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MEXICO CITY — Carlos Sainz climbed into his vibrant red Ferrari, spread his arms, and raised his fists.
The sentiment is palpable. The Spaniard started from pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix and although he lost the lead to Max Verstappen, Sainz regained first place and posted the strongest performance of his Formula 1 career One of the driving. His race engineer Ricardo Adami called Sunday’s performance “a masterclass” over the radio at the end of the race.
Sainz is the first driver to win pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix in eight years and the first Ferrari driver to win the race since Alain Prost accomplished the feat in 1990. This season is the first time Sainz has won multiple grands prix – first in Australia 16 days after surgery and now in Mexico.
Ferrari wasn’t good enough before the summer break to compete in the constructors’ championship, but its recent upgrades have helped the Maranello-based team move into second place in the standings with four races remaining. It’s fair to say that if all goes well, Ferrari could be back in contention in 2025.
But Sainz will be absent.
“Honestly, I really want this – I need it myself and I want to finish it,” Sainz said. “I’ve been saying for some time that I want to get one more win before I leave Ferrari and to do it in front of such a big crowd is incredible.
“There are four games left and I want to enjoy it as much as possible and if there is another game I will keep working hard.”
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How victory unfolds
Sainz must strive for his second win of the season.
Verstappen took the lead heading into Turn 1, but that was no surprise. Rodrigues is a low-grip track and, as the Ferrari driver pointed out, Red Bull tends to get off to a good start on these tracks. Entering Turn One, Verstappen stayed on the inside of Sainz and although Sainz said he braked as late as possible, Verstappen did the same. This left Sainz with “no room to enter the second turn”. Verstappen took the lead early in the race.
The grid was stalled behind the safety car for several laps due to an early collision between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen managed a successful restart but Sainz stayed in the rearview mirror and never let the Red Bull stray too far out of sight. He made his move on lap 9.
“For Max, you need to be determined. You need to be decisive,” Sainz said. “If you don’t do that, you’ll never get past him. In this case, I think I caught him a little off guard and I could hold on.
With the help of DRS and a tow truck, Sainz surged past the Dutchman and re-secured a lead that the Spaniard never relinquished. The Ferrari driver initially appeared too far back to make a move, but in the final 100 meters Sainz said: “I feel like I have good momentum and I feel very confident braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car gave me the confidence to brake later and I braked hard and it happened. Also, that mentality knowing I had less to lose in that fight and I could be aggressive and send one out.
He described it as a “highly tense” moment as a chaotic battle ensued between Verstappen and Lando Norris behind him. This resulted in the Red Bull driver receiving two 10-second penalties during his first pit stop.
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After Sainz regained the lead, there were about 60 laps left. There was a lot of action happening throughout the race, such as Liam Lawson’s battle with Sergio Pérez or Norris chasing down Charles Le Charles Leclerc. Before them, apart from reports of a misfire, it appeared to be a fairly trouble-free race for Sainz. He said it was an “isolated incident”.
“The only time I had a fire in the whole race was on the exit of Turn 3. After landing on the curb, I had a little bit of a short gear change and I had a fire, which was a bit scary, but we also had that on the weekend. Having experienced this situation, we know it’s due to the altitude and the map,” Sainz said. “But once I was in the lead, I trusted my speed, my management, I knew I was going to be fast this weekend and I knew I just had to do what I planned and victory was possible.”
Sainz made a bold sprint into Turn 1 to regain the lead from Verstappen.
Around lap 49, Sainz also said over the radio that he thought Ferrari was pushing too hard. At that time, it was 1-2 for the Prancing Horse, and Leclerc was not far behind. However, the Monegasque driver lost second place against Norris. He lost the rear and nearly hit a barrier, only to save the situation at the last moment.
It may not end 1-2 for Ferrari; however, a first- and third-place finish, plus Leclerc setting the fastest lap, would be enough to put the team ahead of Red Bull in the championship – 25 points ahead, to be specific.
“Perfect farewell”
Sainz admitted he was in tears when the Spanish national anthem was played in celebration at the Rodriguez circuit.
Below the podium stood his parents, Carlos Sainz Sr. and Reyes Vazquez de Castro, and his partner, Rebecca Donaldson. His best friend was also at the race weekend and everyone who was there made the moment even sweeter.
“This is one of the best moments of my career. My mum has never won a race with me and the fact that she’s here this weekend I really want to win a race in front of her,” said Sainz explain. “The most important thing is that the whole weekend turned out perfectly.
“Losing at the start and then having to fight back against Max made it trickier. Maybe it tasted better because I had to work for it.
Sainz celebrated with his father, family and friends after the race. (Jared Tilton/Getty Images)
It’s been a long year, not just for Ferrari but for Sainz as well. News emerged in February that Lewis Hamilton would join the team in 2025, leaving the 30-year-old without a seat despite being competitive in the top ranks. It wasn’t until late July that news broke that Sainz would be heading to Williams next season, as the team attempts to rebuild.
Ferrari, meanwhile, started the season well but then fell into a tricky development phase, falling behind McLaren and Mercedes during the summer break. It brought an upgrade at Monza, with Leclerc winning, but time will tell if it was the right move. This was confirmed in Austin when Leclerc won his third grand prix of the season as Ferrari won 1-2.
Leclerc says the constructors’ title is “actually possible”. Ferrari is 29 points behind McLaren, which leads the championship with 566 points. But as Sainz pointed out, the team needs to be consistent. Winning the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 2008 would be the perfect farewell for Sainz.
“I think it would have been easy for me to lose a little bit of momentum, lose a little bit of motivation to achieve this goal, but those three weeks of rest[after Singapore]helped me a lot,” Sainz said. “I managed to regain the determination and motivation I needed for the last five or six races of the season. I managed to put myself in a position where I could improve my driving ability and my confidence in the car to put myself in a position to win in Austin first, but I didn’t do that – Charles did a great job there – and put myself in a position to win here, and I’m just going to make sure it doesn’t slip out of my hands this time.
“It’s not been an easy year, but I’m proud of the way I’ve been able to hold on and obviously do everything I can now to help the team win these teams because it will be the perfect send-off for me.”
(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
