Just one week after some exciting racing in Texas, the Formula One teams headed just South of the border to the FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2026. With five races remaining in the season, this was Kimi Antonelli’s second opportunity to secure the World Drivers’ Championship title. He only needed to finish in P9 to automatically win the title.
Lewis Hamilton lined up at the end of the formation lap in pole position, as first for him in Ferrari red. George Russell started alongside, claiming a front-row start. Both drivers had a strong start off the line, but Russell ran out of energy deployment by the end of the long run to the first corner, getting swallowed up by the cars behind and dropping to P5.
This left Charles Leclerc to pressure his teammate on the opening lap. The duo were side-by-side in the first sequence of corners, but Hamilton maintained the lead. The battle continued into turn four, with Leclerc being brave on the brakes to try and go around the outside of his teammate. There was no space, with Hamilton defending hard, and Leclerc had to cut the corner. He rejoined in the lead.
Hamilton’s corner exit was compromised, with the Brit having also gone over the white line in defence against his teammate. This left him under threat from Max Verstappen behind, who overtook the Ferrari driver on the inside of turn six.
It was thought that Verstappen would have the net lead, but Leclerc did not give back any positions, keeping track position and trying his luck with the penalty. The stewards awarded a five-second penalty for Leclerc, but by that point, Leclerc had nearly built a five-second lead over Verstappen.
The stewards also gave Russell a ten-second penalty for causing a collision. Russell had kept his nose alongside Isack Hadjar into turn six, spinning the Red Bull driver.
The virtual safety car was deployed on lap seven for Lance Stroll’s stranded Aston Martin. The Canadian was told to stop the car to retire, and he did so at turn six.
Oscar Piastri was the first driver to pit for tyres on lap 27, exchanging his softs for a set of mediums. Leclerc pitted the next lap, and Verstappen followed suit. Leclerc had to serve his five-second penalty, allowing Verstappen to take the net lead in the pit lane, but only just. Hamilton pitted a lap later, leaving the two Mercedes drivers to lead the race.
The strategy prediction for the race was a one-stop race. Verstappen was the only driver at the front of the field to start on the medium tyres, taking the soft tyres during his pit stop. This left him with a lot of distance to cover on that compound.
After Russell pitted on lap 34, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris were left to lead the race. Both drivers were taking the gamble on extending the first stint in hopes of a safety car. Norris gave up on lap 40, pitting for mediums, and Antonelli pitted on lap 44.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, the safety car did come out shortly after he rejoined the race. This was for Valtteri Bottas, who suffered a high-speed crash in the first corner. The front-left suspension of his Cadillac failed, leaving the Finn with no hope of controlling the car, which crashed backwards into the barriers. He was slow to get out of the car, but eventually emerged under his own power.
Hamilton was in the perfect position to dive into the pits for a second pit stop. He rejoined in P4 behind Antonelli. This would end up not being a great move, as the race was red-flagged so the barriers could be repaired. This would give every team the opportunity to fit new tyres to their cars.
Surprisingly, the stewards revised the starting order for the restart, putting Hamilton ahead of Antonelli. This was due to the timing sector the FIA used to determine the order of the cars before the red flag. Crucially, this put Hamilton with his teammate for the restart.
Verstappen had a solid restart from the lead, while Leclerc was almost immediately overtaken by Hamilton. Hamilton was late on the brakes into the first corner, trying to get around Verstappen in the first corner. The space closed, and there was minor contact between the two at the corner exit. He had to slot in behind the leading Red Bull.
Leclerc locked up heavily into the first corner, leaving him with flat spots that would hinder his pace in the laps to come. He was overtaken by Antonelli on the inside of the first corner on the next lap and faced heavy pressure from Norris.
The stewards were busy after the restart. They decided not to take action against Verstappen and Hamilton’s contact, but Verstappen was investigated for starting out of position. That too ended with no further action. Nico Hulkenberg earned himself a ten-second penalty for causing a collision, having misjudged the braking in turn four and spinning Oliver Bearman.
This left Ryo Hirakawa as the sole Haas in the race. He made his Formula One debut, replacing Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman, who will not be with the team next season, was replaced after participating in free practice two. Hirakawa had participated in the first free practice session Friday morning.
The safety car returned to the circuit on lap 59 so that marshals could recover the Racing Bulls car of Arvid Lindblad. He had clashed with Piastri while battling for P7 in the race. Lindblad had dove to the inside of the first corner while defending, so Piastri stuck his car on the outside. At the exit, the two made tyre-to-tyre contact, sending Lindblad bouncing into the inside barriers. Piastri escaped with some significant damage to his barge board and potentially a penalty. That will be investigated after the race.
As the laps ticked down, Norris was all over the back to Leclerc, looking like he was going to get by every lap. But for every attempt, Leclerc had an equally good defence, fending off the McLaren driver. Norris had to settle for P5 as he crossed the finish line.
Hamilton also had to settle for P2, as Verstappen finished the race at the top step of the podium. This promoted him to P2 in the World Drivers’ Championship battle, which has become tight between four drivers. Antonelli stood alongside the two legends on the bottom step of the podium.
And it was an extra special podium finish for Kimi Antonelli, becoming the 36th driver to win the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship title. At 20 years old, he smashed the record as the youngest Formula One world champion, which was previously held by the 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel back in 2010.
The championship title may be decided, but there’s still plenty of Formula One racing remaining in 2026. Next, the teams will head to Brazil for the final race in this current triple-header. That will lead into the final triple-header of the season, which will end with the season finale.
UPDATE: Oscar Piastri was given a ten-second penalty for causing a collision, dropping him out of the points. The stewards determined that Piastri was not sufficiently alongside to have a right to the corner and that the collision could have been avoided if Piastri had moved further to the left on the exit of the first corner.
UPDATE: Both Alpine drivers were given penalties for failing to slow under the yellow flags. Franco Colapinto was given a ten-second penalty for failing to slow under the single saved yellow flags. Pierre Gasly was given a stop-and-go penalty, which was converted to a 30-second penalty, for failing to slow under the double waved yellows. This drops both drivers out of the points.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 71 | 2:20:28.772 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 71 | +0.799 | 18 |  | |
| 3 | 71 | +4.006 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 71 | +10.707 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 71 | +11.778 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 71 | +12.263 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 71 | +20.899 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 71 | +22.041 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 71 | +22.503 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 71 | +25.373 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 71 | +27.562 | |||
| 12 | 71 | +28.638 | |||
| 13 | 71 | +29.475 | |||
| 14 | 71 | +29.977 | |||
| 15 | 71 | +30.204 | |||
| 16 | 71 | +30.695 | |||
| 17 | 71 | +51.483 | |||
| DNF | 58 | ||||
| DNF | 47 | ||||
| DNF | 42 | ||||
| DNF | 5 | ||||
| DNF | 5 |
| 1 | K. Antonelli | 380 |  | |
| 2 | M. Verstappen | 261 | -119 |  |
| 3 | L. Hamilton | 259 | -121 |  |
| 4 | G. Russell | 250 | -130 |  |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 245 | -135 | |
| 1 | Mercedes | 630 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 504 | -126 | |
| 3 | Red Bull | 382 | -248 | |
| 4 | McLaren | 365 | -265 | |
| 5 | Racing Bulls | 108 | -522 | |
