The 2025 Mexican Grand Prix was Formula 1 at its most chaotic, a spectacle of brilliance, controversy, and pure disbelief. What unfolded at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was a microcosm of modern F1: four-wide madness at Turn 1, unpredictable strategy calls, stewarding inconsistency, and a title fight that’s now closer than ever.
Turn 1: Four-Wide Madness and Controlled Chaos
The start of the race instantly became one of the defining moments of the season. Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Verstappen somehow went four-wide into Turn 1, an absurdly bold move unseen since Spa 2018. Norris stayed calm, chose the clever line, and escaped the mayhem while chaos erupted behind him.
Verstappen’s onboard revealed how close he came to disaster, bottoming out violently on the inside kerb and nearly losing the rear. It set the tone for the race, high tension, low grip, and minimal forgiveness.
In the cooldown room, Verstappen replayed the moment for Leclerc: “Look here!” he said, laughing at his off-road excursion, prompting Charles’s stunned “OH MY GOD!” It was the perfect encapsulation of a wild opening lap that could’ve ended three title bids before Turn 3.
Leclerc and the Lap 1 Controversy
Leclerc described the start as “chaos,” and he wasn’t exaggerating. With Hamilton on the inside and Verstappen attacking from the outside, he ran out of space, lost grip on the dirty line, and cut across the runoff before rejoining ahead of his teammate.
From Ferrari’s standpoint, it was survival, but for many watching, it was a missed stewarding call. Hamilton was clearly ahead before the corner and had to back out to avoid contact, yet Leclerc emerged still holding P2.
The leniency of “Lap 1, Turn 1” was on full display, once again allowing drivers to run wide without consequence. The FIA’s silence reinforced the perception that opening-lap chaos has its own separate rulebook, one that continues to blur fairness in key title-deciding moments.
Even within Ferrari, there was quiet acknowledgement that the team’s decision not to raise it stemmed from team unity rather than principle. It was politically convenient, but sportingly inconsistent.
Hamilton vs. Verstappen: Same Rivalry, Same Frustrations
Hamilton’s post-race comments cut straight to the point: “A penalty was deserved, but they have to penalize everyone equally. I somehow lost P2 to Charles when he went off, and it was never even noted.”
It’s hard to argue. When Verstappen forced Hamilton wide later in the race, the stewards issued a 10-second penalty for the Ferrari, yet ignored a near-identical incident involving Leclerc earlier. Red Bull likely reported the Verstappen-Hamilton clash; Ferrari stayed silent over the Leclerc one. The result was a lopsided application of justice.
The optics were ugly. Hamilton’s drive, otherwise one of his best in the Ferrari so far, was undone by uneven officiating and an unlucky floor crack sustained after his off-road moment. Once again, his race was defined not by performance but by paperwork.
Even Verstappen’s radio told the story: his engineer, GP, fed him lap-time targets late in the race, including a miscommunicated “gap 21.9” that briefly sent fans spiraling before being clarified as a target time. It was another emblem of how miscommunication, whether from FIA or pit wall, shaped this race as much as driving skill.
Verstappen’s Charge and Red Bull’s Uneven Weekend
Red Bull had a weekend of mixed fortunes. Verstappen fought hard but never looked fully in control of the car. His early rallycross excursion left the floor battered, and he struggled to close the gap to Leclerc even as GP urged him on: “This is why we come racing.”
Yuki Tsunoda’s race was undone by a painfully slow 12-second pit stop, another sign that even Red Bull’s execution has lost its old precision. The team banked crucial points with Max in P3 but continues to look vulnerable to McLaren and Ferrari in both pace and pit work.
The Stewarding Problem Returns
The race reopened old wounds about FIA consistency. The Lap 1 leniency remains an ill-defined rule that seems to justify any corner cut if it happens early enough. Meanwhile, subsequent penalties (Hamilton’s 10 seconds, Sainz’s drive-through before his crash) feel arbitrary by comparison.
It’s a decade of precedent stacked into incoherence. Inconsistency isn’t just frustrating, it actively reshapes championship momentum.
Lawson’s Near Miss and FIA Safety Scrutiny
The FIA’s weekend only worsened when onboard footage showed Liam Lawson narrowly missing two marshals clearing debris under double yellows. The visual shock was immediate, one wrong move away from disaster.
Race control’s statement revealed a “pre-approved intervention” that failed because Lawson had just pitted, leaving marshals exposed at the worst possible time. Even if protocol was technically followed, the system clearly isn’t robust enough to prevent dangerous overlap between pit traffic and trackside operations.
