Live: F1 Mexico GP commentary and updates

By: James Newbold, Sam Hall

Summary


	Summary Max Verstappen wins F1's Mexico GP to secure a record-breaking 16th victory of 2023 The Red Bull driver got the jump on the Ferraris on the run to the first corner, as contact between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez led to the home hero's retirement, and controlled proceedings thereafter A big Kevin Magnussen crash on lap 34 caused the race to be red-flagged, but Verstappen was untroubled after the restart when Lewis Hamilton battled past Leclerc Lando Norris recovered from 17th to finish fifth with an entertaining fightback through the field, while Daniel Ricciardo delivers AlphaTauri's best result of 2023 in seventh Yuki Tsunoda spins out of the points following contact with Oscar Piastri, while Lance Stroll retires after a clash with Valtteri Bottas
	Leaderboard Verstappen, Red Bull Hamilton, Mercedes Leclerc, Ferrari Sainz, Ferrari Norris, McLaren Russell, Mercedes Ricciardo, AlphaTauri Piastri, McLaren Albon, Williams Ocon, Alpine

Status: Stopped

00:22 We'll wrap things up there on the live text, but thank you very much as always for joining us. Be sure to keep an eye on the site for all the news and reaction from Mexico, and join us next time as we go sprint racing once more in Interlagos. Until then, goodbye for now!

00:21 F1's final triple header of the year then was another Verstappen masterclass, as Hamilton boosted his hopes of nabbing second, Ricciardo staked his most convincing claim yet to Perez's Red Bull seat and Norris entertained with a fabulous recovery. Fancy doing it all again next week in Brazil?

00:20 On a day of disappointment for Sergio Perez, following his first corner clash with Leclerc, Verstappen made it look easy out front. Once he'd claimed the lead at the initial start, he was never troubled and expertly kept the lead at the restart as Leclerc fought his losing battle against Hamilton.

00:18 Here's the full report from F1's return to Mexico, as Max Verstappen made it a hattrick of victories in Mexico City ahead of Lewis Hamilton and poleman Charles Leclerc: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-mexico-gp-race-report/10540220/

00:16 Damage from debris ended Alonso's race, and also costs him fourth in the drivers' standings to Sainz.

00:15 The non-score for Perez means the battle for second in the championship is alive once more. Hamilton's Austin DSQ appeared to have swung things in favour of the Red Bull number two, but second on the Mexican's home patch means the Mercedes driver now trails by just 20 points with three races (and one sprint) to go.

00:12 Bottas finished 14th, ahead of Zhou, as both Alfas dropped out of the points having started inside the top 10, while Sargeant was a late retirement due to a fuel pump issue.

00:11 Hulkenberg also lost out to Gasly and Tsunoda in the dying laps as he fell back to 13th, with Tsunoda benefitting from that messy incident in the stadium involving Bottas and Stroll.

00:10 Piastri took eighth, and will face no action for the tangle with Tsunoda that ended the Japanese driver's hopes of points. Albon and Ocon complete the points, the Alpine driver finally prizing open Hulkenberg's defences with a move around the outside of Turn 1.

00:09 Still, seventh represents the best result of the year for AlphaTauri and brings the Italian squad level with Alfa Romeo in the constructors' championship.

00:08 Sainz finished fourth as Ferrari's front row start failed to yield the hoped-for results, while Norris completed a famous recovery to fifth and Russell just held off Ricciardo for sixth.

00:07 The Red Bull driver beats Hamilton by 13.8 seconds as Leclerc completes the podium in third.

00:07 It's another new record for Max Verstappen. He takes his 16th victory of F1 2023, breaking his own record from 2022.

00:05 Ricciardo isn't able to get close enough to mount a challenge at the end of the two DRS zones, so will have to do it on the final lap if he's going to. Verstappen has now begun the final tour.

00:04 Can Ricciardo nab sixth from Russell? The AlphaTauri driver has got DRS on the Mercedes with two laps to go.

