Verstappen vs. Norris Got Spicy In Austin and Mexico City

They both go off the road! Norris moves ahead, but he did so with all four wheels off the road. And the contentious debate of position between the top two drivers in the World Championship continues from Austin to Mexico City. The top two drivers in the Formula 1 World Championship, Max Verstappen, the leader by 54 points, and Lando Norris trying to overturn the largest points deficit in the entire history of the World Championship, started in 1950. That is where we are starting the Grand Prix today. And the US Grand Prix is underway! Max Verstappen's going to give himself an opportunity into turn number one, but Lando Norris is chopping across. There's the late launch that Max Verstappen was looking for, but he sends Lando Norris wide, and through goes the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc! First and second battling each other, and they open the door for the driver in the scarlet car! He rolls through, up three places to take the lead of this one! Lando Norris got a decent launch, but we wondered whether Max Verstappen was going to make that launch. Come what may, here was the answer. I mean, you never really have to wonder with Max, do you? He's going for it, but it was that strong start from Leclerc that got him on the inside of Carlos going into turn one. And Lando, we've reported the incident in turn one. Any thoughts from your side? Yeah, I mean, it's clearly pushed him out. He had no intent to make the corner. Even he went off the track, so I just had to avoid crashing into him or him crashing into me, but yeah. Yeah, I think it's pretty much what we expected prior to the race. Yeah, the thing is, he overtook me by going in so hard that he went off the track, same as Budapest, just identical. Lando Norris has a big opportunity here. He's currently losing points to Max Verstappen in the championship, looking to change all of that. The top two contenders for the championship of the world onto the back straight at Kota, looking for the move. The British driver trying to go past. How defensive will Max Verstappen go? How defensive can Max Verstappen go as we go into the braking zone of turn number two? Norris trying to go around the outside. Is the room? Look now, not from turn 12, but to turn 15. Is there a moment for the McLaren to use the traction? Trying the long way round, there will be no route through, but the up and under might produce itself. This is going to be so fast, side by side at speed. Verstappen's just got enough for the moment. Norris not able to force Verstappen off the racing line. He's still ahead and this battle continues. Okay, 0.55. Last lap it was 4.5. How close can the McLaren man get on the brakes when it matters? When the world championship is up for grabs here, is there an opportunity this time? No. Is there a chance to force him off the racing line? Slightly deep for Verstappen. A little bit more speed through that corner for Lando Norris, but another opportunity goes by. Can he dive to the inside to try and get that opportunistic move at 15? Not that time. Good lap. Good lap for Max Verstappen. And every lap he can make Norris run in the dirty air will be damaging his tires. At 0.3. Norris goes again. Lining him up again. He is oh so close. Big defensive move from Verstappen into one. Is this going to allow Norris to get the drive off? Very hard to get it done into three. Lighting up the rear tires, leaving some skid marks. It's on the edge. We aren't into the full brinkmanship yet. At 0.4. Overtake still available. Here we go. This is it for Lando Norris. It's a wide line that gives initial momentum for Max Verstappen, but he is gaining and gaining and gaining. How brave can he be in the This is the best opportunity he's had since lap number one to take the place. He puts the car on the outside line, tries to duck back through. It's not done yet. Verstappen knew it. Held onto the inside line and now off the racing line that he wants to be. There's an opportunity. The two contenders again separated by hardly anything. Traction race could favour the McLaren. Still it's side by side or very close to it, but still it's Verstappen ahead with five laps to go in the U.S. Grand Prix. 0.4 and five laps remaining. 