Christian Horner doubts that Lando Norris would have made it through Turn 4 without going off track in his battle with Max Verstappen in the first of two Mexican Grand Prix incidents that awarded the Dutchman a 10-second penalty.

Norris made a move on the outside of Verstappen at Turn 4 of lap 10 after closing in with DRS, and the two were side-by-side in the apex. Verstappen was then adjudged to have guided Norris wide into the run-off and onto the grass.

This preceded the second incident that lap, where Norris – who was now ahead at this juncture – was pushed off the road by Verstappen at Turn 7 as the Red Bull driver came into the corner hot.

Horner, using print-outs of GPS traces in a session with the media to illustrate his point, believes that Norris braked much later for the corner versus that of his fastest lap later on in the race.

“First of all, I think it was very harsh to give two 10-second penalties,” Horner said. “I think there’s something more fundamental; I mean, obviously there’s been a reaction to last weekend.

“I think it’s very important for the drivers’ stewards and the drivers to sit down. Because [looking at] the GPS, this is on the run down to Turn 4.

“This is actually Lando versus Lando. In Lando’s fastest lap of the Grand Prix, the point that he’s braking for Turn 4 and then obviously executing the corner.

“On the lap that he has the incident with Max — he is 15 kilometres an hour faster and later on the brakes than his fastest lap of the grand prix.

“He wouldn’t have made the corner, he would have run off track. You can see from his onboard steering. Of course, at this point in the race, he’s got probably 80kg more fuel than at the point that he’s done his fastest lap.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Erwin Jaeggi

“It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside. I think we’re in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down, where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the at the apex, and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.

“You can see quite clearly, he’s effectively come off the brakes, gone in super late to try and win that argument, as far as the way these regulations are written, and then at that point, you’re penalised.”

Horner says the follow-up incident was a more understandable penalty, suggesting that Verstappen was expecting Norris to give up the place and ultimately became frustrated that his championship rival hadn’t done so.

He added that it was important that F1’s rulemakers reiterated the importance of having the inside line, and called upon them to avoid “over-complicating” the racing guidelines.

“I think the Turn 7 incident is different. I think Max was expecting Lando to give up the pace, he’s obviously gone up the inside there, and they’ve both run wide.

“I can understand effectively forcing the car wide there why there would be a penalty applicable to that.

“But I think that was the frustration of potentially Lando not giving back the place from this incident here. So these things, you know, they only escalate.

“I just think maybe we’re over-complicating things. And when you have to revert to an instruction manual of an overtake…

“I mean, the racing principles for years have been, if you have the inside line, you dictate the corner.

“And I think the way the regulations or the guidelines have evolved is encouraging a driver to have his nose ahead at the apex, irrelevant of whether you’re going to make the corner.”

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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.”

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Carlos Sainz claimed his second victory of 2024 at the Mexican Grand Prix with a commanding drive, as Lando Norris finished second and Max Verstappen sixth after a 20-second penalty.

The Spaniard reclaimed the lead he’d lost into the opening corner and never conceded it thereafter; he built an unassailable lead which soaked up the potential of any threat from Norris in the closing stages once the McLaren driver cleared Charles Leclerc.

Sainz kept the lead through the pitstop phases and, despite occasional attempts from Leclerc to eat into an ever-growing lead, the Williams-bound driver returned the favour to continue his break-building efforts out in front.

Sainz had lost the lead to Verstappen off the line as the Red Bull driver arrived at Turn 1 first, and forced the Ferrari driver to take to the grass with his preservation of the racing line.

But the racing action was soon nullified after a first-corner clash between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda brought out the safety car; Albon was pinched between Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and the former two ended up coalescing in the braking zone for Turn 1.

Tsunoda ended up going straight into the wall, while Albon also pulled over to retire with front-left tyre damage.

On the restart, Sainz spent two laps sat in Verstappen’s wheel-tracks before gathering enough pace to mount an overtake into Turn 1 with DRS and then covered off a potential switchback into the following corners.

This put Verstappen in Norris’ clutches, and the McLaren’s bid to pass around the outside into Turn 4 was once again met with Verstappen taking him off the road.

Like Austin, Norris had laid claim to the position, but Verstappen then lunged down the inside at Turn 7 and took both drivers off once more – and got ahead of Norris off the road. Both incidents resulted in 10-second penalties for Verstappen, which sent him further down the order and took him out of the lead fight. Leclerc capitalised on the skirmish between the two championship leaders, bursting into second place.

The Monegasque couldn’t challenge his team-mate, however, and after the pit phase Sainz’s lead had grown to over eight seconds. Leclerc attempted to cut this down, although both Ferraris were employing lift and coast tactics to gather the requisite cooling.

Sainz stabilised at over five seconds, but Leclerc’s tyres then started to run out of life and he started to fall into Norris’ orbit – when the Briton closed into DRS range at the end of lap 62, Leclerc subsequently drifted wide out of the Peraltada and almost hit the wall.

Leclerc saved the snap of oversteer, but couldn’t stop Norris from breaking past. Norris subsequently started to catch Sainz, but could only get to within 4.7 seconds at the flag.

2024 Mexico City Grand Prix