2024 Mexico City Grand Prix


The 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 October 2024 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the twentieth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari took pole position, and went on to win the race ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren and teammate Charles Leclerc. Sainz's win was the fourth of his career, his final win with Ferrari, and his first in Mexico City. Both Ferrari cars finished on the podium, which allowed the team to take second ahead of Red Bull Racing in the Constructors' Championship.

Background

The event was held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City for the 24th time in the circuit's history, having previously held twenty editions of the Mexican Grand Prix, across the weekend of 25–27 October. The Grand Prix was the twentieth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the fourth held under the name of the Mexico City Grand Prix, having previously been titled the Mexican Grand Prix.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 354 points, 57 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 79 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. McLaren, holding 544 points, entered this round as the leader of the Constructors' Championship from Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, who were second and third with 504 and 496 points, respectively.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were same as the season entry list with two exceptions: Franco Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams from the Italian Grand Prix onwards, and Liam Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB from the preceding United States Grand Prix. During the first practice session, five teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:
Alonso made his 400th Grand Prix entry, making him the first driver to reach that milestone.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event. The second free practice session was dedicated to validating the softer compounds in the range that would be designated C4, C5, and C6.

Track changes

The DRS zone leading in to turn 1 was shortened by.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 25 October 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by George Russell of Mercedes ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari and Yuki Tsunoda of RB. The session was red-flagged twice: the first time for debris on track, of which Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes hit, damaging his car's floor, and the second time for an accident involving Alexander Albon of Williams and Oliver Bearman of Ferrari. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 16:00 local time, and was topped by Sainz ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Tsunoda. The session, which was dedicated to Pirelli tyre tests with new compounds, was red-flagged due to Russell's heavy crash. The third practice session was held on 26 October 2024, at 11:30 local time, and was topped by Piastri ahead of his teammate Lando Norris and Sainz.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 26 October 2024, at 15:00 local time.

Qualifying classification

Notes
  • – Esteban Ocon qualified 19th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé.

Race

The race was held on 27 October 2024, at 14:00 local time, and was run for 71 laps.

Race report

As soon as the race began, a collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon was observed which resulted in both drivers retiring. Albon had started ninth while Tsunoda sat on the grid in 11th behind Albon and Nico Hülkenberg. Albon was sandwiched between Pierre Gasly, who had started eighth, and Tsunoda, causing his car's hub wheel to come off, leaving debris on the track. Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen battled for the lead at the start, but Verstappen lost traction of his car and forced Sainz to the grass, of which no further action was taken. Sainz successfully overtook Verstappen on lap 9. However, on lap 10, both Verstappen and championship rival Lando Norris clashed: Verstappen pushed Norris to the grass twice at turns 4 and 7, in a similar move to what he did with Sainz. Verstappen was issued two separate ten-second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, allowing Charles Leclerc to take second. Verstappen served his penalty during lap 27 on his pit stop. His teammate, Sergio Pérez, endured a sub-par home race: after being penalised for a false start, he came across Liam Lawson, a driver for his sister team RB. As they battled for position, they collided, causing damage to Pérez's sidepod. Lawson stayed ahead and overtook Pérez while performing a middle finger, which resulted in post-race remonstrations from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Pérez finished last out of all the finishing cars.
Leclerc, who had been running in second, made a mistake at the last corner on lap 63, allowing Norris to take second. Three laps later, both Mercedes drivers battled for fourth, with Lewis Hamilton taking the place ahead of his teammate, George Russell.
In the closing laps, a collision between Franco Colapinto and Lawson resulted in Colapinto received a ten-second time penalty for causing the collision. Lawson received damage to his left-front wing endplate. Sainz, who had been running in the lead since lap 9, won the race comfortably ahead of Norris and Leclerc, who took the fastest lap of the race. Sainz's win was his first since the Australian Grand Prix, and was the fourth of his career, allowing Ferrari to take second ahead of Red Bull Racing in the Constructors' Championship.

Race classification

Notes
  • – Includes one point for fastest lap.
  • – Franco Colapinto received a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson. His final position was not affected by the penalty.

Championship standings after the race

Verstappen lost ten points relative to Norris, meaning that Norris was able to close the gap to 47 points. Following their second consecutive double podium, Ferrari managed to take second place ahead of Red Bull Racing in the Constructors' Championship with 537 points, trailing championship leader McLaren by 29. Despite winning the Grand Prix, Sainz was mathematically eliminated from championship contention.
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standingsNote: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Competitor marked in bold and with an asterisk still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.