BEHIND THE HEADLINES – Mexico City
Lando Norris overturned his teammate’s thirty-four-point lead in Mexico City to take the lead by just a point over Oscar Piastri, with four weekends to go in what is an ever-changing championship. Over the last eight weeks, Norris’s title hopes have gone from over following a retirement at Zandvoort when running behind Piastri to a point lead. Momentum appears to be on his side as he has out-scored Piastri at the last five races.
In my view, we are entering the most important six weeks of the season, with a maximum of a hundred and sixteen points on the table. This championship is far from over, and while Max Verstappen remains lurking, the feeling I have is that this championship remains between the McLaren duo.
I remember writing ‘I wonder if (last year) Norris needed to lose to give he the chance to fight for the title,’ I think having had that pressure, though it was external, has given him a slight advantage as we enter ‘the business end’ of the season. We are looking to see how this plays out.
McLaren has suggested that they have loosened the ‘paypa rules’ after Singapore, where they secured the constructors’ championship, and their second collision of the season, which they put down to Piastri, has removed the internal consequences for Norris. This makes it a far fight to the checkered flag in Abu Dhabi. There have been moments in this final quarter where I have felt like it has swung back towards Norris.
I often think of the championship like a UK election, we have a long and short campaign, from Austin onwards we enter the short eight-week run-in to the title. In modern F1, these six rounds are when we see championships won and lost. Verstappen come back has been compared to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. Raikkonen went on to beat Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point, under the then points system or six points under the current system, to take the championship. Obviously, we have more Grands Prix and Sprints now.
I think this season we have seen both Norris and Piastri have their ups and downs, but there have been moments in recent races where that calm and collected figure we see with Piastri comes under pressure because he has made mistakes, at the point in the season where you can’t fall into the trap of making mistakes, as every point matters.
After the race asked for a reason why Norris was so strong, team principal, Andreas Stella, said, “These special low-grip conditions, they fit perfectly. It’s a natural way of extracting lap time, which is almost opposite to Oscar’s characteristics. It will just strengthen Lando’s confidence and it will be important for the final four races. But I think both Lando and Oscar go into the final four races with reasons to be confident.”
Recent commentary has shifted to the wheels falling off Piastri’s campaign, which was a big surprise, as until Monza, he had been faultless. I think the reason Norris has been helped is his championship challenge against Verstappen last year; he is still under the pressure of fighting for his first championship.
Norris is flying; he has outscored his McLaren teammate in the past five grands prix and has hit form at the right time. He is showing all the traits of a world champion, and Piastri is not. It is made worse by the fact that of the final four rounds, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it is only Qatar that Piastri has been stronger as we know his maiden pole and win came there in 2023.
But since the disastrous Baku for Piastri, it seems that he has lost confidence and performance, which has also come at a time where we are reaching not only the end of the season but also the regulation cycle. In Mexico, as Andrea Stella explained, he was taken by surprise by the track’s specific demands on driving style – and that won’t be a problem in Brazil, Vegas or the Middle East.
Let’s remember Norris is in his sixth season and Piastri is in his third season, I think it’s unlikely that either of them would go through the season without ups and downs. Norris, I think, since the breakthrough near win in Shanghai and his maiden win in Miami last season, has only gone from strength to strength. Yes, there have been mistakes and he has bounced back stronger.
Piastri has proven that he is a fast learner, and we shouldn’t forget that this is only his third season. He performed well in the first half of the season, but expecting him to make it through the whole campaign without any setbacks was probably too much.
I don’t think, like we saw last time, he retook the lead, that he will get carried away with it but the wind is certainly behind him. I believe his win in Mexico City showed that, as he controlled the race from the start and was then under no further pressure as he went on to win the race. Maybe these last couple of races are where we seen the best of Norris.
We can’t rule, total Verstappen out, though he remains in contention. I feel it’s too late unless McLaren really starts to struggle, and he has a couple of races like Sao Paulo last year where it really shifted towards him.
Away from the front runners, another standout moment from Mexico was Ollie Bearman and Haas, the Englishman, just missing out on his and Haas’ first podium. The FDA driver certainly has been one of the emerging talents since his debut in Jeddah last season.
The result was a big surprise. The Haas has certainly made big steps this season, which is a surprise, as I was expecting a transitional season like 2021, but it hasn’t been like that. It appears that while they haven’t brought big upgrades but you could see the emotions.
Ollie’s father, Dave, was one of the things which caught the eye on the world feed, leaping around the garage and hugging anyone within arm’s reach. His reaction, equal parts disbelief and pride, was pure gold for every camera that caught it.
As the celebrations ramped up, Ollie leapt into the arms of the mechanics, hugged members of the team, high-fived fans, and took selfies with anyone close by. This heartwarming celebration hit maximum cuteness overload when Ollie’s girlfriend, an emotional Alicia Torriani, ran straight into his arms, and the two shared a private word in the midst of all the chaos around them.
He is what we have termed a ‘full season rookie’, and I think a couple of decent seasons from Bearman, who is still a Ferrari driver, he could be in pole position when Lewis Hamilton retires as his successor. Though last weekend for the seven-time champion was his worst in Mexico City since 2018.
Hamilton failed to convert his best Grand Prix qualifying for Ferrari into a podium after his early battle with Verstappen saw him earn a ten-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage during his battle with Verstappen dropped him way out of contention and he could only finish eighth
That was his worst finish in Mexico since 2018; he labelled it has ‘harsh’
Offering his thoughts on his race and the penalty, Hamilton said: “It was fun at the start and didn’t end up the way I had hoped, but it’s motor racing.”
Pressed whether he could have done more to stick to the escape road in his battle with Verstappen, he added: “No. It’s very dirty offline, and I did the best I could to bring the car back to the track safely, and that’s all I could hope for.”
Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur appeared to accept Hamilton’s penalty in principle, but not its severity. Saying, “The penalty for Lewis, I think it is a bit harsh. For sure, he didn’t keep the line until the end, but he lost the car on the grass and it was not easy to maintain. But ten seconds is very harsh, because this dropped us behind all the group, and we lost six or seven positions, but it is like it is.”
Onto one of the most important steps towards a championship, the unpredictable Interlagos where a year ago Verstappen took victory on a wet and wild weekend which was where he effectively sealed his fifth title.