Sainz ceded the lead from pole to Max Verstappen but reclaimed his position at the front on lap nine with a DRS pass on the championship leader into Turn 1.

This was a lead that Sainz continued to build, ensuring that he had plenty of margin to absorb any brief moments of pressure from team-mate Charles Leclerc, or Lando Norris’ late-race push.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Spaniard said that he had been incredibly keen to finish his time at Ferrari on a high with at least one more race win before he moves to Williams for 2025.

“It’s just a matter of that I think everyone knew I wanted one more race win with Ferrari. I felt like I also deserved it,” Sainz said.

“I’ve been driving well all year and I’ve been pushing flat out, keeping my motivation high even in a difficult circumstance, and wanting to give everything for this team. 

“I felt like I drove some really good races and one more I had to win. Eventually, it happened and it had to be in Mexico, in front of my family, which is great.

“It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to try and win more. But it had to be here.”

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

Sainz reckoned that the presence of his family at the race and his confidence with the car led him to feel “something was definitely cooking” in the Mexico weekend.

He admitted that he made his day more difficult by losing position to Verstappen at the start, but crucially had the confidence — and pace — to return the favour on his former team-mate.

“Honestly, it’s one of the best feelings in the world for sure. I felt like after Checo probably they were supporting me,” he added.

“Since I arrived in Mexico, I had a feeling that the win was possible. I knew my family was coming to see me here this weekend. My mum was going to be present. I knew I hadn’t won a race with my mum in front of me. 

“My best friends are here, my dad, and I was like ‘there might be something cooking this weekend, and I need to make sure I do everything I can to win this race’. 

“Even though I made it a bit difficult with the start, then I made it stick with Max and I enjoyed that race from then onwards.”

MAX VERSTAPPEN was slapped with a whopping 20-second penalty after a ferocious battle with title rival Lando Norris.

The huge punishment from stewards at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix came on the weekend Norris, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and others urged the FIA to tighten rules on Verstappen’s “unfair” driving style.

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Norris drove a superb race to finish in second place, sandwiched between the two Ferraris — race-winner Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in third.

It means the McLaren driver collected 18 points to Verstappen’s eight.

And Norris said: “I didn’t want to expect such a thing because I respect Max a lot as a driver but I was ready to expect something like this.

“It was not clean driving in my opinion but I avoided it and it was a good race. A lot of it was trying to stay in the race and avoid crashes.

“Congratulations to Carlos, he drove a great race. I tried my best. We were the quickest team, we’ll focus on ourselves.”

 This GP could prove crucial in the title race, with 47 points now separating the duo with four races remaining.

In total there are 120 points up for grabs — 25 for a win and one for the fastest lap, plus 16 for the two remaining sprint races. It is still a huge stretch for Norris.

Dutchman Verstappen had clearly taken no notice of the complaints about his driving and  tussled with Norris for ­second place on lap ten. 

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Norris went for an overtake around the outside of turn four but Verstappen nudged him wide and the McLaren was forced to cut the corner.

And when 24-year-old Norris tried to let him through at turn eight, both him and Verstappen went off track, allowing Leclerc to leave them for dust.

Seething Norris slammed Verstappen on the team radio and said: “I was ahead the whole way through the corner — this guy is dangerous.

“I just have to avoid a crash, I will end up in the wall in a minute.”

Stewards  hit world champion Verstappen with the hefty ten-second penalty for “forcing another driver off the track”.

When told about the penalty, Verstappen said: “Ten? That’s quite impressive.”

Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied on the radio: “There was a lot of whinging. A lot.”

Verstappen was then hit with ANOTHER ten-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for the incident with his nearest challenger.

In Mexico, F1’s governing body decided to revise its racing guidelines following uproar over Norris’ controversial five- second penalty for an overtake on  Verstappen in Texas a week ago.

The FIA gave no details as to what would change, but there was a discussion over the tactics Verstappen used to keep his position and whether he should have been punished.

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It seems they were keen to get their message across loud and clear during yesterday’s race.  

There was chaos from the start as Yuki Tsunoda made contact with Alex Albon and spun into the wall —  a wheel coming off his RB car.

Smoke plumed out of the car but luckily the Japanese driver quickly said “I’m OK” on the team radio.

Amid the drama, home hero Sergio Perez had risen from 13th to fifth, but stewards were investigating the Red Bull driver for a false start as he looked well beyond his pit box.

Verstappen fired into the lead at turn one ahead of Sainz, who veered off track and across the grass but gave the place back to the Dutchman.

On lap nine, Sainz and Verstappen ­tussled for the lead as the Spaniard wriggled inside thanks to DRS.

The claws were out from there as old foes Verstappen and Norris reignited their on-track battle — which led to the Red Bull driver’s two penalties.

The Dutchman sailed into the pit lane on lap 27 and served his 20-second ­penalty before returning in 15th place.

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The pack shuffled out by lap 38, with Sainz still in the lead followed by Leclerc, Norris, Russell and ­Hamilton.

There was a heart-in-mouth moment as Leclerc nearly careered into the barrier on lap 63 but saved himself just in time. 

Norris snuck through while the Ferrari went wide to leave him eight ­seconds behind leader Sainz.

Norris then chipped away at the gap until the very end but Sainz sailed over the line 4.7 seconds ahead.

Hamilton finished fourth after a near wheel-to-wheel battle with teammate Russell, who had to settle for fifth.

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Slot had to change things, so he pushed right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold into central midfield more and more in the second half to give Liverpool an extra man in that area.

He also dropped his two central midfielders who were operating ahead of Ryan Gravenberch – Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister – deeper so Liverpool had more options when they played out from the back. It was the same when Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Mac Allister for the final half hour, too.

At the same time, when Gabriel went off injured, Arsenal adjusted and dropped off rather than continuing to press, and it felt like they were trying to protect their lead instead of looking to score more goals.

That changed the shape of the game, but Liverpool still had to be wary of the Gunner’s threat on the counter – and tried to balance that with pushing for an equaliser.

Against the so-called lesser teams, you can leave one-on-one situations across your backline, but Arsenal’s players in the high positions are some of the best in the world and capable of beating people individually very easily, as we saw with Saka’s goal.

With all that in mind, Liverpool’s plan was to try to keep hold of the ball longer and hope the Arsenal players would switch off to allow them opportunities, without leaving themselves open at the same time.

But, again, you go back to the fact the Gunners are a top team defensively too. We have seen already this season how good their focus is – against Manchester City with 10 men, for example – and they don’t often make the kind of mistakes to let the opposition in.

While Liverpool had lots of possession after the break – 63% – they did not necessarily have much of it in dangerous areas. A lot of it was in the middle of the pitch, where Arsenal were camped, and they were happy for Liverpool to play around them and go from side to side.

In the end, Arsenal only left themselves open a couple of times, and one of them was for the chance that Liverpool made it 2-2 from.