10 out of 10 on execution. He's not made a mistake. Not one wheel wrong to give Lando the opportunity to make that move. Lando doing everything he can, but Max doing everything he needs to. Does Lando have a shot here into one? Defense for Max, blocking a little bit. Big defense from Max Verstappen and he knows that he's having to use more of the tire than he wants to, more of the road than he wants to. 0.4. Norris is close once again. Closer by a long shot. That was a great run off of 11. It's so tempting as a driver to get to the throttle too soon, let up the rear tires, but he's got it now. Max Verstappen on the defensive. Lando Norris on the attack. Lando Norris going through on the brakes or can Verstappen hang on to it? He keeps his foot in. They both go off the road. Norris moves ahead for the first time since lap number one, but he did so with all four wheels off the road. That one surely will not count. He will surely have to give the place back. Is the argument that Max forced him off the road though? Outside the track. He needs to give it back. Very matter of fact, Verstappen. I'm sure Lando is going to say, hey, he forced me off the track. It'll be interesting to see which way the FIA looks at this and the stewards want to address it. Think I was ahead of you, Apex. Let me know if you think otherwise. We think you were ahead of Apex. McLaren are going to risk the penalty. They're still attacking each other. McLaren are risking a five-second penalty. They've elected to keep track position. We are on it, Max. We know. And we've also seen the moving under braking at one. So our opinion is you were ahead of Apex. Both cars went off track. Yeah, he also went off, so it was clear. And Lando, so we've had our third strike track limit, which I know you'll know, so no more track limits. No more. Did Lando Norris get ahead on the braking zone? Was he forced off the road? Lando Norris has a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Third on the road, but with a penalty applied, it will be fourth position for Lando Norris. Max Verstappen takes points out of his title rival. The swing goes the other way. Verstappen stays ahead on the timing page. Norris pushed for all he's worth. He missed out by nine-tenths of a second. Great job. Drove like a lion and you got a podium. Well done, mate. Well done, mate. You drove hard for that. You drove hard for that. We weren't as competitive as we should have been in the second stint, but you deserve that podium today. My God, that was a hard race. Like I say, you drove like a lion. Nice job. Yeah, I tried everything with the defending. At least I was fun. It's just a bit weird that you can overtake outside the track. Well, you can't. The FIA put that right, so there you go. That's all right. Points-wise, this weekend, Max, you've done what you needed to do. I guess I got a five-second penalty. Yeah, they gave you five seconds just at the end there. Paul leaving the track getting an advantage. Not sure why. Oh, yeah. Well, then I should have just gone back behind him, shouldn't I? Clearly, I didn't give the position back because we thought we were in the right. Clearly, we weren't. I still think we were. Considering Max went off the track, normally, if you defend your position and you go off the track, you have to give the position up. In that case, I was ahead. I kept my position because he needed to give it back. That's the way it is. I think I did the correct thing, but I don't make the rules. Max drove well. It was a fun race between us. Good battle. He defended well. He did everything he had to do. We struggled as a team. I didn't do a great job. Both are not what we need right now, so we'll both try better next time. I think overall, we just did the best we could. We managed it till the end. Some good battles with Lando out there. Hard battles, but fair. It definitely was a lot of fun. It was a great battle between the top two in the World Championship, but it was resolved in Max Verstappen's favor. 354 points to his name, extending that advantage over Lando Norris. He's on 297. From the heart of Mexico City, this is Formula 1. It's the 20th round of the World Championship in 2024. Our venue is intense, vibrant, and named for the Rodriguez brothers, two Mexican heroes of the 1960s. This is their arena. I've been reviewed. I've probably approached things in a pretty similar way, but slight tweaks here and there. Of course, I didn't come out on top in the whole battle. Things always improve. I think Max is probably the best, and I'll probably say quite confidently, he's the best in the world in this style of defense and attacking and those kind of things. I'm going up against the best in the world. Therefore, I've got to be at his level. At the minute, I would say I'm not quite at the level I need to be at, and his level, which is a shame to say, but it's probably the truth. At the same time, it's an experience for me to learn and progress and try and do better. I don't understand why then suddenly now we need to ask and scream for changes in the regulation when it's been like that forever. I grew up