Verstappen initially took the lead at the start of the race, but Sainz reclaimed the top spot on Lap 9. Tension escalated in the following laps as Verstappen clashed with title contender Lando Norris, resulting in two 10-second penalties for Verstappen due to his actions against the Briton.
This conflict allowed Charles Leclerc to move into second place, and from that point, the Ferrari drivers maintained a relatively uncontested lead. However, Norris managed to close the gap to Leclerc in the final laps and overtook him for second after Leclerc had a brief misstep.
While Norris attempted to catch Sainz, he ultimately ran out of time, finishing second as Sainz secured victory by 4.7 seconds. Leclerc rounded out the podium in third, followed by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, with Hamilton prevailing in a late-team battle.
Despite the 20-second penalty, Verstappen fought back to finish sixth on what proved to be a challenging day for Red Bull. Meanwhile, Haas had a successful outing, with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finishing seventh and ninth, respectively.
In the 2024 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, the race results were as follows:
1. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:40:55.800 (25 points)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – +4.705s (18 points)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +34.387s (16 points)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – +44.78s (12 points)
5. George Russell (Mercedes) – +48.536s (10 points)
Oscar Piastri from McLaren made a notable climb from 17th on the grid, while Pierre Gasly secured the final point for Alpine in 10th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished 11th, just ahead of Williams’ Franco Colapinto, who later received a 10-second penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson late in the race. Esteban Ocon finished 12th for Alpine, with Valtteri Bottas in 13th for Sauber. Colapinto was classified 14th post-penalty, and Zhou Guanyu took 15th.
Lawson ended up in 16th for Red Bull, while Sergio Perez had a disappointing home race, finishing last in 17th. Fernando Alonso retired from his Aston Martin, marking a disappointing conclusion to his 400th Grand Prix weekend. Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda were early casualties after colliding on the opening lap, leading to both drivers retiring from the race.