2023 F1 Mexico GP results: Verstappen wins after Magnussen shunt

Verstappen grabbed the lead from third on the grid after powering past the Ferraris that had locked out the front row. His team-mate Sergio Perez tried to follow him around the outside of the first corner, but bounced off Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and was forced out of the race.

Verstappen was dominating the race before Magnussen suffered a big crash when his Haas’s rear suspension appeared to break at Turn 8 and he shunted heavily into the wall.

That effectively split the race in two, but Verstappen resumed his domination after the restart, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton worked his way past the Ferraris to finish a distant second, ahead of Leclerc.

2023 F1 Mexico Grand Prix results

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Laps	Time
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	71	-
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	-13.875
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	-23.124
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	71	-27.154
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	71	-33.266
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	71	-41.020
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	71	-41.570
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	71	-43.104
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	71	-48.573
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	71	-1'02.879
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	71	-1'06.208
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	71	-1'18.982
13	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	71	-1'20.309
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	71	-1'20.597
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	71	-1'21.676
16	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	70	-
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	66	-
-	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	47	-
-	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	31	-
-	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1	-

How the 2023 F1 Mexico Grand Prix unfolded

Polesitter Leclerc led the charge to Turn 1 but a fast-starting Verstappen drove between the Ferraris that had locked out the front row.

The second Red Bull of home hero Perez surged alongside the leaders on the outside line, to make it three-wide, but hit Leclerc as he turned in at Turn 1 and flew into the air. Perez made it back to the pits, but his car was too badly damaged to continue.

Verstappen led the opening lap from Leclerc, who had front wing endplate damage, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri), Hamilton, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and George Russell (Mercedes). Leclerc’s endplate flew off at Turn 1, causing a brief virtual safety car on lap five.

Hamilton passed Ricciardo for fourth on lap 11, while Alex Albon (Williams) passed Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) for the final points-paying place on lap 15.

Verstappen pitted from P1 on lap 20, rejoining on hard tyres, allowing Leclerc to lead from Sainz and the close-following Hamilton.

Hamilton pitted for hards on lap 25, while Verstappen eased past Sainz to take second on lap 29. Sainz stopped two laps later, rejoining well behind Hamilton, while Leclerc went a lap later and rejoined in second but 16s behind Verstappen.

Magnussen then suffered a huge crash at Turn 8 on lap 35, as his rear suspension appeared to fail, which caused a safety car and sent Verstappen into the pits for fresh hards – just before the race was red flagged.

The grid reformed, with most of the leaders on hard tyres, in the order Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton (on mediums), Sainz, Ricciardo, Piastri (mediums) and Russell (mediums). Verstappen aced the getaway at the restart and sprinted clear, with the only mover near the front of the field being Russell, who passed Piastri and Ricciardo to grab fifth.

Hamilton passed Leclerc with a brave move on the run towards Turn 1 with 21 laps to go, by which time Verstappen was 2.6s ahead and pulling away – even though he was on the harder rubber.

Verstappen extended his lead to beat Hamilton (who set fastest lap on the final tour) to the chequered flag by over 13s, as Leclerc finished a distant third from Sainz.

Further back, Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) clashed twice over seventh in successive laps at Turn 1, their second contact ending with Tsunoda spinning down to 16^th.

McLaren’s Lando Norris started from 17th on soft tyres and was up to 10^th by the restart but lost four spots in that. He battled back up to eighth and McLaren switched places with Piastri in an attempt to catch Ricciardo.

Norris did that and nipped ahead of Ricciardo around the outside of Turn 4. He then chased down Russell and passed him at Turn 6 with five laps remaining in a sparkling drive that netted him fifth.

Russell just held off Ricciardo, ahead of Piastri, Alex Albon (Williams) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) rounded out the points scorers.

2023 F1 Mexico Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Km/h
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'21.334		190.503
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'21.644	0.310	189.780
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'21.944	0.610	189.085
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'22.332	0.998	188.194
5	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'22.501	1.167	187.808
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'22.539	1.205	187.722
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'22.679	1.345	187.404
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'22.760	1.426	187.220
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1'22.773	1.439	187.191
10	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'22.780	1.446	187.175
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1'22.976	1.642	186.733
12	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'23.003	1.669	186.672
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'23.146	1.812	186.351
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'23.166	1.832	186.306
15	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1'23.222	1.888	186.181
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'23.230	1.896	186.163
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'23.257	1.923	186.103
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'23.531	2.197	185.492
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'23.567	2.233	185.412

 

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