ground on Verstappen in the title race.

Great day for the Brit who looked set to finish third before making a brilliant late push!

The Ferrari star started on pole and finishes in the same position as he rolls down the home straight and over the line to complete a stunning performance in Mexico!

Chaos ensued behind him but the Spaniard was class personified as he picks up his second win of 2024!

They’d been fighting for 12 laps but Hamilton finally gets past his team-mate as he switches to the outisde as Russell covers the inside and makes the pass look relatively easy!

Mercedes will just be happy to see no contact being made! Hamilton moves into fourth.

Norris holds onto second and builds a three second lead to Leclerc, sets a new fastest lap and is now within seven seconds of Sainz. It will probably be too big a gap to make up but stranger things have happened!

Norris piled on the pressure and Leclerc buckled coming into the home straight as he takes a squirrel coming out the bend, somehow avoids the wall but gives Norris the easiest overtake he will ever get.

The McLaren star will be absolutely delighted and you wonder just how much of a bearing those valuable points could have on the title race!

We enter the final 10 laps and have two huge battles playing out in the top order.

Norris is going to get a chance to try and pass Leclerc, while Hamilton is still battling with Russell. Let’s go RACING!

Norris gets DRS through traffic where Leclerc doesn’t and is now almost within a second of the Ferrari. We have just over 10 laps left and Norris will fancy his chances here!

The Ferrari driver is getting caught in traffic and Norris is now down to just 2.8 seconds. We could be set for some very late drama in Mexico!

This is a really interesting battle between the two Mercedes with Russell using his battery power to defend and Hamilton using his to attack.

Russell does have a front-wing issue but is defending superbly to Hamilton’s attempts.

Hamilton moves into Russell’s slipstream as he enters DRS range but isn’t quite close enough to make his attack stick.

Mercedes won’t want this battle to continue for too long with Verstappen 12 seconds behind.

Mercedes tell Russell they are going to let Hamilton compete with him and for the first time in what feels like ages we might get some overtaking action!

Norris holds over a 20 second gap to Russell meaning that if a safety car was to come out now then he could make a pit stop without worrying about losing a position.

McLaren have just began warming up some medium tyres in hope they might get a golden chance to make a move.

Verstappen is nearly 10 seconds behind Hamilton in sixth and is complaining that he is already losing grip on his hard tyres. A sprinkle of incoming rain might help his cause.

Sainz has extedned his lead over his team-mate, Leclerc, to over seven seconds with there then a four second gap to Norris in third.

Ferrari are loving life at the minute with their race pace reigning supreme and barring a disaster should take the win comfortably.

Considering he had to serve a 20 second penalty, Verstappen is doing brilliantly to climb back up the grid so quickly. He’s now under a second behind Lawson ahead of him.

Piastri is desperate to pit as Hamilton now gets past him but McLaren want to keep him out possibly wanting him to hold up Verstappen in ninth.

Really nice driving from Russell as he gets past Piastri with ease and then rounds Lawson to move up until fourth. He believes a change should have happened sooner.

Russell and Leclerc are the next drivers told to box and oblige with both similar to Norris coming out on harder tyres. Sainz will come in on the next lap.

Norris flies into the pits onto hard tyres that indicates a one-stop stragety and is only held up for 2.3 seconds as he emerges back out in fourth place just behind Russell.

Verstappen is told to box as his tyres continue degrading and he is made to sit there for 20 seconds that drops him down to 15th position.

He is going to have produce a stunning drive here to get back amongst the points!

The McLaren star moves to within DRS range of Verstappen and looks to be poising himself to make another overtake attempt that this time will hopefully be a lot cleaner.

Two separate penalties combine to give Verstappen a 20 SECOND punishment that puts him at risk of missing out on a points position.

That would have a massive effect on the championship race with Norris you expect beaming as he sits behind the Red Bull.

Things go from one disaster to another for Verstappen as he is given a second 10 second penalty for that battle with Norris.

This time he is punished for leaving the track and gaining an advantage and now we wait for what I’m sure will be a furious reply on the team radio.

We’re 20 laps through this 71 lap race and have already been treated to some stunning high-octane racing.

Carlos Sainz currently leads the Mexico GP with Leclerc just behind him and the pair look set to go tyre-to-tyre with Ferrari happy to let them race each other.

A team order comes through telling both to ‘keep it clean’ so we could be in for some brilliant racing shortly.

Mercedes are letting their two drivers do battle and a brilliant little exchange sees Russell go one way then another before flying past Hamilton who possibly defended slightly dangerously.

Nightmare for Red Bull as the investigation quickly concludes Verstappen is at fault and hands him a massive 10 second penalty.

