
In the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz stood tall and overcame several competitors to come to the finish line a winner and after having overtaken Max Verstappen after a safety car in the early part of the race. When things became tight during the racing, Sainz made a perfectly timed DRS overtake to cement his position and then managed to keep hold of the car through the pitstops to take his second win of the season. However, Verstappen, who started the race on the third position, did not have a smooth race at all: two 10 second penalties for dangerous overtake of Lando Norris and that is why he had to finish only sixth.
The first incident of the race was Yuki Tsunoda with a collision with Alex Albon on the first lap at the Turn 1 that led to the safety car. Fighting between Albon and Pierre Gasly, Tsunoda hit the wall, which he referred to as unavoidable due to the limited space on the track. Albon also retired due to the damage, making for an early end to both this race and his day.
Both Hamilton and Russell fighting for fourth position. It was Hamilton who was struggling to find a way to get past Russell as the Briton defend well against many attempts by the Finn. Hamilton, however, was using all his guile to get into position to find space and breach Russell’s defense. In what can be described as a nail-biting performance, Hamilton finally overtook Russell on the 66th lap to settle for the fourth position, albeit with a comfortable 3.7 second advantage at the flag. After the race Hamilton admitted that he was well satisfied with the result though aware of the how closely his teammate had pressed him.
On the other hand, a fine race was had by Lando Norris, who despite starting on the soft compound tires managed to take P2 after he overtook Charles Leclerc, who had to back out due to issues with tire wear. Leclerc, Ferrari, unable to keep up with Norris even in the early stages, slipped down to the third place as his tires wore out in the last few laps.
More so, Sergio Perez’s home race was affected by penalties and a collision with Liam Lawson that left his car damaged thus starting from the last position in the grid. Nonetheless, Sainz was able to maintain his strategy and reliability in the final stages to take a deserved victory for Ferrari additionally securing valuable points for the Mercedes team in another thrilling inter-team battle.