It is only fitting that Lando Norris would reclaim the championship lead for the first time since April in a controversial, penalty-forward mess of a race in which he was barely involved. This is Formula 1, after all. It’s always litigation season.
From the very start of the Mexican Grand Prix, the first cars—headed by Norris, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen—got into an impressive muddle that saw Verstappen and Leclerc cutting the opening corners of the track and rejoining with a track placement advantage. Under the current rules, gaining a lasting advantage off-track and not immediately returning the position risks a 10-second time penalty; stewards now leave a potential swap up to the team’s discretion, as Verstappen showcased in Barcelona this year. Both drivers ceded the place to the car immediately behind them, Norris in Leclerc’s case and Hamilton in Verstappen’s case, though they also arguably hurt the cars further behind as well.
