Winners and losers from F1's 2025 Mexico GP

Soon after his title campaign looked in real trouble following a crucial retirement in Zandvoort, Lando Norris started taking over from Oscar Piastri as McLaren's in-form driver.

Norris got some help from Piastri in Baku, and as his Australian team-mate now suffered two more difficult weekends, Norris is suddenly the world championship leader again. In emphatic style too, with a scintillating pole position back up by a dominant drive to win by half a minute.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

One week after being adrift in Austin, Piastri again went through a difficult weekend in Mexico, struggling with the low-grip conditions compared to Norris as he slid to eighth in qualifying, which became seventh on the grid.

With this 2025 McLaren car, low-grip conditions apparently require a different approach which doesn't come as natural to Piastri, making him question why the driving style that suited him so well for the rest of the season didn't work here or in Austin.

From that position there wasn't all that much Piastri could do, being stuck in a train led by Oliver Bearman and the McLarens. But a bold switch to a two-stopper to try and find clear air did end up paying dividends and allowed him to at least clear the Mercedes cars to salvage fifth.

There was little wrong with Piastri's dogged Sunday performance, then. It was actually a solid step as he tried to recover from a difficult Friday and Saturday. But his fifth place does mean he has lost the championship lead for the first time in six months.

There's no man overboard for the Australian, but his wobble comes at the worst possible time while Norris looks revitalised and Max Verstappen keeps gaining too. Brazil will be a big marker for him.

Qualifying in fifth after battling serious car handling issues, it looked like Verstappen was set to join Piastri in the losers' category.

But an aggressive start to challenge the Ferraris, and subsequently an equally aggressive overtake on Lewis Hamilton paid off. On the limit, as always, but just about within the racing rules.

A long first stint on the mediums initially saw Verstappen lose ground, but he probably couldn't believe his luck when the train of cars ahead of him peeled into the pits for a second pitstop, triggered by Piastri's quest for free air.

With no more threat from behind, on soft tyres Verstappen almost caught second-placed Charles Leclerc, only to be thwarted by a late virtual safety car. But all in all, Sunday was good damage limitation for a man who had totally ruled out any podium chances on Saturday night.

At the end of the day Verstappen is now four points closer to the top of the championship than he was before jetting to Mexico. On Saturday he would have bitten your hand off for it.

Loser: George Russell

What a frustrating afternoon for George Russell, who started from fourth and had a good chance to fight for the podium. Instead he found himself down in seventh, through little fault of his own.

Russell lost a position to Verstappen at the start - Verstappen went off but was already ahead - but the biggest hit came on lap 6 when he was blocked by Verstappen in Turn 4, allowing Oliver Bearman and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli through.

It proved decisive as Bearman was not only lucky, but also fast enough to hold the Mercedes drivers at bay the entire race. Russell was further frustrated by not being let past Antonelli quickly enough, but given how difficult overtaking was either driver's chances of picking off Bearman looked slim.

And that's because Bearman drove the race of his life. On Friday the Haas rookie was a bit miffed that he had to give up an FP1 session on a track he hadn't raced at before. He still found a way to qualify in the top 10, but that was only the start of a brilliant afternoon.

If he was a bit fortunate to scoot past cars that were going off on lap one, it was bold opportunism that saw him overtake reigning world champion Verstappen on lap six.

But the most impressive part was yet to follow, two impeccable stints in which Bearman showed he was good value for his best ever result in fourth, even if the difficulty of overtaking around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez played a part in him staying where he was.