To make matters worse, the Virtual Safety Car at the end of the race, initially seen as an overreaction, turned out to have been triggered because Sainz’s car was smoking. Fair enough, but the explanation came long after the fact. Fans rightly pointed out that other series like WEC communicate these reasons immediately via Race Director radio. F1’s opacity fuels speculation and frustration, and this was a prime case.
Sainz Spins, Sparks, and Seals It
Carlos Sainz’s Mexico race was the perfect storm of comedy and catastrophe. Already burdened by a broken pit limiter that earned him a drive-through penalty, he then hit a kerb, spun into the barrier, and effectively ended the race under VSC.
It was the latest entry in Sainz’s expanding highlight reel of improbable misfortunes. Ironically, it froze the race in place and ensured Lando Norris’s victory, “Viva CarLando,” as the internet immediately dubbed it.
Bearman and Ocon: Haas’s Giant-Killing Weekend
While chaos reigned at the front, Haas executed a masterpiece. Ollie Bearman finished a sensational P4, with Esteban Ocon adding P9, netting the team 14 points and catapulting them back into the midfield fight.
Bearman’s drive was measured and composed, holding off faster cars on a one-stop strategy while managing tire degradation like a veteran. Ocon’s long-run strategy allowed him to play rear-gunner, delaying Russell and Piastri just enough to protect his teammate’s gap.
The result wasn’t just luck; it was the product of clever racecraft and cohesion. It’s easy to root for Haas when weekends like this happen, understated, hardworking, and genuinely overdelivering.
Midfield Standings: Twelve Points Between Four Teams
The battle from P6 to P9 in the Constructors’ Championship has now become absurdly tight:
Racing Bulls (72), Aston Martin (69), Haas (62), Kick Sauber (60).
Each team is within a single race swing of each other. Haas’s resurgence has put pressure on Aston, while Kick Sauber’s home hero Gabriel Bortoleto salvaged another point in P10. Alpine, meanwhile, languishes in irrelevance, effectively an F1.9 team at this stage.
Piastri vs. Norris: Sliding Scales and Mental States
Oscar Piastri salvaged P5, calling the race “damage limitation.” The McLaren looked tricky on low-grip circuits like Austin and Mexico, conditions where Norris excels. Team principal Andrea Stella explained why:
“Here and in Austin, the car slides a lot. That’s Lando’s regime. Oscar still needs to learn to exploit that.”
Norris’s adaptability in these conditions, his ability to manipulate oversteer, conserve tires, and still extract pace, is what separates him right now. Piastri admitted as much, saying he needs to “drive differently or when I should have and didn’t.”
The contrast is clear: Norris is thriving under pressure; Piastri is learning how to carry it.
Norris Dominates: A Statement Win and a Championship Lead
Norris’s victory was devastatingly complete, a 30.324-second margin, the largest of the season, over Leclerc and Verstappen. It was a display of total control, aided by perfect tire management and flawless race execution.
It also flips the championship leaderboard:
1️⃣ Norris – 357 pts
2️⃣ Piastri – 356 pts
3️⃣ Verstappen – 321 pts
The points swing from COTA to Mexico was staggering, from Oscar +14 over Lando to Lando +1 over Oscar. It’s a psychological turning point as much as a numerical one. Norris has reclaimed the momentum and, crucially, looks mentally sharper than he’s ever been.
Ferrari’s Fifty and Hamilton’s Restraint
Leclerc’s podium marked his 50th career top-three finish, but Ferrari’s mixed emotions were palpable. The penalty inconsistency and Hamilton’s lost result left them simmering behind polite PR posts.
Hamilton, for his part, handled the situation with trademark professionalism, measured, frustrated, but not incendiary. That restraint continues to protect the sport from deeper scrutiny; as many fans observed, if Hamilton ever decided to “go scorched earth,” the FIA’s credibility would collapse overnight.
Final Word: Formula 1 Never Learns, and That’s Why We Watch
The 2025 Mexican Grand Prix will go down as one of the defining races of the season. It had everything, adrenaline, controversy, heartbreak, heroics, and an endless stream of contradictions.
- Turn 1 chaos that defied physics.
- Stewarding decisions that defied logic.
- Haas outperforming teams ten times its size.
- Ferrari oscillating between brilliance and farce.
- Norris proving his title credentials with surgical precision.
- And the FIA once again showing how close F1 still teeters between spectacle and scandal.
It was messy, magnificent, and maddening, and it’s exactly why we can’t look away.
Norris leads. Piastri reloads. Max fumes. Bearman beams. Ferrari frets. Alpine flounders. Alonso DNFs.
And somewhere, the marshals of Mexico are still running, because Formula 1 never truly learns, it just races faster.