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MEXICO CITY — Carlos Sainz climbed atop his bright red Ferrari, spreading his arms wide before raising his fists in the air.
The emotions were clearly visible. The Spaniard started the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole, and although he lost the lead to Max Verstappen, Sainz regained top spot and put in one of the strongest drives of his Formula 1 career. His race engineer, Ricciardo Adami, called Sunday’s performance “a masterclass” via radio at the end of the race.
Sainz is the first driver in eight years to win the Mexico City GP from pole and the first Ferrari driver to win the race since 1990, when Alain Prost accomplished the feat. This season marks the first time Sainz has won multiple Grands Prix – the first in Australia, 16 days after surgery and now here in Mexico.
Ferrari was not good enough to be in the constructors’ title race before the summer holidays, but its recent upgrades have helped the Maranello team move up to second in the standings with four races to go. It’s fair to say that Ferrari could be back in the mix in 2025 if things stay on course.
But it will be without Sainz.
“To be honest, I really wanted this one – I needed it for myself, I wanted to make it happen,” said Sainz. “I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted one more win before I left Ferrari, and to do that here in front of this mega crowd is incredible.
“Now that there are still four races to go, I want to enjoy as much as possible and if there is another one, I will go for it.”
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How the victory unfolded
Sainz had to work on his second victory of the season.
Verstappen took the lead after the grid raced towards Turn 1, but that was not surprising. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a low-grip track, and as the Ferrari driver noted, Red Bull tends to start well at these tracks. Verstappen stayed on the inside of Sainz heading into Turn 1, and although Sainz said he braked as late as possible, Verstappen did the same. This left Sainz “no room to enter Turn 2.” Verstappen emerged with the early race lead.
The early collision between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda left the grid behind the safety car for a number of laps. Verstappen secured a restart, but Sainz remained in his rear-view mirrors, never letting the Red Bull get too far out of sight. He made his move on round 9.
“With Max you have to be determined. You have to be decisive,” said Sainz. ‘If you don’t, you’ll never pass him. And in that case, I think I surprised him a little bit, and I was able to make it stick.
With some help from DRS and a tow, Sainz blasted past the Dutchman to regain a lead that the Spaniard never relinquished. The Ferrari driver initially looked too far back to make the move, but in the final 100 meters Sainz said: “I felt like I had good momentum and I had a lot of confidence braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car gave me the confidence to brake there late, and I just went for it, and it happened. Also the mentality of knowing that I had a little less to lose in that fight and that I could be aggressive and send one over.
He described it as a ‘high-tension’ moment as a chaotic battle unfolded between Verstappen and Lando Norris behind him. It resulted in the Red Bull driver receiving two 10-second time penalties, which he served at the first pit stop.
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Once Sainz regained the lead, approximately sixty laps remained. There was a lot of action throughout the race, such as Liam Lawson battling Sergio Pérez or Norris chasing Charles Leclerc in the closing laps. In view of all of them, it seemed to be a fairly trouble-free race for Sainz, apart from the reported failure. He said it was an “isolated incident.”
“The only misfire I had all race was coming out of Turn 3. When I landed after the curb I did a short shift and that gave me a misfire, which was a bit scary, but we had them over the weekend and we know this is due to the altitude and the mapping,” said Sainz. “But once I was in the lead, I trusted my pace and my management, and I knew I was very fast this weekend. I knew I just had to do what I set out to do, and victory was possible.”
Sainz regained the lead from Verstappen with a daring lunge into Turn 1. (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)
Around lap 49, Sainz also said on the radio that he thought Ferrari was pushing too hard. It was a Prancing Horse 1-2 at the time, and Leclerc was not far behind. However, the Monegasque driver lost second place in a battle with Norris. He lost the back and almost hit the barriers, which he saved at the last moment.
It may not have been a Ferrari 1-2 in the end; However, first and third place, plus Leclerc securing the fastest lap, were enough to put the team ahead of Red Bull in the standings – a 25-point lead to be specific.
‘The perfect farewell’
Sainz admitted he shed a tear as the Spanish national anthem was played in honor of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Just below the podium stood his parents, Carlos Sainz Sr. and Reyes Vázquez de Castro, and his partner, Rebecca Donaldson. His best friends were also present at the race weekend, and everyone present made the moment that much sweeter.
“It’s one of the best moments of my career. My mother had never been to a race victory with me before, and the fact that she came here this weekend made me really want to win a race for her,” said Sainz. “Plus, the way the whole weekend went, it was just perfect.
“Losing at the start and then fighting back with Max only made everything more difficult. It probably tastes even better because I had to work hard for it.”
Sainz celebrated with his father, family and friends after the race. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
It’s been a long year, not only for Ferrari but also for Sainz. In February, news broke that Lewis Hamilton would join the team in 2025, leaving the 30-year-old without a seat despite being competitive among the top teams. It was only at the end of July that the announcement came that Sainz would move to Williams Racing next season, a team that is trying to rebuild.
Meanwhile, Ferrari started the season competitively before falling into a difficult development phase that left it behind McLaren and Mercedes by the summer holidays. It brought upgrades at Monza and Leclerc won, but time would tell if it was a good step forward. That confirmation came in Austin when Ferrari won 1-2, with Leclerc winning his third Grand Prix of the season.
Leclerc said the constructors’ championship is “realistically possible”. Ferrari is 29 points behind McLaren, which leads the standings with 566 points. But as Sainz noted, the team will have to be consistent. Winning the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 2008 would be the perfect farewell for Sainz.
“I think it could have been quite easy for me to lose a little bit of motivation and a little bit of the drive to make it happen, but that three-week break (after Singapore) served me well,” said Sainz. “I have regained some of the determination and drive that I needed for the last five or six races of the season. And I managed to put myself in a position by improving my driving and my confidence in the car, to put myself in a position to win first in Austin, which I couldn’t do – Charles did great there – and I put myself in a position to win here and I wanted to make sure he didn’t slip out of my hands.
“Not an easy year, but proud of the way I managed to keep myself going and of course I am now trying to help the team as much as possible to win these constructors, because it would be the perfect farewell for me.”
(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)