Liam Lawson has produced arguably one of the best drives of his career as the Kiwi charged from a pit-lane start to a points finish, adding to his season tally and extending his gap as the “best of the rest” in the drivers’ championship.
Lawson started from the pit lane after being disqualified from qualifying for a technical breach, with Racing Bulls then making changes to his car under parc fermé conditions. Before the start he reported over the radio that he had “literally no battery”, with his engineer assuring him it would return.
Lewis Hamilton started from pole, with George Russell slow away due to a battery issue as the two Ferraris went wheel to wheel into turn one. Charles Leclerc emerged in the lead but went off the track in the process, with Verstappen up to second and Hamilton third. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was forced off the track on the opening lap, gaining Lawson a place, and the 24-year-old was 21st by the end of lap two and 19th by lap four. Teammate Arvid Lindblad climbed to sixth.
On lap 7, Lance Stroll was told to stop his Aston Martin, and the awkward angle at which he parked it brought out the virtual safety car. Fernando Alonso also retired, ending the day for both Aston Martins and lifting Lawson another two places, with racing resuming on lap 9.
Lawson stayed out under the VSC and was trading places for 17th when Racing Bulls brought him in on lap 12, swapping his mediums for softs. He rejoined at the back of the field. “Why did we not do it in the VSC?” he asked his engineer.
Around the same time, stewards handed Leclerc a five-second penalty for leaving the track at the start and Russell a 10-second penalty for causing a collision. Hamilton told Ferrari that Leclerc should have given the position back, and on lap 24 remarked that the stewards had handed his teammate the win.
Lawson was 18th on lap 20, 2.6s behind Pierre Gasly, who had pitted early with a power issue. On lap 27 the energy deployment problems returned. “This car is undriveable,” Lawson said.
The leaders began to pit on lap 28, with Leclerc serving his penalty during his stop and Verstappen pitting on the same lap. Hamilton led briefly before stopping on lap 29, handing the lead to Antonelli, who stayed out on his opening set. Verstappen set the fastest lap as he closed on the front.
As the stops played out, Lawson climbed to 15th by lap 31 and 14th by lap 41, but spent much of that period stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi. “Honestly, I’m just kind of stuck here now,” he said. Lindblad, having pitted on lap 36, moved back into the points in ninth.
On lap 43, Lawson was up to 12th when he reported “my rear tyres are gone” and was called in for a second stop. Antonelli pitted a lap later, a slow stop dropping him to fourth.
Moments after Lawson’s stop, Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac suffered a front-left suspension failure under braking at turn one, losing a wheel and spinning into the barriers. The safety car was deployed, with Hamilton pitting while Verstappen and Leclerc stayed out. “Are you kidding me, bro?” Lawson told his engineer. The red flag followed, halting the race for 33 minutes with 25 of the 71 laps remaining while the barriers were repaired.
During the stoppage, Gasly escaped a penalty after leaving the pits on a red light, while Sergio Perez was given a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The resumption order was taken from a lap earlier, putting Hamilton ahead of Antonelli.
The race restarted on lap 47 with Verstappen leading Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli. Lawson asked his engineer how they were feeling about the start, noting his pit-lane getaway “wasn’t very good”. Verstappen got away cleanly, Hamilton passed a locking Leclerc for second, and Lawson rose to 11th by lap 48.
Oliver Bearman then retired from a points position after contact with Hulkenberg, who was handed a 10-second penalty. Verstappen was noted for being out of position at the restart, but no action was taken, despite Hamilton claiming the Red Bull had made contact with him.
By lap 54, Lawson was 0.9s behind tenth. With just over ten laps to go, Oscar Piastri tried to pass Lindblad around the outside and the pair collided, with Lindblad spinning off and suffering damage to put him out of the race. The safety car was deployed again, promoting Lawson to tenth.
Racing resumed on lap 63 with eight laps remaining. Lawson passed Gasly to move into ninth, while Leclerc, carrying a flat spot, held off Lando Norris and Russell in the fight for fourth. Lawson was placed under investigation for an incident with Gasly in the closing laps, but was soon cleared.
At the front, Verstappen held Hamilton off by seven tenths of a second to take his 74th career win and sixth in Mexico. After starting fifth, Verstappen became the first driver in history to win from eleven different starting positions. Antonelli, who had got the better of Leclerc after the red flag restart, finished third to clinch the title. Lawson crossed the line ninth, 20.899s behind Verstappen and just over half a second ahead of Gasly.
Lawson’s weekend was not over there, as the Kiwi was promoted to eighth place due to a ten second penalty for Piastri for causing a collision between Lawson’s teammate Lindblad and himself.
Antonelli was in tears over the radio as he took the chequered flag. “Get in there, Kimi. Champion of the world,” said the Italian’s engineer, Peter Bonnington. “We did it. We did it. Thank you so much,” replied Antonelli, who was greeted by his parents and sister when he climbed from the car before being mobbed by his crew.
At 20 years and 68 days, he breaks the record Sebastian Vettel set at 23 years and 134 days in 2010, and becomes Italy’s first world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Leclerc finished fourth ahead of outgoing champion Norris, while Russell, who needed to win to stay in contention, could only manage sixth. Verstappen moves up to second in the standings ahead of Hamilton, with Russell dropping to fourth, 130 points behind Antonelli.
Formula 1 will finish off the first of two consecutive double headers by heading to Brazil, with racing taking place on November 9th.
