Carlos Sainz wins dramatic Mexico GP; Lando Norris gains on Max Verstappen in title race

MEXICO CITY -- Carlos Sainz beat Lando Norris at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where championship leader Max Verstappen finished sixth after being hit with two different penalties in the race.

Ferrari driver Sainz led comfortably after reclaiming the lead from Verstappen with a beautiful move at Turn 1 on Lap 9, but the drama of the race was created by the Dutchman.

Two laps later, Verstappen forced title rival Norris off the track as they battled for second position, before driving fully off the track further round the lap to reclaim the place.

"This guy is dangerous, I just had to avoid a crash. "It's the same as last time," Norris told McLaren over the radio.

After the race he said on the incident: "I knew what to expect. I didn't want to expect such a thing, because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was ready to expect something like this. This is not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it and it was a good race."

The stewards agreed, handing Verstappen two 10-second penalties for either incident -- he served both at his one and only pit-stop, dropping right down the order in the process.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

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Norris finished second, passing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the closing stages as he ran wide off the track, while Verstappen climbed back up to sixth by the finish.

The result means the Dutchman's title lead has dropped to 47 points with four races and two sprints remaining.

Verstappen's teammate, national hero Sergio Perez, was the last classified car in 17th in a race likely to intensify speculation about his long-term future with Red Bull.

Leclerc was able to pit for new tyres at the end of the race and set the fastest lap as he crossed the finish line for the final time, claiming a valuable extra point in Ferrari's constructors' fight with McLaren.

The result meant Ferrari has narrowed the gap in that title battle to 29 points.

"I think it's been quite a few races now we are coming back to the level we should be at and it's amazing to see," Leclerc said. "The constructors' is still our target and with weekends like this we are getting closer to it so I hope we can continue in that direction and get that constructors' title which is very important."

Ferrari and McLaren have both not won a championship since 2008, when Ferrari won the constructors' and Lewis Hamilton won the drivers' championship for McLaren.

Sainz's win rounded off a brilliant weekend for the Spaniard, which saw him take pole position on Saturday.

He said afterwards: "Honestly, I really wanted this one, I really needed it also for myself and wanted to get it done. I've been saying for a while I wanted one more win 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 it as much as possible and if another one comes I'm going to go for it."

He lost the lead on the run down to Turn 1 but re-passed Verstappen with a superb late-braking move nine laps later. His lead was never threatened from that point onwards.

On the overtake he said he needed to surprise the Red Bull: "I was just annoyed at the start to lose a position with him and I needed to surprise him one way or another because Max is super difficult to pass which he has proven many times.

"I was a bit far back but I had nothing to lose so I said I'm just going to send one down the inside and I've been very confident at the braking into Turn 1 this weekend and I knew I could make it."

It was the fourth win of Sainz's career in what is his final spell of races before he makes way for the incoming Lewis Hamilton next season.

Behind Norris and Leclerc were Hamilton and George Russell, who spent most of the final portion of the race battling each other on track.

Kevin Magnussen claimed an impressive seventh for Haas ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, while Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth in the other Haas.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly rounded out the points in 10th.

Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon both failed to complete the first lap after colliding on the run down to Turn 1 -- stewards opted not to investigate the clash.

Fernando Alonso, who celebrated his 400th race start ahead of the race, was called in to retire his Aston Martin car after 16 laps.