Norris hails ‘straightforward’ Mexico win as ‘just what I was after’ with McLaren driver the new championship leader

Lando Norris admitted that having a “straightforward” race at the Mexico City Grand Prix en route to victory was “just what I was after”, with the win handing the McLaren driver the World Championship lead.

After taking a strong pole position during Saturday’s Qualifying session, Norris made a good launch off the line to hold the lead – despite having both Ferraris and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen alongside him into Turn 1 – and from thereon remained unchallenged at the front.

The Briton crossed the line with a staggering margin of 30.324s from Charles Leclerc in second – and with McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri ending the race in fifth place, the result means that Norris has now overtaken Piastri to head the Drivers’ Championship standings by just one point.

“What a race,” Norris said after clinching his 10th career triumph. “I could just keep my eyes focused, I could just keep eyes forward and just focus on what I was doing.

“A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after. Good start, good launch, good first lap and I could go from there.”

When quizzed on how he approached the long run down to Turn 1 at the start of the race, the 25-year-old responded: “Just stay relaxed. Just get a good launch. That was the best thing, I think I got a much better launch than the guys around.

“This is awesome here... this is unbelievable. My first win here in Mexico, a beautiful one to win, especially here in the stadium. A big thanks to all the fans.”

The weekend has been a solid one throughout for Norris, who outpaced Piastri across every session (with the exception of FP1 in which the British driver handed his car over to rookie Pato O’Ward).

In terms of how he can carry this momentum through to the next race in Brazil and the final four rounds of the season, Norris seemed keen not to get ahead of himself.

“It's one weekend at a time,” the race winner said. “I'm happy, I'm focused on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore all of this [noise] and I keep to myself. It's working at the minute, so I'm happy.”