Norris snaps losing streak with win in Mexico, takes F1 championship lead

MEXICO CITY – Lando Norris won in Mexico City on Sunday to take the championship lead from teammate Oscar Pastry and snap a five-race losing streak to make a tough final push for the Formula 1 title.

Norris’ sixth win of the season was his first on top of the podium since winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in early August. More importantly, Norris has stressed the recent slump Piastri has fallen into to bolster his team-mate’s bid to unseat Max Verstappen as world champion.

Norris has a one-point advantage over Piastri with four races remaining.

Norris, who started from pole, opened the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 14 points behind Piastri in the driver standings. McLaren has already won its second consecutive constructors’ championship and now wants to end Verstappen’s four-year reign as F1 world champion with any of its drivers.

Norris now tops the standings for the first time since the fifth race of the season in April.

“It’s one weekend at a time,” Norris said to a roar of boos from the sellout crowd of 150,000. Norris interrupted his trackside interview due to the booing and laughed nervously before continuing.

“I’m happy, I focus on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore it all. I keep to myself and it’s working.”

Piastri came from seventh and used a late pass by George Russell to finish fifth – a critical advantage as it allowed Norris to hold just one point lead in the championship race.

Verstappen, meanwhile, arrived in Mexico City looking to put himself back in title contention with three wins in the last four races. He finished third on Sunday with a late virtual safety car preventing the Red Bull driver from passing Charles Leclerc for second.

Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri six races ago but has put himself in position to challenge for a fifth consecutive title. He is now 36 points out of the lead.

The gap could have been even tighter had the safety car not limited Verstappen’s chances of passing Leclerc in the final two laps.

“I mean, you win some, you lose some, right?” Verstappen said. “Sometimes the safety car works for you and sometimes it works against you.”

Oliver Biermann scored a career-best fourth to give Haas his second top-four finish in team history.

Norris’ first career victory in Mexico City looked like an easy Sunday drive as he crossed the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of Leclerc.

“I can just keep my eyes focused, and just keep my eyes forward and focus on what I’m doing,” Norris said. “A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after.”

Lewis Hamilton was in early contention for his first podium since joining Ferrari this year until a penalty ruined his race.

Hamilton, on the sixth lap, ended the course in a three-way race for third place between Verstappen and George Russell. He used the escape route on the course and rejoined the field in third position, but was penalized 10 seconds for leaving the track and regaining position on the return.

Hamilton used an expletive to express his displeasure with the penalty.

Ferrari has now gone a full year without a win as Carlos Sainz Jr’s victory in Mexico City last October was the last time one of its drivers took the top spot on the podium.

The next F1 race is the Brazilian Grand Prix on November 9. Verstappen has won the last two races at Interlagos.