Reckless Max Verstappen Fouls Again, Unable to Overcome 20-Second Penalty at F1 Mexico City
Points leader Max Verstappen was penalized for reckless driving while battling Lando Norris in Mexico City in a Formula 1 Grand Prix that was masterfully controlled by outgoing Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
Autoweek rounds up the main talking points from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Verstappen Penalty Ruins Another Race Weekend
For the second time in as many race weekends a scrap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris resulted in the intervention of the stewards.
Verstappen had taken the lead at the start but having been re-passed by Sainz following an early Safety Car faced pressure from Norris. The McLaren driver made a move around Turn 4 but Verstappen held firm, with Norris cutting the grass at Turn 5 to stay ahead. Verstappen remained glued to the McLaren driver into the left-hand kink at Turn 8 and lunged on his rival, taking them both into the run-off area, ceding a position to Charles Leclerc in the process.
The Turn 4 incident was tight, but the Turn 8 attempt was a blatant foul on Norris by Verstappen, whose trajectory showed he had no intention to make the apex. Stewards handed Verstappen two 10-second time penalties, which he had to serve at his pit stop, and he dropped down the order before recovering to sixth place.
In Austin, Verstappen played the rulebook perfectly—but in Mexico City it was purely reckless, and a throwback to some of Verstappen’s driving in his 2021 fight with Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen was reluctant to be drawn on his driving standards and instead pointed the finger at the performance of the RB20.
“Honestly 20 seconds is a lot, but I’m not going to cry about it, and I’m not going to share my opinion,” Verstappen said. “The biggest problem I have is today was a bad day in terms of race pace, that was quite clear again on the mediums and hard tyres.
Pushed further Verstappen said: “Turn 4 was a bit more of like question mark, Turn 7 [sic] is what it is. Honestly those two things are also not my problem, the problem is that we are too slow and that’s why I’m being put in those positions, that is my problem.”
A nonchalant Verstappen added that “I just drive how I think I have to drive, last week that was alright, this week it’s a 20-second penalty, it is what it is, life goes on you know.”
Verstappen was also issued two penalty points, bringing his 12-month total up to six, halfway to a one-event suspension.
Norris went on to re-pass Leclerc—assisted by a mistake from the Ferrari driver in the second stint —to take second, cutting Verstappen’s points advantage to 47 with 120 to play for across the final four grands prix in São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
“I go into a race expecting a tough battle with Max,” Norris said. “It’s clear that it doesn’t matter if he wins or is second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he’ll sacrifice himself to do that, like he did today. But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles, like I’ve seen him have plenty of times, but fair ones. It’s always going to be on the line, it’s always going to be tough with Max. He’s never going to make anyone’s life easy, especially mine at this point of the year. I think today it was just not fair, clean racing. Therefore I think he got what he had coming to him.”
Sainz' Farewell Gift to Ferrari
Sainz was the class act through qualifying and the race, as he took only a handful of laps to restore the lead he relinquished on the lengthy run to Turn 1, before controlling proceedings thereafter.
It was a victory Sainz has been chasing for several months as he seeks to sign off his four-year stint—ahead of his move to Williams following Ferrari’s signing of Lewis Hamilton—in the best possible fashion. It was particularly emotional for Sainz as it was the first time that his mother was at the circuit to see him claim a Grand Prix win, the fourth of his career.
“I had a very good feeling coming into the weekend,” Sainz said. “I’ve been focused, been on it all weekend. On top of that, I knew my family was coming, my best friends, my girlfriend, a lot of people were here to support me. And I said, maybe destiny has something ready for me this weekend, knowing that my maybe last win with Ferrari can come in front of them, with all the support that I've had from them all this year, and in a great podium, a great place like Mexico City.
“It was extremely emotional. I did share a tear, you know, in the Spanish anthem. It's one of the best moments of my career. My mom had never personally been on a race with me. And the fact that she was coming here this weekend, I wanted really to win a race in front of her.”
Leclerc’s late error dropped him to third but another strong result means Ferrari is now firmly in contention for the Constructors’ Championship, having closed the deficit to McLaren to just 29 points, with Red Bull Racing now having dropped to third place.