go-karting, F3, F1. You know that you cannot pass outside of the white line. It's as simple as that. It's still a good battle. I still really enjoyed everything that we did last weekend. It was still a tough, exciting battle that we had on track. Of course, I want to be the one that comes out on top. I believe I rightfully was, but obviously, the penalty in the end changed things around. Things will change a little bit. I'll, of course, change my approach in a slight manner, but I don't need to change everything. It's Ferrari versus Red Bull versus McLaren. That sounds like the recipe for a great Grand Prix. Three different constructors starting at the front. The driver's championship is still being spoken about, but if we're going to keep talking about that next week in Brazil, Lando Norris has to put some points into Max Verstappen today. They start third and second. Ferrari's sandwiching them. Sainz on pole, Leclerc fourth. Carlos Sainz is waiting for that green flag at the back of the field. The battle towards turn one begins right now. We leave the line for the Mexican Grand Prix and it's a good reaction time for Max Verstappen. He's got the inside line, he's got the momentum, he's surely going to get the lead. And now Lando Norris is going to try and power past Carlos Sainz as well. Verstappen has the inside line and the opportunity. How brave will Carlos Sainz be? An immediate spin into the barriers for the V-carb. Off the road goes Carlos Sainz to maintain the lead and that will be an immediate intervention. It was hard into the Armco, it was a big moment into the barriers for Yuki Tsunoda. He was the driver involved there and Carlos Sainz feels the need to give the place back to Max Verstappen, having jumped over the road. But it's Verstappen, then Sainz, then Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton got past Russell. Fastest lap for Sainz who's responded then. He's really close. Is he going to go for the late braking move? He is! That's the lead for Carlos Sainz and he leaves. Turn two with the lead. Can he keep it by three? Max Verstappen trying to apply the power. There will be another DRS zone which will take the Ferrari further away. First opportunity offered up for Carlos Sainz and he took it with both hands. Superb driving from Sainz. I said the Ferrari top speed was good and I think he caught Max Verstappen just unawares. Verstappen had a good lead so he was eight tenths clear over the line. But Sainz, with the DRS for the first time, the long slipstream and a good top speed, got close and he's a great driver at that late lunge on the inside. Made a stick. Lando Norris, can he do what Sainz did before? Has the hint, has the look, no way by. Verstappen not happy that he didn't have the full deployment of the Red Bull when he needed it and Sainz took that chance. Verstappen's close out of turn three. Norris is really close behind Max as well. Just so impressed with Sainz's ability on the brakes. Can Norris do the same? This is brave from Lando Norris trying to go around the outside. Max Verstappen barges at his rival off the road and the contentious debate of position between the top two drivers in the World Championship continues. From Austin to Mexico City, they collide this time. Verstappen throwing it to the inside. They're both off. Extraordinary elbows out brawling between the two of them and Charles Leclerc takes advantage to go up to second position. How about that? Norris versus Verstappen getting really brutal again. Hey, I was ahead the whole way through the corner. Understood. We're looking at it now. This guy is dangerous. I just have to avoid a crash. It's the same as last time, mate. Yeah, we're on it, mate. We'll end up in a wall in a minute. We understand, Lando. Two separate instants for a push-off twice. Hamilton will have DRS behind. Yep, he overtook off the track and pushed me off. Yep, just strapped in, strapped in. Let's go through it again. Lando Norris going to the outside, moving ahead. Who's ahead at the apex? It's really tight. Norris is ahead coming into the corner, but Max is good at having a shorter line and releasing the brake at the moment, so they are neck and neck. But let's have a look once again at this part, because now we're on the short burst up towards Turn 7. Honestly, that's a bit of a crazy one to send in a lunge on that corner with no hope of making the exit. It's a hopeless lunge and it's not fair racing from Verstappen. It's a 10-second time penalty for Max Verstappen for forcing another driver off the track. So, Max, for info, you've been given a 10-second penalty for forcing Lando off track at Turn 4, so head down. It's quite impressive. Another 10-second time penalty for Max Verstappen for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Verstappen with a combined penalty count now at 20 seconds that he'll have to serve at his first stop. You can't argue with those penalties, particularly the second one, but it doesn't help Norris out at this stage. Norris has still lost the place that he was in second and trying to get to the front by two illegal moves from Verstappen that allowed Leclerc through, and Max will take 20 seconds of penalty. It's going to really jeopardize him. He's going to be on a recovery drive, a little bit like his teammate at the moment. 