MAXico Grand Prix all the way!

MEXICO CITY was meant to be Kimi Antonelli's coronation. Instead, Max Verstappen crashed the party! Fifth on the grid, he won his sixth Mexico City Grand Prix, his third victory in the last four races. Asked about being the king of Mexico, he had a suggestion: "They should actually call it the 'Maxico' Grand Prix. That would be great." Hard to argue. Antonelli still got his crown, but Max owned the day.

Ferrari handed him the opening. Lewis Hamilton took his maiden pole for the Scuderia and led into Turn 1, only for Charles Leclerc to attack around the outside. Side by side, both went off at Turn 4. Leclerc cut the grass and took the lead, while Hamilton slipped behind Verstappen. A five-second penalty followed, and Verstappen jumped Leclerc in the pits. Fred Vasseur called it a lack of respect for the team. Is Ferrari racing its rivals or itself?

Then came the chaos. Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac suffered a suspension failure and hit the barriers, bringing out a red flag and a standing restart. A late Safety Car, after Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri collided, forced another. Verstappen survived both and held Hamilton off by 0.7 seconds. His 149 points lift him to second in the standings, two clear of Hamilton.

Antonelli only needed ninth. He started fourth, stayed out hoping for a Safety Car, and watched it arrive one lap after he pitted. Mercedes gambled and lost. But the red flag gave him a standing restart, and he used it, passing Leclerc into Turn 1. From there he shadowed Verstappen and Hamilton to the flag. Third place made him, at 20, the youngest champion in history and the first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1953. Speechless, he said. Fair enough.

For George Russell, it was a miserable end. Second on the grid, he lost four places at the start with an energy deployment problem, then tagged Isack Hadjar and collected a 10-second penalty. Sixth place dropped him to fourth in the standings. Toto Wolff admitted the team had let him down. The feel-good story belonged to Haas. Ryo Hirakawa replaced Esteban Ocon after FP2 and made his Grand Prix debut. Post-race penalties lifted him from P13 to tenth, and a point on debut. Ollie Bearman, hit by Nico Hulkenberg, wasn't so lucky.

So what now? Can Verstappen keep this run alive? Can Ferrari fix its internal war before it costs them more? And can Mercedes put Russell's season back together? Mexico City may have crowned a champion, but the fight for second just got interesting.

Round 20 | São Paulo | Sunday, November 8th, 10.30 pm | LIVE on F1TV & FanCode App

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