Piastri is becoming Norris's support act – Mexican GP takeaways

The Mexican Grand Prix delivered what could be one of the defining weekends of the season so far, as a commanding win by Lando Norris reshaped the title fight.

Max Verstappen completed an outstanding salvage job and Oscar Piastri lost the championship lead for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Oliver Bearman, meanwhile, had a breakout drive that highlighted his potential as a future Ferrari star.

Here’s all we learned from the Mexico City weekend.

Norris makes big statement…

Norris’s crushing victory in Mexico felt like a moment of emphatic intent, a race that underlined not only his title credentials but also his capacity to switch the momentum of the championship at exactly the right moment.

From the moment he took pole on Saturday, Norris looked in complete control. On Sunday, he converted that dominance into one of the most commanding performances of his Formula 1 career, leading every lap and finishing over 30 seconds clear of his closest rival in what was the biggest victory margin of the season.

Norris’s win was the kind that sends a message, both to the other side of the McLaren garage but also to Verstappen, whose momentum came to a crushing end as his British rival disappeared into the distance.

Something appears to have altered since Norris retired from the Dutch Grand Prix, a race won by team-mate Piastri.

Since the Zandvoort event, Norris has outperformed the Australian every time, his recovery culminating in taking the championship lead on Sunday.

Amid Verstappen’s dominance of the recent races in which McLaren didn’t have the leading car, Norris was almost the invisible title challenger, not having Piastri’s championship lead or Verstappen’s momentum.

Mexico changed all that as Norris showed that he is not simply hanging on in this title fight, but rather setting the pace.

What made the drive so telling wasn’t just the margin of victory, but the ease with which Norris appeared to find it.

The McLaren was back to being the class of the field, and in clean air Norris was able to exploit it with a calm, precise rhythm.

As his rivals battled balance issues, tyre wear and track temperatures, Norris’s side of the garage seemed untouched by turbulence; Mexico was one of those rare weekends where everything clicked perfectly – and Norris maximised it.

Psychologically, the win could weigh heavier than its reward in terms of points. If things continue to go his way in the final races, Mexico could stand out as the moment when Norris seized the championship narrative for himself.

…but Verstappen is still relentless

Even on a weekend that seemed to get away from him right from the start, Verstappen found a way to turn damage limitation into something remarkable as he secured third place when he could have easily finished seventh or eighth.

The way he achieved it – after a scrappy opening stint, balance issues, and track position that at one stage left him staring at the lower end of the top 10 – was another example of Verstappen extracting absolutely everything out of each opportunity he gets.

Only a somewhat bewildering virtual safety car on the final lap prevented him from what looked like an almost overtake on Charles Leclerc for second place.

Verstappen’s second stint in particular was a study in control and precision.

Once he cleared the early chaos and settled into rhythm, the Dutchman managed his tyres with his characteristic finesse, stretching the soft compound far longer than seemed possible while still extracting pace.

Mexico was another instance of him making the best of what wasn’t the fastest car, minimising the damage and keeping himself firmly in touch in the standings.

It’s the kind of consistency – and refusal to yield – that has defined his season.

Norris’s display left Verstappen bruised but unbowed and, more importantly, closer to the championship lead despite never looking like the quickest man on track.

The Brit’s pace should have Red Bull worried for the next races, but Verstappen again showed his resilience knows no bounds, particularly on his bad days.

Piastri now looks more like his 2024 self

Piastri’s recent dip in form has become an increasingly uncomfortable subplot in McLaren’s otherwise strong campaign.

After spending much of the mid-season matching or bettering Norris for pace and consistently, the Australian has looked out of sorts in the last few rounds – Mexico being the latest example of a weekend where he never quite found the rhythm or balance that once appeared to come naturally.

Piastri’s form has raised worrying echoes of his 2024 season, when flashes of brilliance were too often offset by spells of inconsistency.

While Norris has surged into a title-challenging mode, Piastri has struggled to extract the same confidence from the car, particularly over a single lap.

The Australian’s qualifying deficits have left him on the back foot on Sundays, forcing him into damage-limitation drives like in Mexico.

His fifth place wouldn’t be so alarming if he hadn’t finished over 40 seconds behind Norris.

The trend is subtle but telling: what began as a small gap has widened into something more significant, suggesting something is up with Piastri’s approach or his confidence.

The McLaren man’s chances remain intact, but the contrast with his team-mate has become stark after Mexico.

The risk is that, as the title fight intensifies, his dip in form continuing for longer could make Piastri become Norris’s support act.

Russell had a point about the stewarding

George Russell‘s post-race frustration over the lack of action from the stewards struck a chord in Mexico, and with good reason.

The start featured at least three of his rivals shortcutting corners or running across the grass to retain position, yet no penalties followed.

It was pure chaos, to be somewhat fair to the stewards, but in a championship where track limits and enforcement have been constant flashpoints, the inconsistency was hard to ignore, and Russell’s criticism felt justified.

“I struggle to understand how three drivers can just cut the first corner and continue it,” Russell said of the incidents which saw Verstappen, Leclerc and his own team-mate Kimi Antonelli go off track and returning to the position they felt they thought they should be in.

“It punishes the drivers who have driven correctly.

“If you can risk everything with no downside, that’s what drivers are going to do. And it’s always been the case here in Mexico. People cut in Turn 1, so I was frustrated then.”

Lewis Hamilton‘s 10-second penalty for not following the race director’s instructions in returning to the track later on appeared disproportionate in the context of the start chaos.

The result was a race that occasionally blurred the lines of fair play, and left those who had stuck within the limits feeling short-changed.

Bearman showed his credentials

Norris wasn’t the only driver making a statement in Mexico, as Oliver Bearman‘s fourth-place finish in Mexico felt like more than just an impressive result.

In a race that tested composure, tyre management and racecraft, the 20-year-old Haas racer delivered the kind of performance that hinted at a driver ahead of his experience curve.

Bearman’s pace was genuine, and despite benefiting from the chaos during the opening laps, he showed his position was not just opportunistic.

The Briton ran a calm, measured race that combined maturity with flashes of aggression when opportunities arose.

In his second stint, he balanced tyre wear to resist the pressure from the likes of Russell, only missing out on a podium finish to Verstappen’s superb drive.

Bearman’s Mexico performance was a drive that didn’t just earn points; it earned more credibility, particularly on the back of two consecutive points finishes.

Still a member of Ferrari‘s driver academy, Bearman is starting to show glimpses of the future the Scuderia has been nurturing.

Only time will tell if Bearman is the man destined to replace Hamilton or Leclerc, but his drive in Mexico will have given the Scuderia plenty to think about – a timely reminder that Ferrari’s next star might already be on its books.