Carlos Sainz has truly hit his stride in the 2024 season, securing his second win with a masterclass performance in Mexico. From the start, the action unfolded with Sainz temporarily yielding the lead to Max Verstappen into Turn 1, only for Verstappen’s aggressive racing line to send the Ferrari onto the grass. Yet, a first-corner tangle between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda drew out the safety car, offering a brief reset.
Sainz’s response on the restart was clinical: after two laps in Verstappen’s slipstream, he made his move with DRS into Turn 1 and didn’t look back. Verstappen, meanwhile, became embroiled in another tense battle, this time with Lando Norris. Two separate incidents between them, with Verstappen muscling past Norris off-track at Turns 4 and 7, netted him two 10-second penalties, relegating him to sixth. Norris, seizing the opportunity, finished a remarkable second after overtaking Leclerc in the final laps. Ferrari’s other driver, Leclerc, managed to claim the fastest lap with a last-minute switch to softs, adding a crucial point to the constructors' tally.
Behind the front-runners, Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell engaged in an internal duel, with Hamilton finally breaking through on lap 66. He left Russell trailing by 3.7 seconds, securing fourth. Verstappen’s penalised performance kept him at a distance, with Kevin Magnussen close behind in an impressive seventh.
At the rear, Sergio Perez’s home race unraveled painfully, marred by penalties and floor damage from a scrappy duel with Liam Lawson. The Mexican star’s hopes to perform for the local crowd were dashed early, cementing a tough end to Red Bull’s day.
Sainz’s controlled victory may be a turning point in his bid to secure Williams-bound leverage and solidify his 2024 campaign success. This win, in particular, has shown that Sainz is more than ready to capitalize on Verstappen’s slip-ups and cement his name among the front-runners this season.