Ferrari star Carlos Sainz kept his cool amid the chaos in Mexico City on Sunday to convert his stunning pole position into a race victory at a hugely hectic Mexican Grand Prix.
The drama began instantly at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Max Verstappen passing the Spaniard in the opening corners, whilst Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon crashed out behind, bringing out an early safety car.
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Sainz, though, later regained the lead, whilst Verstappen tumbled down the order after being given a huge 20-second time penalty by the FIA for two separate incidents involving championship rival Lando Norris.
Norris himself eventually came home in P2, passing Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who had a late wobble under pressure from the McLaren man and finished P3. The Brit now trails Verstappen by 47 points in the drivers' standings.
Elsewhere, whilst Oscar Piastri recovered from a Q1 exit in qualifying to score points and aid McLaren’s fight in the constructors’ championship, the same could not be said for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who had yet another torrid afternoon in front of his home crowd.
As a result, the constructors' championship battle has taken yet another twist, with Ferrari now leading Red Bull in the standings and surely eyeing McLaren with four rounds of the season to go and just 29 points between them.
Elsewhere, Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came home in P4 and P5 respectively. Meanwhile, the surprise package of the day were Haas, with both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finishing inside the points.
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Mexican Grand Prix 2024 results
1. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari]
2. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +4.705
3. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +34.387
4. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +44.780
5. George Russell [Mercedes] - +48.536
6. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - +59.558
7. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] - +63.642
8. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +64.928
9. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +1 LAP
10. Pierre Gasly [Alpine] - +1 LAP
11. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] - +1 LAP
12. Franco Colapinto [Williams] - +1 LAP
13. Valtteri Bottas [Kick Sauber] - +1 LAP
14. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] - +1 LAP
15. Zhou Guanyu [Kick Sauber]- +1 LAP
16. Liam Lawson [VCARB] - +1 LAP
17. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +1 LAP
18. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - DNF
19. Alex Albon [Williams] - DNF
20. Yuki Tsunoda [VCARB] - DNF
Fastest Lap
Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - 1:18.585sec
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