00:03 One imagines that Verstappen has a little more in his pocket ready to unleash in the closing laps having never really had to stress this set of hard tyres once Hamilton fell out of reach.

00:02 As attention turns to the race for the fastest lap, Verstappen currently holds the honour with a 1m21.644s.

00:02 With his spin, Stroll returns to the pits and retires from the race. The incident will be investigated after the race.

00:02 Norris has done it! He suckers Russell into running deep into Turn 4, gets the better exit from Turn 5 and claims the inside for Turn 6. A fantastic recovery drive looks set to net fifth for the McLaren man who started 19th.

00:01 And yellow flags then briefly fly with Bottas nudging Stroll into a spring through the stadium section. That was all a little bit clumsy.

00:00 Hulkenberg's defence is over. Ocon and Gasly have both found ways past the Haas.

23:59 Norris now has DRS on Russell. Will he strike immediately as he did on Ricciardo?

23:58 Sure enough, Norris is now just 1.2 seconds behind the Mercedes and is warned by his team to be patient when weighing up a move.

23:55 Norris has been the man to watch in the second half of the race, and he's closed to within 2s of Russell now. A challenge for fifth could soon be on.

23:55 Hulkenberg is really struggling on his medium tyres now. Although the Haas is looking after its tyres far better than usual, the writing appears to be on the wall in his fight against the Alpine pair.

23:54 We've not mentioned Verstappen for a little while, but he's having a jolly old day at the office. He's 12.68s clear of Hamilton.

23:53 Can Norris do anything about Russell ahead? It's been a fine recovery into the top six from the Briton, who had the setbacks of changing tyres just before the red flag and being shuffled back further at the restart.

23:52 Norris quickly gets into DRS range and wastes no time in making his pace advantage count. Ricciardo is powerless to defend as his former team-mate dives to his outside at Turn 4 before claiming the inside at Turn 5.

23:50 Norris is serenely closing in on Ricciardo, whose advantage now stands at 1.4s. Can the AlphaTauri driver hold out for a famous top-six finish that would boost his team ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas in the constructors' standings?

23:48 Leclerc hasn't really shown any inclination that he's going to catch Hamilton. This has effectively played out as an elongated sprint race with interesting variance in tyre strategies, but there's still 13 laps to go.

23:48 "What is this guy doing?" questions Sargeant as Stroll appears to move twice in his defence on the run to Turn 1.

"That's too much moving on the brakes," Sargeant adds.

23:47 Hulkenberg has a real fight on his hands to retain the final point in P10, with Alpine drivers Ocon and Gasly stuck firmly to his gearbox.

23:46 That was perfect team play from McLaren there. The clear mark of a team working in perfect harmony and also, one on the up.

23:46 Now what can Norris do about Ricciardo? The McLaren will surely have used up plenty of tyre life in charging through the midfield, and Ricciardo don't forget is on the more durable rubber. There's 2.4s currently between them.

23:45 Piastri duly obliges and lets Norris into P7 on the run to Turn 4. "Thank you," says the Briton over the radio.

23:45 As Piastri sees Norris loom larger in his mirrors, the Aussie is informed that he should let the Briton through to attack Ricciardo. We were just about to note how the AlphaTauri driver seems to be cruising to a top-six.

23:44 It has been reported that Aston Martin believes Alonso suffered damage from debris early in the race, explaining his lack of pace and subsequent retirement.

23:43 "You can say to Haas that I'm going to go for it so they had better be ready," says Ocon.

Moments later, Hulkenberg survives the attack. We're not sure about the strategy of forewarning there...

23:43 Sainz seems to have successfully stemmed the tide and held off Russell, who has dropped 2s behind the Ferrari that his team-mate undercut in the first pitstop phase.

23:41 The Piastri-Tsunoda clash is now under investigation. Tsunoda is P16 and snaps at his engineer that he doesn't need anymore information as he seeks to recover the lost ground.

Follow the live action as the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix reaches its climax with Sunday’s race.

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