The Dutchman sarcastically replies: ’10? That’s impressive.’

Norris is seriously unhappy and fumes that Verstappen has overtaken him off the track and forced him off the circuit with an investigation now underway.

Red Bull could be set for an uncomfortable penalty in a few laps time.

Pure and utter chaos as Norris flies around the outside of Verstappen but is run off the track by the championship leader who then himself steers off the circuit.

Norris gets on the radio and slams Verstappen for being ‘dangeorus’. That’s proper elbows out racing!

DRS is enabled, Sainz finds the slipstream and bursts up the inside of Verstappen with a stunning lunge.

He then defends slightly erratically after going wide in a couple of corners but is ahead as he takes the lead.

The Dutchman is getting clear through the corners and sets a new fastest lap but looks slightly vulnerable to Sainz’ straight line pace.

Verstappen is driving brilliantly with Sainz second and Norris just in behind in third.

Verstappen shows all his experience to back the pack up before setting off like a rocket amidst a miriad of corners and Sainz was caught by surprise!

The debris is cleared and we are about to get back underway with the safety car coming in this lap.

The Red Bull driver is reprimanded with a five second penalty for a false start as the stewards end their investigation.

Perez didn’t jump the start but has been punished after his car was too far forward at the start line.

Perez perhaps got slightly overexcited in front of his home crowd and is being investigated for a false start that saw him encroach over the yellow line.

The Mexican sounds confused and tells his team ‘No it was a great start!’.

This clean-up job is taking some time with Tsunoda’s crash shredding carbon fibre all over the track.

Verstappen will start in front when we get back underway and will have to defend ferociously against Sainz.

The Williams driver just isn’t getting any luck this season as his race ends prematurely after Tsunoda made contact with him while crashing at the first corner.

Out comes the safety car for Tsunoda after he crashed going into the first corner when battling with Albon.

The clean-up crews are out to recover the vehicle with drivers being fearful of getting a puncture.

Just when it looks like everyone has come through the first few bends cleanly, Tsunoda makes contact with Albon when trying to pass him and ends up careering into the side wall.

It’s lights out in Mexico City and away we go in a GP that usually wields some enthraling battles and storylines.

Carlos Sainz is slow off the start and Verstappen catches him to take the lead, Sainz retakes the lead by going over the grass but gives the position back and Norris is battling in third.

Carlos Sainz leads the pack away on their formation lap and set off at some pace there but soon slows things down.

Medium tyres are preferred by the majority of teams with only a few drivers further down the starting order opting to go for a one-stop strategy on hard compounds.

Carlos Sainz starts on pole position today and if he comes out of turn one cleanly then it will be very hard for McLaren or Red Bull to catch him.

Ferrari have continued their blistering race pace throughout practice and qualifying in Mexico after Charles Leclerc dominated to win in Texas last time out.

He starts in fourth and will be quickly hot on the heels of Norris ahead of him.

This is an incredible day for Fernando Alonso as well with the grid’s oldest driver celebrating his 400th race – and doesn’t have any plans of slowing down!

The Aston Martin ace starts in 13th today and his immediate target is to get amongst the points positions quickly.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Alonso said pre-race: ‘Quite emotional when you reach such a number.

‘I am enjoying every lap of this wekend and the last two seasons with Aston Martin, an incredible team.

‘I’m ready for 50 more races over the next two years.’

He might be right down near the back of the grid in 18th but Sergio Perez is the most popular man in Mexico City right now as the local star returns to what he describes as the ‘best crowd in the world’.

The Mexican has endured a very difficult season and this could very well be his final year with Red Bull. Could he pull off a shock from the back with home support roaring him on? Let’s find out!

Wow the crowd – and drivers – are certainly being treated to some stunning pre-race scenes in Mexico City with a brilliant show of colour and dance on display.

The drivers arrived in style on the back of an array of classic and stunning super cars while songs and traditional Mexican dance created a party-like atmosphere.

Hopefully the drivers will be able to find their focus amidst the carnival chaos.

We’ll be getting underway here at 8pm with Carlos Sainz continuing Ferrari’s run of pack leadership after finishig one-two winners in Texas last weekend.

Sainz starts on pole just ahead of Max Verstappen, with Norris in third and you have to fancy him making a dart up the inside of his title rival down to the first corner here.

Oh dear this looked painful for Lando Norris as he was caught low in a playful pre-race piece of banter with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Just check it out below and you’ll get the full picture!

Hello, good evening and thank you for joining us for a massive Mexico GP as we begin to enter the final round of races with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris going tyre-to-tyre for the world championship title!