Charles Leclerc led the Mexico City Grand Prix after an opening-lap shuffle between the two Ferraris, with Max Verstappen running second and Lewis Hamilton third, according to live coverage from La Gazzetta dello Sport. Hamilton had started from pole and held the lead initially, but Leclerc passed George Russell and then moved ahead of his teammate when the pair went wide. Kimi Antonelli, who started fourth, ran in fourth place.
The race was later restarted, with Leclerc again at the front. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Hamilton complained over the radio about Leclerc's conduct, saying he had been "pushed out by my teammate." Russell was also placed under investigation for a separate contact with Isack Hadjar.
Why it matters
The afternoon carries more weight than a single race result. Antonelli arrived in Mexico needing just two more points to claim the 2026 drivers' title, which would make him the youngest champion in Formula 1 history. A ninth-place finish or better would settle the championship regardless of what his rivals do, per La Gazzetta dello Sport. Even a pointless afternoon would not end his chances, provided neither Russell nor Hamilton wins the race.
Mercedes leads the constructors' standings with 607 points, with Ferrari second on 474. Red Bull sits third on 355, level with McLaren but ahead on countback.
Gap management at the front
The lead changed hands repeatedly in the early running. La Gazzetta dello Sport's lap-by-lap account put Leclerc 2.4 seconds clear of Verstappen and four seconds ahead of Hamilton at one stage, with Antonelli and Russell next and Lando Norris, Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri following.
The margin then shrank. Leclerc set a fastest lap but Verstappen pulled away slightly to sit 1.1 seconds back, with Hamilton 2.2 seconds off the lead and Antonelli 3.9 seconds behind. On another reading of the timing, Leclerc held Verstappen inside a second with Hamilton 1.5 seconds adrift. The order behind the leaders remained Antonelli and Russell.
Antonelli's calm before the start
Speaking to Sky Sport in the paddock less than an hour before the start, Antonelli said he was focused on the opening moments rather than the championship arithmetic. "I thank everyone, all the Italians who will be watching me, I'll try to do my best to carry the tricolour high," he said, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
He added that starting fourth made the first metres decisive. "There's a chance to have a good race — I start fourth and at the start it will be important to understand where to go, that can make the difference, it will be important to understand the right thing to do." Asked about his sleep, he said it had been his best night of the week.
Pérez reaches 300 starts at home
Sergio Pérez, one of the local favourites, was due to make his 300th Formula 1 start in Sunday's race. The Guadalajara driver debuted at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix with Sauber, finishing seventh on the road before being disqualified over a wing infringement. He spent two seasons and 37 starts with the Swiss team, taking his first three podiums there, then had a single year at McLaren in 2013 before joining Force India. He made 99 appearances for the Anglo-Indian outfit, adding five more podiums, and stayed on for 36 races after the team became Racing Point in 2019 — winning for the first time in his penultimate race with them at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. He moved to Red Bull for 2021, where he took five wins and 29 podiums across 90 starts, and returned to the grid this year with Cadillac after a season away.
Circuit history in brief
Verstappen is the most successful driver at this venue with five wins, all for Red Bull — in 2017 and 2018, then three in a row from 2021 to 2023. That record also makes Red Bull the leading team here, one victory clear of McLaren. Lotus, Williams, Mercedes and Ferrari have three wins each. McLaren and Ferrari are the only teams to have won across all three eras of the circuit: McLaren with Denny Hulme in 1969, Alain Prost in 1988 and Ayrton Senna in 1989, and Norris last year; Ferrari with Jacky Ickx in 1970, Prost in 1990 and Carlos Sainz in 2024. Jim Clark holds the most poles here, taken in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
This is the sixth running of the race under the Mexico City Grand Prix name, adopted in 2021. Twenty world championship Mexican Grands Prix came before it, all on this circuit in its various guises — first between 1963 and 1970 as Magdalena Mixhuca, again from 1986 to 1992 as the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and continuously since 2015 apart from the pandemic-hit 2020.
The altitude is the weekend's defining technical challenge. Thin air makes aerodynamic load harder to generate, so teams run wing levels similar to high-downforce tracks such as Monaco yet end up with grip closer to that of low-downforce circuits.
What to watch
Whether Leclerc can hold the lead through the restart, and whether Antonelli converts fourth place into the two points he needs for the championship.
