It’s Glowing Red Again!

Leclerc went for the ‘winning bet’ as he got the better of both front-row starters through Turn 1, as Ferrari demonstrated their true race pace on Sunday. Leclerc said he knew that Max Verstappen would go all out at the race start to thwart Lando Norris’ intentions of making a clean getaway.

He steered his SF24 wide so as to get maximum traction and exit speed to lead into the sequence of corners ahead while the Red Bull and McLaren went off track limits! Team mate Carlos Sainz almost followed him through too but Verstappen was quick to tuck back and hold the Spaniard back. 

Sainz would later undercut the championship leading RB20 and seal a historic podium for the Scuderia. It wasn’t the first time this season that McLaren’s Norris failed to capitalise on a well earned pole position. He may have lost the race lead in his head to Verstappen even before the lights went out! After a solid performance at Singapore where he dominated the field from the front, the defeat to the Dutchman in the Sprint on Saturday may have caused a war of nerves at the start.

Verstappen’s style of not backing out of it forced Norris to relinquish the place even though the Englishman had a better start and gradually ‘closed the door’ on the Red Bull. On Lap 56, Norris showed he was not done and continued to attack Verstappen even though the champion was defending with all his craft.

Just like the opening lap tussle both cars went off track at Turn 1 and Norris took over P3 from his rival. But the FIA Stewards deemed it a pass made outside the track limits and penalised Norris. If this year's championship were to be awarded on mind games only, then Verstappen has it wrapped up already! But to be fair his consistency in top scoring positions has been top notch so far. If he continues like this, no matter what his rivals do he has enough of a points buffer to maintain the lead. He heads the leaderboard on 354 points from Norris’ 297 and Leclerc’s 275.

At Mexico City up next, both Ferrari and McLaren will rely on all their drivers to score maximum points to hunt down the leader. The local fans however will shower their support unconditionally to homeboy ‘Checo’ Perez!

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Round 20 | Mexico | Monday, 28th October 01:30 | F1TV & FanCode App