20 seconds for Max right now would drop him just ahead of Perez, but he'll keep going and going and going and making sure that Norris cannot be released into clear air to go and attack the two Ferraris. So, Max, update. You've been given another 10-second time penalty. That's for leaving this track and gaining an advantage at Turn 8. Verstappen in for what will be a long, long stop. They cannot touch the car until 20 seconds have elapsed. We've seen mechanics go too early earlier this year, and then you have to reserve the penalty. So, very, very important. They're being ultra-cautious there. This is a long, long wait. Someone will be counting to 20, and then the signal will be given to the crew. There it is, and Verstappen serving two penalties. One for wheel-banging at Turn 4, one for going off the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 8. 71 laps packed with action in Formula 1. Wheel-to-wheel battles, penalties, pass and repass, drama in the constructors, drama in the drivers, and out front, ahead of it all, above the rest of them, a man who for the first time in his Formula 1 career is going to win multiple races in a single season. It will be only his fourth win in Formula 1. He said Paul yesterday was bittersweet because it gave him the feeling that Ferrari might be in a fight for a World Championship, and he won't be there to use it. That realisation ignited a fire today. He knows the road back to the front might be long and windy with Williams, but listen to this. The sight and the sound of this crowd acclaiming their winner. Carlos Sainz comes out of the final corner for the final time. Carlos Sainz wins the Mexico City Grand Prix. A fine way to take a fourth career victory. It will be a 10-point swing in the Drivers' World Championship after Lando Norris finishes in second. P2. Well done, mate. Thank you. Follow the dash, please. Follow the dash. Yeah, couldn't have asked for a lot more. It was a good race, just... Yeah, interesting one. Well done. Good points, everyone. Thank you. Hard luck. We'll have a look at that, particularly that second set. Well, I mean, in the medium 12, we had some pace. Really shocking. Yeah, frustrating race today, Max, but you gave it everything, and I thought the penalties were definitely on the harsher side. It's not very often we see two 10-second penalties handed down in such quick succession. Joshua, what's your view on those two? Well, I mean, at the end of the day, if you agree with it or not, it doesn't matter because the penalties are given, so that's also honestly not my biggest problem of the race. My biggest problem was that we just had no pace. Yeah, just struggling a lot on the tyres. Yeah, I couldn't really attack and I couldn't follow Ferrari and McLaren. You know, I always go into the races and I expect good battles and fair battles, and of course, you know, I expect tough battle with Max. I don't want to complain about it, you know, because this is what I love. I love going into races and knowing we're going to have a good battle today and he's going to put up a good fight and all of those things, and I look forward to it, but things like today are just a bit too far, in my opinion, and obviously in the stewards' opinions too, and I would say probably the majority of people's opinions. And on those moves and those penalties, will you do anything different next time around then, given they've been penalised? Maybe get a drink in the pit stop. Yeah, I mean, the engine was off for 20 seconds, so I had enough time. I respect Max a lot. I want to race hard against him, but yeah, if I didn't do what I did today and avoid him, I'd probably be out of the race, you know, so it's tough, but I played my cards well. I knew what to expect in many ways and yeah, points are good for me at the minute and I'll just keep my head down. Great, sir. Thanks. Well, sometimes in Formula One, the most complex of sports, it can be about so much. Four Grand Prixs remain, two sprint races, and this 2024 season will not relent. Action all the way from lights out to the waving of the chequered flag.