2025 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix: As it happened - Norris dominates race, takes overall lead

Hamilton is on the radio asking about the drivers who gained an advantage by running off track at the start around Turn 1 and 2

He means Verstappen, but also Leclerc who took to the grass at Turn 2 rather than squeeze it out on track against Hamilton - he resumed in the lead at the time but gave back the lead. However, Hamilton will be wondering why he didn't give second back to him too.

Some question marks over whether Hamilton and/or Verstappen will get away with that after both going wildly off track in the heat of battle...

The flip side of this is a patient Bearman is now running a brilliant fourth after picking his way through the melee successfully

...if Piastri cannot make gains from his current ninth

He lost positions to Bearman and Tsunoda off the start and is now bottled up behind the Japanese

Norris leads by almost two seconds over Leclerc

George Russell has questioned Verstappen being able to keep his foot in and rejoining the track at Turn 2 ahead of him in fourth place - it has been noted by stewards

Liam Lawson is in the pits to replace his front-wing, while Lance Stroll was turned around on lap one too

Norris did a mighty job defending his lead into Turn 1, but behind him Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen were three-abreast into the first corner

Verstappen locks up on the kerbs and heads off onto the grass, but with the field slow into Turn 2, he's able to keep his foot in to rejoin largely where he went off! 

1- Norris

2- Leclerc

3- Hamilton

4- Verstappen

5- Russell

6- Bearman

7- Antonelli

8- Tsunoda

9- Piastri

10- Ocon

Norris holds onto the lead into Turn 1 before Leclerc dives across the grass and takes the lead - he gives it back for Turn 3

Verstappen gets forced out wide at Turn 1, rejoins at Turn 2 still in fourth place

And we are off on the warm-up lap...

The tyres are revealed and we have most of the top ten on softs for the start... but not Verstappen.

The Dutchman, as well as fellow Red Bull stablemates Hadjar (8th) and Tsunoda (10th) will get away on mediums

Keely Hodgkinson won the 2024 Olympics over the 800m with a time of 1m 56.72s.

That's also the distance down to the Turn 1 from the lights but it'll take them just a few seconds to make that distance...

It's a long way in start-to-T1 terms, long enough for slipstreams to bring those from behind into play - that could prove crucial for Ferrari in its bid to get the better of Lando Norris.

And as we saw in Austin, there's no guarantee they'll be making it through in one piece...

Though out-paced by the Ferraris, George Russell still has Verstappen and Piastri behind him and will likely be a thorn for both drivers if he keeps ahead of them through the first turns. 

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar showed an impressive turn of pace in qualifying and appears well placed to be best of the rest, but he's got some competition from Oliver Bearman, who has looked good over a race distance on numerous occasions this year.

He starts inside the top ten for the third Grand Prix in succession - that led to points in Singapore and Texas, can he make it three-in-a-row?

Keep an eye on Carlos Sainz too - he was seventh on pure pace (ahead of Piastri) but demoted to 12th for a post-Austin penalty. He will be in the mix for points today

A lot of attention has been on the rate of gains Max Verstappen has been making in the run up to the weekend with his triumph in Texas last weekend slashing the margin to the top down to 40 points.

Piastri and Norris are split by 14 points - but if they finish where they start today, Norris will leave Mexico as the new leader of the standings. Only the matter of racing over 71 laps though, so...

A look at those top three in the standings with five rounds and seven races (including Mexico) remaining...

1- Oscar Piastri - 346 points

2- Lando Norris - 332

3- Max Verstappen - 306

So where will Norris' competition come from this afternoon?

Well, normally you'd say Max Verstappen, but the Dutchman - unusually - didn't sparkle over a single lap in qualifying and will go from fifth.

That said, it is worth noting Red Bull spent part of Saturday trying different set-ups - could it have clipped its single-lap wings in favour of a more favourable race day set-up?

For now though, Ferrari is best placed to take on Norris, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finding their groove when it mattered in Q3. 

Both showed strongly in Austin and are well placed in that long sprint into Turn 1, plus neither have a title to worry about and Ferrari have some flex in the strategy too.

The fact that Piastri in seventh is where he has been much of the weekend suggests this is where he could find himself in race trim too... if so, that 14 point lead does look ever so slightly precarious.

Which is something when you consider Piastri would have felt more than comfortable with 14 points over Norris when the two were leagues above the field earlier in the season.

It was a big Saturday for Lando Norris as he produced one of his strongest qualifying efforts of the year to take a clear pole position in Mexico.

Qualifying hasn't always been Norris' strongest play in 2025 - this is his fifth pole of the year and his first since Belgium - but he looked a cut above the rest in Mexico.

After a bumpy few races for both McLaren drivers, Norris will be relieved not only to be rediscovering his best form, but doing so as title rival and team-mate Oscar Piastri is still looking for his.

The Australian - who comes into the weekend with a 14 point margin over Norris - hasn't looked at ease all weekend and while eighth quickest (seventh on the grid) is down on what we normally expect, it's roughly where he has been all weekend.