Verstappen/Norris Battle Leaves Ferrari 'Under the Radar'
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur quipped that the Verstappen/Norris title fight was good news for his team.
“As long as we are under the radar, it allows us to be fully focused on what we are doing, on the team, on the drivers,” Vasseur said. “This is a perfect situation for us. I think you [the media] will have tons to say about Max and Lando today, it will be the headlines tomorrow, and it's good for us.”
Sainz’s win also makes 2024 the first season since 1982—and only second in history—in which six different drivers have claimed multiple Grand Prix victories.
Irate Perez Says Lawson Needs Humility
Red Bull's Sergio Perez arrived in Mexico City under pressure to deliver a result and he ended up having a thoroughly wretched weekend.
Brake issues, which Perez says has been hindering him for several grands prix, contributed to a Q1 exit, consigning him to a difficult race. Perez made a strong start, leaping up to 13th spot, but it was swiftly determined that when lining up in his grid box he pulled slightly too forwards, and was consequently issued a five-second time penalty.
Perez was on the cusp of the top 10 when he encountered RB’s Liam Lawson—who is in contention to replace him at the senior team—and the pair only lightly tangled, but it was enough for Perez to sustain damage that hobbled a level of performance that was already underwhelming. Perez was irritated at the situation.
“I think the way he has come to Formula 1, I don't think he has the right attitude for it,” Perez said on Lawson. “He needs to be a bit more humble, you know. It's like when you come to Formula 1, you're obviously very hungry and so on, but you have to be as well respectful off-track and on-track. I don't think he's showing the right attitude to show a good pace for himself, because I think he's a great driver and I hope for him that he can step back and learn from it.”
Lawson countered that he did anything wrong in terms of a battle.
“I think the incident with Checo, I left the space into T4, he was coming in very, very late,” Lawson said. “Honestly, I tried to give him space, he drove me off the track and then he didn't give me space into turn five. It's unfortunate, it wasn't my intention, but I don't know where to go.”
He did, however, apologize for flicking the bird at Perez when passing later on.
“It's obviously one of those in the moment things, he spent half the lap blocking me trying to ruin my race,” Lawson said. “I was upset, but it's not an excuse, I shouldn't have done it and I apologize for that.”
Perez has scored on average less than four points per race since the Monaco GP in May, with his dire form contributing to Red Bull slipping to third in the championship.
“Checo again has had a horrible weekend,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, before not exactly giving Perez huge assurances. “He knows Formula 1 is a results-based business and inevitably when you are not delivering, the spotlight is firmly on you.
"From the team’s perspective we are working with him as hard as we can to try and support him, we’ve done everything that we can and we’ll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend, but there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”
F1 Mexico City Grand Prix
Results
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, 71 laps
Lando Norris, McLaren, +4.7 seconds
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +34.3
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +44.7
George Russell, Mercedes, +48.5
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +59.5
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1:03.6
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +1:04.9
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1 lap
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1 lap
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap
Franco Colapinto, Williams, +1 lap
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap
Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, +1 lap
Liam Lawson, RB, +1 lap
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +1 lap
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +56 laps
Alexander Albon, Williams, +71 laps
Yuki Tsunoda, RB, +71 laps
F1 Drivers' Standings
Max Verstappen 362
Lando Norris 315
Charles Leclerc 291
Oscar Piastri 251
Carlos Sainz 240
Lewis Hamilton 189
George Russell 177
Sergio Perez 150
Fernando Alonso 62
Nico Hulkenberg 31
Lance Stroll 24
Yuki Tsunoda 22
Kevin Magnussen 14
Alexander Albon 12
Daniel Ricciardo 12
Pierre Gasly 9
Oliver Bearman 7
Franco Colapinto 5
Esteban Ocon 5
Liam Lawson 2
Zhou Guanyu 0
Logan Sargeant 0
Valtteri Bottas
F1 Constructors' Championship
McLaren 566
Ferrari 537
Red Bull 512
Mercedes 366
Aston Martin 86
Haas 46
RB 36
Williams 17
Alpine 14
Kick Sauber 0