2025 F1 World Champion Lando Norris finished in P5 in the 2026 Mexico City GP following a promising showing, even if the final outcome was not spectacular.
From P6 on the grid, he had a tricky first lap, falling behind Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto. As Isack Hadjar — who did jump ahead initially — had been spun around by George Russell, it left him in P8. Once he cleared the Alpine and Racing Bulls drivers, he was back into 6th.
From there, it was a race of frustration. In the first stint, the driver of car #1 was clearly quicker than the Mercedes driver. Thanks to the penalty for Russell, though, he easily took that P5 back. Following the restart, Lando Norris stayed there until the flag as he could not pass Charles Leclerc in the final 24 laps of the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP.
Lando Norris on his difficult Lap 1 and strong pace at 2026 F1 Mexico City GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the race, the 13-time race winner admitted he was a bit conservative on the opening tour.
Once he got back into 6th and had clean air for a few laps before catching Russell, his lap times were very comparable to race leader Charles Leclerc. Both drivers were on softs.
For a second straight weekend, the 26-year-old showed really strong flashes of speed. He was fastest in Q2. However, the MCL40 is very, very tough to drive. It’s proving extremely difficult for Norris — and to an even greater degree his teammate Oscar Piastri — to consistently pull laps out of the bag in qualifying to start on the first two rows.
Last year’s World Champion believed fighting for the victory was possible with a better starting spot.
“Yeah, my start was not the best. I think the launch was okay. We got the launch a bit wrong with the targets and stuff.
“But just not the most attacking few corners for me, so I lost out. After that I managed to get them back quite quickly.
“And the pace was very strong. Honestly, I think the pace today was good enough to fight for a win. It doesn’t mean a lot in terms of I got P5.
“But it’s a positive that the pace was there today. We just started too far back in the beginning and had too bad of a Saturday, so if we can improve Saturday on a track like this, we could have a fought for a win and could have had a better Sunday, or if overtaking was possible around here, we could have had a better day.
“But yeah, some positives, but we have to improve a lot of other things before things start to look brighter.
Top speed limitations
On getting stuck behind Russell and Leclerc in the race, the British star explained that because they are all limited to a maximum speed, having a run to pass was virtually impossible. Even with a significantly quicker car, Isack Hadjar could not pass Gabriel Bortoleto at the end. The French driver was also stuck behind Carlos Sainz for a few laps earlier in the race.
Lando Norris called for fixes for next year after the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP. He referenced MotoGP/motorcycle racing as an example as to why bigger top speeds should be fine in Formula One. The 2026 engine regs mean they are going much slower on high speed tracks at the end of long straights. Monza and Spa are prime examples.
“I think the main thing with overtaking is you just have the limiter on. You literally have a limiter that stops you from going over a [certain] speed.
“So it doesn’t matter if you come out two tenths behind the guy. You just hit the limiter the, same limiter as them, and then you cannot do anything.
“It kind of ruins racing. It’s something that they need to improve for next season, especially when motorbikes go 370 (kph) and you don’t have a seatbelt or anything. We should easily be able to go quicker than a motorbike.
“This kind of ruined the racing today, and I hope they improve it for next season.
“Nothing ruined today, it’s just you have to be very quick to pass. No one really did any overtakes unless you’re a lot quicker.
“Nothing to blame but our poor Saturday.”
Lando Norris on Charles Leclerc holding him off in the final stages at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
The final few laps saw the McLaren driver put lots and lots of pressure on the Ferrari man.
Leclerc had locked up his front tyres massively on the second standing start, meaning his pace was well off. His left front was also in appalling shape.
Nonetheless, despite car #16 having to do plenty of defending into Turns 1, 4 and 5, Lando Norris could never quite get a switchback or claim the ideal racing line.
Norris explained how strong the Ferrari was on the brakes during the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP. Leclerc also got tremendous acceleration and traction out of Turn 3.
“He could still brake later than I could in my car. The braking capabilities on the Ferraris are unbelievable. So it didn’t make a difference.
“Of course he was slow, but he was just slow in a couple of the corners and the rest he was fine.
“He defended very well, he drove a very good defence and nothing but credit to him for that. He put up a good fight. It was good fun. Nothing more than that.”
