F1 Mexico Grand Prix 2025 Race Review

F1 Mexico Grand Prix 2025 race review. 🕓 Updated: 27 October 2025, 00:15 (UK time). Article updated with final FIA classification, Haas and Alpine quotes, and full Pirelli strategy data.

Lando Norris storms the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with a faultless drive under Mexico’s heat. Full results, tyre calls, and key moments from a wild, penalty-heavy afternoon featuring Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and rookie Oliver Bearman with his best finish and driver of the day.

Key Points – F1 Mexico Grand Prix 2025 Race Review

• Winner: Lando Norris
• Podium: Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen
• Key moments: Lap 6 Hamilton–Verstappen battle opens the door for Bearman. Lap 63 Mercedes swap back. Late VSC for Sainz stoppage.
• Penalties: Hamilton 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Sainz drive-through for speeding in the pit lane before retiring.
• Retirements: Lawson, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Sainz.
• Midfield story: Oliver Bearman runs with the big three and keeps Piastri at arm’s length.

Mexico City GP 2025 – Quick Summary

Norris owned this from Turn 1. Broke DRS. Broke spirits. Then managed it like a metronome.

Behind, the race twisted on elbows and penalties. Hamilton and Verstappen clashed early. Verstappen cut across the grass, Hamilton did the same later and copped a 10-second penalty. That scrap let Bearman through, and the Haas rookie never blinked.

Leclerc held second under relentless pressure. Verstappen charged late on softer tyres but ran out of laps. A late Virtual Safety Car for Sainz looked set to neutralise the finish. It lifted with half a lap to go. No sting. Norris took the flag by a mile.

Race Recap – Mexico City GP 2025

Start and opening laps
Norris launched clean. Leclerc briefly ahead after both ran off at Turn 1 then handed it back. Order settled to Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen. Piastri stuck in traffic. Tsunoda covering him early. Five-abreast chaos into Turn 1 set the tone.

Lap 6–12
Hamilton and Verstappen went to war. Contact, grass, rejoins. Hamilton kept track position, then later cut the escape road and rejoined with a gap. Stewards busy. Hamilton penalised 10 seconds. In the mix, Bearman slipped past Verstappen and made it stick. Norris clear. Mediums edgy in traffic.

Lap 13–25
Norris stretched to double digits over Leclerc. Bearman held Verstappen at 1.4–2.0 seconds. Mercedes tried to tow up to the Haas. Pit window opened. Bearman and Piastri boxed for mediums. Hamilton served his penalty with the stop. Ferrari nailed a 2.2 second stop for Leclerc. Norris stayed long.

Lap 26–40
Undercut strong. Norris pitted on Lap 35 for mediums and still emerged miles ahead. Verstappen ran long on mediums to offset. Antonelli climbed into the podium picture. Russell argued on radio to be let by Antonelli to attack Bearman. The swap didn’t come. Heat management bit both Mercs. Piastri sat on Russell’s gearbox, waiting.

Lap 41–53
More Mercedes radio. Eventually they swapped, then swapped back. Piastri finally dived Russell with a tidy Turn 1 move. Up to fifth. Up front, Leclerc vs Verstappen became the race within the race. Bearman kept Piastri out of range. Ocon moved into the points. Bortoleto chased Hadjar for P10.

Lap 54–66
Verstappen lit the fuse. Seven, eight, nine tenths a lap into Leclerc’s margin. Gap dropped under three seconds. Ferrari hung on. Haas told Bearman to manage and he did, even as Piastri reeled him in.

Lap 67–71
Piastri within two seconds of Bearman. Verstappen within two of Leclerc. Then Sainz stopped in the stadium. Virtual Safety Car. Run to the line slowed. VSC ended as leaders hit the final sector. No final-corner dives. Norris won by a canyon. Leclerc held P2. Verstappen P3. Bearman P4 on merit. Piastri P5.

Final Classification – Mexico City GP 2025

Tyre & Strategy

Different routes, same story at the front.

Norris, Leclerc and Verstappen all made the one-stop work. Leclerc ran long on mediums, Verstappen flipped to softs for the chase after starting on the medium and almost made it work, and Norris never looked under threat. He could’ve been on last week’s tyres with the lead he had.

Behind them, the two-stop battle told its own tale. Bearman, Piastri and both Mercedes cars boxed within a lap of each other. The Haas didn’t win it through strategy, he won it on execution. Tyre life, pace and composure. Where others faded, he held firm.

McLaren tried to stretch the second stint with Piastri, but the heat and traffic made it hard to attack. Mercedes looked sharp early but lost their grip once the temperatures peaked.

Track temperature hit 50°C. That punished anyone sitting in dirty air. The Mediums fell off early, the Softs surprised everyone with how long they lasted, and the Hard compound was left on the shelf.

Across the field, the split was clear. Twelve cars went for Softs off the line. Six started on Mediums. Only Albon and Colapinto gambled on the Hard, hoping for chaos that never came. Two-stop runners had better balance, but no real advantage once the track stabilised. The one-stop remained king.

