The Mexico City Grand Prix was halted with a red flag after Valtteri Bottas suffered a heavy crash at Turn 1 on lap 46, according to Motorsport.com Latinoamérica's live coverage of Sunday's race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The Cadillac driver ended up against the barriers and remained in his car while waiting for the medical team to reach him.
Cadillac later confirmed that Bottas had been taken to the medical centre for further checks as a precaution. The team said he had climbed out of the car unaided and had been responding on the radio. The broadcast showed his left suspension breaking before the impact, and the writer noted that he appeared shaken but otherwise unhurt.
Max Verstappen held the lead when the race was stopped. Lewis Hamilton ran second, 1.2 seconds back, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli a further 1.3 seconds behind in third.
Why it matters
The stoppage reshuffled the order at the front and left several questions to be settled after the chequered flag. Oscar Piastri was running ahead of the cars around him but carried significant damage to his McLaren, which the team described over the radio as serious. He was also under investigation, with a decision on any penalty deferred until the race had finished.
The restart grid placed Hamilton third and Antonelli fourth, meaning the running order at the front changed once the field was sent out again. Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, had already been penalised for passing Hamilton off the track, though Motorsport.com Latinoamérica noted that he still gained from the move.
Contact at the front and a barrier repair
Hamilton told his team that Verstappen had hit him at Turn 1 and asked whether any part of his car had been lost in the contact. He later fell outside the one-second DRS window to the leader.
Leclerc and Lando Norris continued their fight despite Norris running wide at Turn 14 a lap earlier. Norris tried to go around the outside of Leclerc at Turn 1 but could not complete the pass. Earlier, McLaren had radioed Norris that its photographers had spotted a loose flap on Leclerc's Ferrari; Norris replied that he had already seen it.
Further back, Nico Hülkenberg was given a ten-second penalty for taking Bearman out of the race. Piastri and Arvid Lindblad made contact, with the Racing Bulls driver coming off worse and the McLaren likely to face a sanction, per the live report.
Track workers repaired the damaged barrier, and the live text indicated the race would soon be able to resume without difficulty. Lawson, Sainz, Hirakawa, Albon and Pérez were to be moved towards the front of the field so they could unlap themselves before the restart.
What to watch
The order at the front, the stewards' pending call on Piastri and the condition of Bottas are the threads to follow as the race runs to its conclusion.
