Lando Norris took the lead of the Formula One drivers’ championship by a single point with a commanding victory in the Mexican Grand Prix.
The British driver navigated early chaos to clinch his first win since Hungary in August, finishing 38.5 seconds clear of Charles Leclerc, and lead the standings for the first time in 189 days.
His McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who had led the championship since round five in Saudi Arabia, finished a difficult weekend strongly to finish fifth and keep Norris’ lead to one point.
Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a first podium for Ferrari were dashed by a 10-second penalty amid bedlam in the opening laps.
Leclerc held off Max Verstappen to finish second after Red Bull pulled off a one-stop strategy to earn the Dutchman a podium, while 20-year-old British driver Ollie Bearman landed a sensational career-best fourth.
Norris’ 10th F1 victory allowed him to halt the momentum of Verstappen, who has charged into the title picture by winning three of the previous four races, beating the Dutchman for the first time in seven races.
Norris overhauled his 14-point deficit to Piastri – having been 34 behind six races ago – moving 36 clear of third-placed Verstappen.
There are four rounds remaining and 116 points left to fight for when the championship heads to Brazil in a fortnight.
A scorching track temperature of 53 degrees at lights out set the stage for a thrilling start.
Hamilton delivered his best qualifying performance for Ferrari, lining up third – directly behind pole-sitter Norris.
That allowed him to slipstream the McLaren down the longest run to turn one on the calendar as Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen – up from fifth – were four abreast ahead after the 830m dash.
Verstappen ran across the run-off area at turn one before Leclerc cut the corner at turn two and emerged in the lead.
The Monegasque swiftly gave the position back to Norris, while Verstappen rejoined in fourth, making contact with Hamilton but staying ahead of George Russell.
Piastri lost two places to sit ninth with Bearman making up three places to sixth.
Further chaos ensued on lap seven. Verstappen slipstreamed Hamilton into turn one and the pair banged wheels as the Dutchman cut turn two.
Hamilton then locked up into turn four but failed to use the escape road as he ran across the grass, emerging ahead.
Amid the mayhem, Bearman jumped ahead of Verstappen to run fourth for Haas.
Norris opened up a 8.4-second lead after 20 laps, while Hamilton’s earlier failure to use the escape road at turn four landed him a 10-second penalty.
“That’s so **** man,” he said. “The grip there is so low.”
He pitted on lap 24 and rejoined 14th after serving his penalty. Verstappen avoided sanction.
Norris ran 35 of the 71-lap race on his soft tyres and rejoined with a lead of over 17 seconds to Leclerc.
Verstappen pitted on lap 38 after a run on mediums and came out down in eighth, behind Piastri and Hamilton.
Russell engaged in a furious row with his race engineer as he urged Mercedes to let him pass team-mate Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri on his gearbox.
Mercedes wanted him to cool his brake temperatures. “I’ve got an ****ing car in my ****. A car much quicker than ours,” he fumed. Belatedly they agreed to the swap.
On lap 48, Antonelli and Piastri pitted and the Australian jumped ahead of the Italian.
Bearman and Russell pitted a lap later, before the Haas driver held off his compatriot.
Piastri attacked Russell again with 11 laps remaining and pulled off a stunning move into turn one to take fifth, while Verstappen in third was charging after Leclerc.
Leclerc thwarted him into turn one before a virtual safety car prevented his final-lap assault and also allowed Bearman to see off Piastri to land a stunning fourth.
Russell finished seventh ahead of Hamilton in eighth.
