Mexico Magic: Verstappen Triumphs And Antonelli Joins The Champions’ Club

The 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who becomes the youngest world champion in history.

Feature image credit: By Courtesy of Pirelli

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen did not get off to an easy start to the weekend. During Free Practice 2 on Friday, the Dutch driver collided with Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, costing the pair a 1-place grid drop. Roll on to Saturday, Verstappen qualified in fourth place, but with the penalty applied, slotted into fifth place on the grid on Sunday.

Where Ferrari Loses, Verstappen Gains

When the five red lights went out, the two Ferrari’s of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who qualified in first and third, with Hamilton clinching his first Grand Prix pole position in the iconic red, came to blows heading into Turn 4, where the pair ventured off track while fighting for the race lead.

As a result, Verstappen completed the overtake on Hamilton and Leclerc was handed a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Once Leclerc’s penalty was applied, Verstappen took the net race lead and, from there on, came home to take the chequered flag first, and became the first driver to win around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track from fifth on the grid.

Red Flags and Safety Cars

Despite coming out on top after the pit stop phases, the fight for the win was not over for Verstappen, who had to handle a red flag procedure and a safety car restart to maintain the lead.

On lap 45, the safety car was deployed as the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas was in the barriers down by Turn 1 after suffering from suspension failure, with his front left tyre exploding. After assessing the scene, the FIA decided to red flag the race as the barriers needed to be repaired.

Once the repairs were done and cars were shuffled into the correct order, we lined up on the grid and went racing once again. With every driver on the soft tyres and just 25 laps left, we essentially had a sprint race in our hands. During the restart, Verstappen defended his lead, and Hamilton got his revenge on Leclerc and overtook his teammate to take second place.

On Lap 59, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad made contact while fighting for seventh place, with Lindblad ending up in the barrier by Turn 2, causing the safety car to be re-deployed. Up until now, the Rookie driver had seen the chequered flag at every Grand Prix this season.

‘I’m really p***ed’ says Hamilton after Mexico Grand Prix Ferrari tussle

Antonelli Makes Motorsport History

After car 41 was cleared from the scene, we went racing for one final time, where Verstappen kept his lead out front and claimed his third win this season, with Hamilton behind in second, and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli claimed the final spot on the podium in third after overtaking Leclerc into Turn 1 shortly after the red flag restart. With Antonelli scoring more than 2 points, the boy from Bologna was crowned champion.

Leclerc was just shy of the podium in fourth and managed to hold off McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had no option but to sit behind the Ferrari in fifth place. Despite starting from second on the grid, Mercedes’ George Russell made contact with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar on the opening lap, sent the Frenchman spinning, and was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision. The Brit came home to finish in sixth.

The Midfield and Post-Race Penalties

Piastri finished seventh on the road, but with a post-race 10-second penalty applied for his collision with Lindblad, the Aussie was demoted to thirteenth.

The Alpine duo of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly took the chequered flag in eighth and tenth, scoring double points for the team. However, more post-race time penalties were applied, as both drivers were hit with penalties for failing to slow under the yellow flag. Colapinto received a 10-second penalty while Gasly was given a stop-and-go penalty. With the penalties applied, the pair dropped to the rear end of the field, with Colapinto in fifteenth and Gasly in seventeenth.

With all post-race penalties applied, Lawson, who was actually disqualified from Saturday’s qualifying, started Sunday’s Grand Prix from the pit lane and, after 71 laps, finished seventh to score valuable points for the Racing Bulls team after Lindblad’s unfortunate DNF.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto finished eleventh on the road, just outside the points once again for the team, but took eighth place and scored four crucial points; Hadjar claimed ninth place to take two points, and Haas’ super sub Ryo Hirakawa, who replaced Esteban Ocon for the weekend, took the final place in the top 10 to clinch a point on debut. His teammate, Ollie Bearman, was on for possible points before coming into contact with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, forcing Bearman to retire and left Hulkenberg with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

As for Aston Martin, the team suffered an early double retirement, with Fernando Alonso coming into the pits to retire on lap 6, and Lance Stroll forced to pull over and stop on track shortly after.

Mercedes fined after George Russell failed media duties at Mexico City Grand Prix

The Championship Standings 

Although the championship title has been claimed by Antonelli, the fight for second is still all to play for. With Verstappen’s race win in Mexico, he moves up into second in the Drivers’ Championship, sitting on 261 points, just ahead of Hamilton’s 259. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull pull away from McLaren in their fight for third, with Red Bull on 382 points to McLaren’s 365.

Up Next

Next up, we head to Brazil this week for our final race of this triple header. Is Verstappen making a late championship charge? Find out when the five red lights go out for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, November 8th.

The Full Race Classification

1 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

2 – Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

3 – Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

4 – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

5 – Lando Norris, McLaren

6 – George Russell, Mercedes

7 – Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

8 – Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi

9 – Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

10 – Ryo Hirakawa, Haas

11 – Alexander Albon, Williams

12 – Carlos Sainz, Williams

13 – Oscar Piastri, McLaren

14 – Nico Hulkenberg, Audi

15 – Franco Colapinto, Alpine

16 – Sergio Perez, Cadillac

17 – Pierre Gasly, Alpine

NC – Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, DNF

NC – Oliver Bearman, Haas, DNF

NC – Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, DNF

NC – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, DNF

NC – Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, DNF

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