F1 Mexico GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Minute-by-minute updates from the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix
Carlos Sainz took his first pole position of the 2024 season on Saturday for the middle event of the F1 triple-header.
He will be followed off the grid by Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Home hero Sergio Perez and Norris' McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will line up in 18th and 17th respectively.
The lights will go out to signal the race start at 8pm GMT.
Live Standings
Live Text
Leclerc caught Stroll through the stadium section and as they start lap 59, Norris is now on the cusp of the DRS activation range.
Lawson did Norris no favours into T1, 2 and 3 but the McLaren is now within two seconds of Leclerc.
Colapinto has taken the fastest lap point for now, though.
Sainz has stretched the gap to Leclerc back out to 6.5s, but it's more that the latter is struggling in this phase of the race.
Norris is within 2.5s now. The last 14 laps could be huge for the championship fight with Verstappen looking likely to finish only sixth at most.
Piastri continues his progress, passing Hulkenberg for 8th. Magnussen is within striking distance but unless Verstappen stops again, 7th is as good as it is likely to get.
Hamilton is still hounding Russell but just cannot get past, even with DRS.
He was much, much closer into T4 though.
Haas deserves huge praise for how this weekend has gone - there was some luck involved with the red flag in Q2, but they have been consistent and very impressive. Nico Hulkenberg hasn’t been quite as happy with his set-up as Magnussen, which explains why the Dane has had the edge.
Verstappen's struggles have left him 12 seconds adrift of the Mercedes battle but fortunately, he is eight seconds up on Magnussen in seventh.
Piastri is still the danger, 17 seconds back but with a tyre offset.
Twenty laps to go and the gap between the two Ferraris is now 5.2s.
Colapinto's fresh tyres and pace means he is closing on Leclerc, which could be fun in a few laps...
Bottas completes the roster by entering the pits for the first time. 51 laps on hard tyres, and now just 20 to go on mediums.
Hamilton now has DRS on Russell in the fight for P4. Can they keep it clean?
Norris is now within four seconds of Leclerc but the front three are about to hit a lot of backmarker traffic. Sainz needs perfect behaviour from those in front.
Russell radio: "George, we are free to race, just give each other room."
Colapinto finally pits from ninth after again being a thorn in the side of Piastri. Another impressive display from the Williams driver.
A slight overshoot in his pit box, but he's back out again and is well clear of Perez.
Russell's front wing issue might be hindering him more than it first seemed - Hamilton is closing right in.
The gap is now a second on the dot.
Perez passes Zhou in the Sauber. A standard DRS move, but nothing to write home about on another disappointing day for the Mexican.
Fastest lap for Norris! That's an extra world championship point as it stands.
He does another fastest lap on the following lap. The gap to Leclerc down to 4.3s now.
The gap from leader Sainz to Leclerc in second has closed again, down to 6.3s now.
Norris keeping within five seconds of Leclerc for now, with Ferrari getting the wet weather tyres ready just in case.
A second stop for Perez and he returns to the track in 17th - last of the remaining runners. But with new mediums, how close to the points could he come?
Verstappen again complains of no grip on his hard tyres, he is losing time to Hamilton ahead and will have to focus on Piastri charging behind at this rate.
As Alex has quipped from the track, Russell has complained about drops on his visor, but has he got the sweat issues as he did in Spain last year?
Piastri has a double dose of DRS on the run to Turn 1, watches as Gasly takes Bottas, and then takes the Sauber himself on the run to Turn 4.
Following his stop, Piastri is now on a charge. 12th currently, he is directly behind Bottas and Gasly.
On the dark clouds and rain threat - Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough told us earlier that any rain that was going to come close wasn’t predicted to hit the track.
Unsurprisingly, the cameras quickly turned to Helmut Marko after Lawson took the current Red Bull driver.
Verstappen is struggling on his tyres - his laptimes are some eight-tenths to a second down on the leaders...
With DRS, Lawson pulls past Perez with ease having just pitted. That was for 16th.
Verstappen: "It's getting really dark."
The clouds are rolling in and there is rain in the distance, but GP Lambiase insists it won't affect the race.
Perez vs Lawson round two is upon us. This time, Lawson is the man on the hunt.
"Something is wrong with the steering," reports Colapinto from ninth. He describes it as fluctuating between feeling stiff and soft. A possible power steering issue.
Lap 40 and McLaren decides it's time to box Piastri from sixth. That clears the road for Verstappen.
Leclerc has shaved a second off Sainz’s lead - these hard tyres can be tricky to get warm and stay warm, but then Norris is also pushing hard behind. Leclerc and Norris in high 1m20s where Sainz is low 1m21s.
Verstappen is currently seventh after passing Lawson, but is complaining that his hard compound tyres aren't working.
The only driver ahead who is yet to stop is Piastri.
Sainz has called for Ferrari to check his data after hearing a "misfire" out of T3.
That's a major worry at altitude for the race leader.
Russell radioed his team a short while ago to check the front wing. There is definitely damage on his front left wing flap.
Norris having two track limits strikes around his clashes with Verstappen earlier - if the stewards here do as the ones in Austin did, they won’t count if he gets more as twice he was forced off by Verstappen.
Norris is getting on with his job - the gap to Leclerc down to 4.7s early in this phase of the race.
Leclerc has stabilised the gap to Sainz, so that's genuine pace from Norris.
Hamilton attacks Piastri now into T1 and that was like candy from a baby.
That's extra breathing room to Verstappen behind, who is charging.
Lawson did a fabulous job to defend into the first three corners but Piastri dived to the inside at T4, which put the RB out of position and allowed Hamilton up into sixth.
"Mate think about pulling me out of this ****."
Piastri isn't happy with how his race is transpiring as he ends up three wide into T1 with Lawson and Hamilton, who has joined the party.
Russell crucially picks off Piastri and Lawson in consecutive corners.
"Why have we done this? Surely we could have done one or two laps more?" A valid point after that needless battle.
By: Autosport Staff
