From P5 on the grid, Max Verstappen made it a sixth win at the F1 Mexico City GP in the 2026 edition of the race.
Starting on the medium compound tyres, the Dutchman had a dream first lap. Deployment issues for George Russell allowed the 29-year-old to get in between the Mercedes drivers, diving down the inside into Turn 1 to take P3.
An early Christmas present soon followed. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had a massive scrap in Turns 2 and 3, before it continued down at Turn 4 as they both went off. The four-time World Champion was able to claim the high ground for Turn 6 and take P2 from the Brit. A 5-second penalty for Charles Leclerc meant he was virtually the race leader providing he stayed within that gap.
Having followed the Monegasque into the pit lane at the end of Lap 27, the 74-time winner gained the spot as he switched to softs.
From there, it was about defending. While he initially had Leclerc under control, the real challenge came after the red flag. After aggressively holding off the challenge of Lewis Hamilton into Turn 1 on the restart, Verstappen had the Brit within a second for the vast majority of the last 25 laps.
Nonetheless, he held on despite picking up some damage. It was a day when Max Verstappen stole a victory from a team with a faster car once again.
Max Verstappen on an unexpected victory in the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP
Speaking in the post-race press conference, the driver of car #3 went into detail about his race.
“Yes, something that I didn’t expect, I think, heading into today.
“But I think the first start already made my race a bit better, getting into Turn 1, and then, of course, the battle that I saw unfold in Turn 4 put me in a quite nice spot.
“And then, yeah, it was a bit tough, to be honest. I think Charles just pulled away. I could not really stay with him. I did not have the pace to follow him, but at the same time, I was still within that around five-second window. So, then the team, I think, did a really good job to follow him in, and it’s always very tough when you have a five-second penalty to actually make it exactly five seconds.
“So, I jumped him, and honestly, after that, it was quite tough. Kimi was flying, still, out there on the first set of tyres, and I just did not really have the grip for whatever reason.
“So yeah, Charles was very close, but at the same time, it’s very hard to follow around here because everything overheats, and that probably helped me as well because I think at one point Charles had to back off just for cooling, and that was quite nice for me.”
Safety Car scare
Max Verstappen’s 2026 F1 Mexico City GP victory hopes could have been gone if an initial Safety Car was not upgraded to a red flag. Both Kimi Antonelli (mediums) and Lewis Hamilton (softs) would have been on significantly younger tyres on a normal restart in P3 and P4. However, damage to the barriers following a nasty crash for Valtteri Bottas (suspension failure) saved the day.
Surprisingly, the RB22 actually got off the line very well on both occasions, allowing Verstappen to hold off Hamilton into Turn 1 — just.
“But at the same time, when I saw the Safety Car come out just out of the last corner and I couldn’t box, I was like, ‘there’s no way this is happening now,’ because that was then probably game over for me. Then, of course, it ended up being a red flag, so then it reset everything.
“I was a bit worried because our starts this year have not been amazing, but luckily today, twice, they have actually been good, and that then made my way till the end. But it was not made easy. I mean, Lewis was in my gearbox, pushing hard. It was basically a qualifying lap till the end.
“Yeah, it was tough out there. It was a tough race to the end, just to not make any mistakes. But, of course, happy to win today.”
Verstappen’s unbelievable record at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
The 2026 F1 Mexico City GP marked a sixth win for Max Verstappen at this venue, surpassing Austria and Abu Dhabi (five each) for the time being. Five of those victories came from 2nd or lower on the grid.
The Dutchman explained his love for the venue when asked about his extraordinary record at this track.
“Yeah, they should actually call it the ‘Maxico’ Grand Prix. That would be great.
“I honestly love being here. I love the city, I love the environment, I love the fans, but I have no idea why. You know, you win six here and maybe only one… You know, it just happens. Sometimes your car just comes alive, and you’ve had good races and not a lot of bad luck sometimes as well.
“So yeah, it’s just always come together for me here, and, of course, I happily take that.”
