Carlos Sainz dominated the Mexico Grand Prix for a second consecutive victory for Ferrari after title leader Max Verstappen served a 20-second penalty for an early series of incidents with championship contender Lando Norris.

Verstappen got a better start from the front row than pole-sitter Sainz and ran the Spaniard off the road at the first corner, sending the Ferrari onto the grass. Sainz saw the boost coming and kept his footing, giving back the lead on the descent to Turn 4 but retaining second place.

The race was neutralized for five laps after a clumsy off-the-line collision put Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon out of the race – neither driver was considered at fault – and Verstappen made a successful getaway to lead Sainz, Norris and Charles Leclerc on the restart, but the Dutchman did it. I don’t have the pace to hold my head. With DRS activated, Sainz was all over the back of the Red Bull Racing car exiting the final corner before lap nine, and a courageous lunge on the inside propelled him into the lead.

Norris was next in line to Verstappen, who complained that his motor mode lacked battery assistance.

The Briton used DRS on the exit of Turn 3 to launch on the outside of Turn 4, but in a repeat of their controversial clash at the end of last weekend’s race at COTA, Verstappen ran deep to push Norris off the road. Norris kept his footing to retain the position and took the battle out of Turn 6 and into the esses, but Verstappen was not happy with the decision. Braking from a distance, he went down the inside of Norris and took both drivers well off the circuit to regain the position.

“This guy is dangerous,” Norris radioed to his team. “I just need to avoid an accident.” It’s the same as last time. I’m going to end up in the wall in a minute.

Both moves drew the ire of the stewards, who slapped Verstappen with a 10-second penalty for each.

“It’s quite impressive,” Verstappen said sarcastically after his first punishment was announced. He called the second “idiotic.”

“There have been a lot of complaints,” said engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “A lot.”

With Verstappen out of the picture, the race for podium places came down to a three-way fight between the Ferrari and Norris drivers. The McLaren driver opened the pit stops for the leaders, switching from mediums to hards on lap 30. Leclerc and Sainz followed in the following laps, retaining their positions. Sainz returned with a lead of just under 10 seconds, while Norris’ gap to second place was just under 5 seconds. Both margins gradually narrowed as the relay progressed and the race headed toward a critical moment in the final 10 laps.

“My opinion is that we are pushing too hard,” Sainz said over the radio as his lead slipped below 6s. “Absolutely no need.”

With Norris looking to secure more points for his title campaign, Sainz and Leclerc had no choice but to maintain the pace to the finish. It took until lap 59 for Norris to close to within a second of Leclerc and until lap 62 for him to bring the DRS down the first straight. Leclerc, struggling with his rear tires, was told he would need his “best driving” to maintain his position.

The Monegasque knew he had to make a successful exit from the final corner to defend against the DRS, but the critical error came immediately, his car breaking under him on the exit and sending him dangerously close to the barriers. Norris moved into second place, but Sainz then used the dispute to extend his lead to over 7 seconds – too big to close in less than 10 laps, securing Sainz his second of the season.

“Honestly, I really wanted this one,” he said. “I really needed it for myself too. I’ve been saying for a while that I want one more victory before leaving Ferrari, and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible.

“Now, with four races left, I want to enjoy them as much as possible, and if another one comes up, I will take part in it.”

Norris moved eight points clear of Verstappen, moving to within 47 points of the title lead.

“It was a very difficult race,” he said. “I just keep my head down. I do my best.

“We do very good work as a team. I think today we were probably the fastest at the end. We will keep our heads down. That’s all I can do for now. We focus on ourselves and keep pushing.

Leclerc opted for soft tires to set the fastest lap on the final lap, scoring a bonus point for third place. The score moved Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing into second place with a 25-point buffer in the constructors’ championship. The Italian team is now only 29 points behind McLaren in the battle for the lead.

“It’s a good weekend overall for the team, which is positive,” he said. “It’s been quite a few races now, we’re getting back to where we should be.

“Obviously, the manufacturers remain our target, and on weekends like this we get closer. I hope we can continue in this direction and get this manufacturer’s title, which is very important.

Mercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton battled aggressively throughout the race, with Hamilton gaining a place on the line but losing it again despite borderline defending into the first corner on lap 15. Both drivers were told they were free to race in the final stint, which was absorbed in a lengthy duel between the silver cars, before Hamilton overtook him with five laps to go, albeit 45 seconds from the winner.

Verstappen’s 20-second penalty dropped him to 15th after he made his only pit stop at the end of lap 26, forcing him into a lengthy recovery to get back into the points. The Mercedes drivers had been the target, but the Dutchman reported a lack of grip on his hard tires midway through the race, with his progress slowing considerably once he passed sixth.

Kevin Magnussen finished an excellent seventh for Haas, retaining his high grid position and completing an improbable defense against the fast McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

Piastri moved from 17th on the grid to eighth at the finish, having worked his way up to fifth before making his first pit stop and launching towards the flag late in the race . He easily overtook Nico Hulkenberg for eighth place, but just like Verstappen, his pace also slowed late in the stint on the hards, leaving him stuck in position.

Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth for eight points for Haas, extending his lead over RB for sixth in the constructors’ championship, while Pierre Gasly took the final point of the race for Alpine to move to within three points of Williams in eighth.

Lance Stroll finished 11th ahead of Franco Colapinto, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Liam Lawson, who had to stop a second time after a clash to defend 12th place against Colapinto.

Sergio Perez finished 17th after a horror home race. Although he gained five places on the line, he was judged to have started too far from his pit, incurring a 5-second penalty. He damaged the car while battling with Lawson for 10th place and lost further time arguing with Stroll for 11th, forcing him into an early pit stop. Unable to go to the end on this new set of mediums, a second stop ended his race.

Red Bull Racing offered him a late pit stop for the tenders to take a consolation point for the fastest lap, but he was edged out by Leclerc by 0.873 seconds, leaving him a pointless, distant final on the road.