the 2025 mexico grand prix: the stewards' room circus
norris wins by half a minute and takes the title lead by a single point, while the FIA hands out a harsh penalty and a badly timed VSC.
we went into the weekend on a mix of anxiety and hopium. max verstappen needed a near-perfect weekend to keep his fifth WDC alive, and although he only started P5, he still reminded us why he’s the GOAT.
in practice, ferrari tricked us once more into thinking the car had pace. except this time it actually did. charles leclerc topped FP1 and was second in FP2, and lewis hamilton was second in FP3. we all waited for the usual qualifying fumble and (shockingly) it never came: leclerc qualified P2 and hamilton P3, his best grand prix grid slot in red.
lando norris took pole, george russell was P4 and max P5. oscar piastri kept his second-half slump going with P8 (P7 on the grid after a carlos sainz penalty), a perfect chance for norris to chip away at his lead, or take it outright.
at the start norris kept the lead while leclerc, hamilton and verstappen all tried to fit into turn 1 next to him. they didn’t fit. verstappen went across the grass and rejoined ahead of russell, who threw yet another tantrum on the radio about it. leclerc cut the corner too. nobody got a penalty.
on lap 6, hamilton locked up fighting verstappen, cut turn 4 across the grass and came back out ahead. that one got a 10-second penalty, which had the entire teleiosx watch party i was at booing. plenty of people cut corners at the start and kept their places, yet lewis was the one punished. his best chance yet of a first ferrari podium was ruined, and he finished P8.
oliver bearman had the best race of his life. he passed verstappen early on, ran P3 for a decent bit and kept a rampant max behind him until his second pit stop. he finished P4, his best result in F1 and equal to haas’ best ever (romain grosjean, austria 2018).
verstappen drove a great race to P3, and norris won by 30 seconds from leclerc. piastri’s P5 means norris now leads the championship by one point, the first time he has been on top since april.
entertaining as it was, the FIA still robbed us of the best part. in the final laps verstappen was hunting down leclerc on fresh softs. right as he got within DRS range, carlos sainz spun in the stadium section and stopped his smoking williams in the run-off. race control called a VSC on the second-to-last lap (their excuse: marshals had to move the car), which killed what would probably have been an amazing lecstappen fight.
that brainless call, plus an unfair penalty for hamilton, proves it again: the FIA needs consistent decision-making, and the only way to get it is a permanent group of stewards at every race.
this weekend the travelling circus heads to brazil. last year verstappen won from P17 while both alpines finished on the podium. the forecast for são paulo looks pretty rainy, so expect lance stroll to either crash on the formation lap or go from P15 to P5 in three laps. expect max to win again, too, while both mclarens slide onto the grass and lose a couple of places.
i’ll continue the beginner’s series this week and write up the brazilian GP as well. adios, and buenas noches.