Mario Isola – Pirelli Motorsport Director
“We were treated to an interesting race here in Mexico City, not just in terms of the on-track action but also because we saw the field split between those on a one-stop and others on a two-stop. Congratulations to Lando Norris, who was impeccable all weekend, right from the opening day and who is now back in the lead of the championship. Well done also to Ollie Bearman who brought home a valuable fourth place for the Haas team.

The Medium and Soft compounds both played their part but, if one were to pick a star of the day, it was without a doubt the red-banded compound. Most of the drivers chose the softest tyre for the start and for the final stint in the case of those who opted for a two-stop strategy.

Thanks to very little wear and no graining, the drivers were able to extend their C5 stint, effectively managing thermal degradation on the rears. The pit stop windows were in line with our expectations and I believe the variety of strategies also owed something to the decision to introduce a gap in the compounds selected. The Hard saw very little use because it was at a disadvantage on this track that offered little grip all weekend.”

From the Podium

Midfield Voice

Haas – Breakthrough Drive

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team equaled its best-ever F1 result as Oliver Bearman finished fourth and Esteban Ocon added two more points in ninth.

Oliver Bearman:
“It was a crazy race out there. I’m so happy to get so many good points for the team. We did a really fantastic job getting the car in the right window. It felt great underneath me. It’s a feelgood moment, to go side by side with Max Verstappen is a very cool feeling. I’m so proud of this team. We finished P4 on merit. We may have got some luck to get there, but it was our speed that kept us there.”

Esteban Ocon:
“It’s been a very solid race, and we’re very happy with our weekend overall. We didn’t get all the luck on our side, but we scored with both cars and moved up a place in the Constructors’ Championship. Well done to Ollie and to the entire team.”

Ayao Komatsu – Team Principal:
“What an amazing race and result. A massive congratulations to everyone. The car has been competitive at every race excluding the opening round, and that’s credit to the team. We knew a big result would come, and we focused on our own race today. That’s what delivered it.”

Alpine – Damage Limitation

A long afternoon in the heat for Alpine, who came home 15th and 16th with Gasly and Colapinto.

Pierre Gasly:
“That was a very difficult race for us as a team and we have a lot to review. We lacked performance here in Mexico City. It is a unique track but I’m sure there are a few things we can do better. We’ll keep pushing for São Paulo.”

Franco Colapinto:
“Other than the promising pace we showed in the last stint on Softs, it was a long and lonely afternoon. We went long on the Hards to start, but just didn’t have the pace to stay in the mix.”

Steve Nielsen – Managing Director:
“We knew it would be a tough afternoon and that proved to be the case. Credit to both drivers for giving their all. The car was difficult to drive and with little to fight for, but the team kept it tidy and we’ll regroup before São Paulo.”

Visa Cash App RB – One to Forget

No points for VCARB after Liam Lawson retired and Isack Hadjar finished 13th.

Isack Hadjar:
“It was a frustrating race. I had a pretty good start but then made a mistake in Turn 6 on the first lap and lost a few places. That compromised quite a lot of our race. We didn’t have enough pace to fight for points today, but there are positives to take.”

Liam Lawson:
“We had a really good start and there was a lot of space on the outside in Turn 1, so I filled the gap. Then Carlos cut the chicane and drove into the side of me, which destroyed the car. The speed we had all weekend was good, so it’s a shame not to show it here.”

Alan Permane – Team Principal:
“A very difficult weekend for us all round. Liam’s race was over before it started after contact at Turn 1. With Isack, we probably should have started on the Softs. Ultimately, we didn’t have the pace, and that’s what we’ll focus on ahead of Brazil.”

Coffee Corner Take – F1 Mexico Grand Prix 2025 Race Review

The Virtual Safety Car robbed us of a real finish. Leclerc and Verstappen were lining up for one last swing. Bearman and Piastri too, both still within striking range when the race went neutral. What should have been a four-way finale fizzled into formation running.

It wasn’t a bad call, just bad timing. But you could feel the air go out of the place. The Autódromo deserved one last lap of chaos.

The stewards had their say long before that. Hamilton’s ten seconds changed the rhythm of the midfield. Sainz’s pit-lane speeding capped a rough day for Williams. But through all of it, one story stood out.

Oliver Bearman.
Calm, measured, fearless. He kept Piastri at bay lap after lap in a Haas that had no business running that high. No tricks, no luck, just pure control. He managed his tyres, hit every mark and made it look easy against cars that should have been half a second quicker.

While others fought heat and penalties, Bearman made Mexico his breakout. A rookie holding off a McLaren on merit. The kind of drive that doesn’t win a race, but earns respect up and down the paddock.

Lando Norris was untouchable. Managed it from pole, never blinked, and walked away with the title lead.
Verstappen hunted Leclerc like only Verstappen can, but the tyres and the timing weren’t on his side.

Mexico didn’t give us the ending it teased. But it gave us clarity.
Lando Norris takes the lead of the World Championship. Oscar Piastri keeps the fight alive. And Max Verstappen, still lurking, isn’t done yet.

The title race heads into its final stretch wide open.
Mexico didn’t give us the finish we wanted. But it gave us a reminder of what’s coming.