Max Verstappen won last week’s US Grand Prix, and suddenly, he is back in the thick of this year’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship. After breaching the 300-point mark last week, the reigning titlist is now only 40 points adrift of Oscar Piastri and 26 points adrift of Lando Norris. If he wins the Mexican Grand Prix, where he has found success in recent years, then race fans could be in for a tug-of-war towards the end of the 2025 Formula 1 campaign.
Last week, Norris finished second behind Verstappen, and Piastri was fifth. The McLaren drivers have yet to win a race since the Dutch Grand Prix, though they successfully secured their second constructors’ championship in Singapore.
Elsewhere, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is demanding better performances from his drivers, as he plans to finish the year on a high note.
Check out the latest Mexican Grand Prix 2025 updates, courtesy of SBOTOP.
Verstappen continues to close the gap
The Mexican Grand Prix 2025 odds are tilted in Max Verstappen’s favour, as he is in the form of his life. He is coming off an eventful run in Austin, Texas, as he won the Sprint and the actual race last weekend. Verstappen has now won three of the last four Grands Prix.
Verstappen missed FP1 as most teams ran rookie drivers, but last night, the Dutchman set the fastest time in FP2 in Mexico, as his 17.392s left him more than one-tenth clear of Charles Leclerc. Despite this, Verstappen was critical of the RB21’s power.
“The short run I think on the softs we managed to do a good lap,” Verstappen said. “The rest, everything else was pretty bad. On the medium, short run was not great, and the big problem is the long runs where we seem to struggle a lot. That is of course a big concern for the race.”
To Verstappen’s point, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez features one of the longest runs to the first corner off the line, so the RB21 cannot win the race by just having good one-lap pace. He also acknowledged that, despite being on the crest of a wave, he has to be nearly perfect in the final five races of the season to snatch the drivers’ championship away from the McLaren drivers.
As for his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, the Japanese international is coming off a P7 finish in the US Grand Prix. However, his decent performance was overshadowed by his altercation with Liam Lawson during the Sprint Qualifying. With the second Red Bull seat up for grabs, Tsunoda is under immense pressure to perform in the final five races, as he is facing stiff competition from Lawson, Isack Hadjar, and Formula 2 driver Arvid Lindblad.
Wolff wants more from his Mercedes stars
Mercedes confirmed they will continue with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli next season, as the team handed them fresh new contracts ahead of the US Grand Prix. Now that their seats have been settled, team principal Toto Wolff has called on the team to deliver a better result this weekend, following a “disappointing” showing in Austin, Texas.
Russell and Antonelli scored in Saturday’s Sprint, but the Silver Arrows unravelled at the early stages of the actual race last Sunday. Russell started fourth but got squeezed by Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton, and the British international eventually settled for P6. Antonelli, on the other hand, finished 13th after colliding with Carlos Sainz Jr, who retired due to damage to his car.
Wolff wants more from his stars, as the Silver Arrows are holding on to the second spot in the constructors’ championship. At 341 points, Mercedes are only seven and 10 points ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull.
History
As mentioned, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been a happy ground for Max Verstappen, as he has won five of the last seven Grands Prix there for Red Bull. The Dutchman last won it in 2023, despite starting third on the grid, for his 51st career victory. He is the most successful driver on this track, with six victories. Jim Clark has the second-most wins with three.
Ferrari won last year’s edition, courtesy of Carlos Sainz Jr. (now with Williams). The Spanish driver initially lost the lead to Verstappen, but reclaimed it on the ninth lap and never looked back. It was the fourth Formula 1 victory in the 31-year-old’s career to date. Lewis Hamilton is the only active driver with at least two victories at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The seven-time world champion last won it in 2019, when he was still with Mercedes.
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