Norris: Verstappen did not play cleanly

The Formula 1 Grand Prix in Mexico City brought Carlos Sainz a dominant success, with which the Spaniard won his second victory of the year and the fourth of his career. Behind him, the checkered flag beckoned the McLaren pilot, Lando Norris, while his teammate, Charles Leclerc, could stand on the bottom step of the podium.

After waving off the 71-lap race Marc Gené, the ex-F1 driver, who is currently an ambassador for Ferrari and a commentator for the Italian Sky Sports, made the interviews with the first three places.

“It’s an incredible feeling to see this audience. I felt their support all week, and I feel like I have a big fan base in Mexico, which gave me strength,” he began his thoughts. Sainz. “I wanted this victory so badly, I needed it for myself. I was like, I want to win again with Ferrari, but it’s unbelievable that it came together here, in front of such a crowd.”

The 30-year-old driver lost the lead after the start, but a few laps after the end of the safety car phase he overtook Max Verstappen. “I didn’t prepare to be honest,” he said of his maneuver against the defending champion. “I was a bit annoyed that I lost a position to him, so I decided that one way or another, I have to surprise him because otherwise Max is hard to overtake. He has proven this many times.”

“I was quite far from him, but I was like, I have nothing to lose, so I jumped in. I had a lot of confidence in my brakes in the first corner,” he added.

Just like at the American Grand Prix a week ago, this time there was also a body-to-body battle between the hopefuls of the world championship title, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. However, the Dutchman persisted until he was given two ten-second penalties.

“It was very tough. In the first few laps I was struggling to stay in the race and avoid crashes. Carlos had a good race, so congratulations to him and to Ferrari. As for me, I did everything,” he assessed his race Norris, who also talked about the battle afterwards. “I knew what to expect (from Max), although I didn’t want to expect anything like that because I respect him so much. In my opinion, it wasn’t clear the way he raced, but I avoided him, so overall I had a good race.”

“I’m going to keep my head down and do my best, as we strive to do a really good job as a team. In the end, we were probably the fastest and we will keep pushing.”

The podium finishers of the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. (Photo: Kym Illman/Getty Images)

For a long time it seemed that Ferrari could take two double victories in a row, but Leclerc slipped a few laps before the start, thanks to which Norris could easily take over second place.

“It was difficult,” he admitted Leclerc. “The first stage was all about managing the temperatures, which wasn’t easy, but we ran the best race we could. I was a step behind all weekend, so third place was the best for me.”

“Carlos ran an amazing race, so overall it was a positive weekend for the team,” he spoke appreciatively of his teammate. “Our goal is still the constructors’ championship, and with weekends like this we are getting closer and closer to it. I hope we continue in this direction.”