Norris Takes F1 Lead With Mexico City Victory

Mexico City — Lando Norris reclaimed the championship lead from his teammate, Óscar Piastri, by winning in Mexico City on Sunday, breaking a five-race winless streak to create a tense finale in the fight for the Formula One title.

"I think it's simply my best performance over an entire weekend," said Norris, who started from the pole position, was never challenged, and won by thirty seconds.

The sixth victory of the season for Norris marked his first return to the top step of the podium since he triumphed at the Hungarian Grand Prix in early August. More importantly, Norris capitalized on Piastri's recent drop in form to tighten the intra-team competition to dethrone Max Verstappen as world champion. Norris now holds a one-point lead over Piastri with four races remaining.

Norris began the race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with a 14-point deficit to Piastri in the drivers' standings. McLaren has already secured its second consecutive constructors' championship and now seeks to end Verstappen's four-year reign as F1 world champion with either of its drivers. Norris is at the top of the standings for the first time since the fifth race of the campaign in April.

"It's one weekend at a time," Norris stated over a deafening chorus of boos from the sold-out crowd of 150,000 spectators. The booing caused Norris to pause his trackside interview and laugh nervously before continuing. "I'm happy, I'm focused on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore all of that. I keep to myself and it's working."

He later indicated that he does not mind the boos. "People can do what they want, I think that's sport," he noted. "They can keep doing it if they want, of course you don't want it. I would prefer people to cheer for me."

Piastri started from seventh position and used a late overtake on George Russell to finish fifth, a critical advancement that allowed Norris to take only a one-point lead over Piastri in the championship race.

Meanwhile, Verstappen arrived in the Mexican capital with three wins in the last four races to put himself back in title contention. He finished third on Sunday, with a late virtual safety car preventing the Red Bull driver from overtaking Charles Leclerc for second place.

Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri six races ago but has positioned himself to challenge for a fifth consecutive title. He is now 36 points behind the leader. The gap could have been even narrower if the safety car had not limited Verstappen's opportunities to pass Leclerc in the final two laps.