Lando Norris took the championship lead for the first time since April with a dominant victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Norris was serenely out of reach of some compelling battles and incident behind him as he kept the lead from pole position into the first corner and controlled the race from there.
Norris leads the championship by just one point from team-mate Oscar Piastri, who fought back from seventh on the grid to finish fifth.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished third just behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, is 36 points off the lead with four races to go.
A virtual safety car in the final two laps robbed the race of a grandstand finish, with Verstappen right behind Leclerc and Piastri chasing the Haas of Oliver Bearman, as it prevented overtaking just as both were moving into position to challenge.
In a chaotic opening few laps, Verstappen divebombed Hamilton into Turn 1, leading to a glancing blow between the pair, with Verstappen going through the Turn 2 grass. Their melee which continued into Turn 4, where Hamilton locked up and went wide.
Hamilton would pay a big price for going off at Turn 4, with the stewards deeming the Briton had gained an unfair advantage, slapping him with a 10-second penalty. Taking his penalty at the first round of pitstops around lap 24, Hamilton dropped to the back of the fight he was in.
Russell was incensed at being stuck between his team-mate and a charging Piastri, yet still being asked to look after his tyres. After a long back-and-forth, the Briton eventually got his wish to swap positions in his chase after Bearman.
But that midfield battle received another twist when Piastri, who was also stuck behind the Bearman train, decided to convert to a two-stop strategy with another stop for softs. Bearman and the Mercedes cars all responded, with Piastri making the undercut work on Antonelli to take sixth, still ahead of Bearman and Russell.
Bearman’s fourth place, though, was just reward for an outstanding drive from the British rookie.
Piastri had also passed the other Mercedes of Russell for fifth, with a move down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 60. That led to Mercedes undoing its position swap, allowing Antonelli to take sixth ahead of his more experienced team-mate.
Hamilton finished a distant eighth after his penalty knocked him out of contention, while Esteban Ocon completed a dream day for Haas in ninth and Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point for Sauber in 10th.
The race saw three retirements, with Fernando Alonso’s rotten 2025 luck continuing due to a suspected brake issue. Liam Lawson was forced to retire after contact on the opening lap, while Nico Hulkenberg suffered a power issue.
