Verstappen starts fifth after Mexico City grid drop, Lawson last after disqualification

Result, 1 November: Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Antonelli finished third to become the 2026 Formula 1 world champion. Full classification: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results. Our report: Verstappen wins as Antonelli is crowned.

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson will each start the Mexico City Grand Prix one place lower than they qualify, after the stewards punished their collision in second practice on Friday. Both drivers also received one penalty point on their licence. Valtteri Bottas starts 21st, near the back of the grid, after Cadillac fitted five new power unit elements to his car.

Update, 31 October: after qualifying, Verstappen’s one-place drop moves him from fourth to fifth on the grid, behind Kimi Antonelli. Lawson qualified eighth, but the stewards then disqualified him from qualifying because his car breached the MGU-K rules after his fastest Q2 lap. He has permission to start and lines up 22nd and last, with Bottas 21st. Lewis Hamilton is on pole. Full qualifying results and grid: Mexico City GP 2026 results.

Qualifying starts at 15:00 local time, 21:00 UK, 22:00 CET and 17:00 ET: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 start times.

A preparation lap and a cool-down lap that met at Turn 14

Neither driver was on a timed lap. According to the stewards, Verstappen was on a preparation lap and Lawson on a cool-down lap when the Red Bull moved past the Racing Bulls into Turn 12, at the entry to the stadium section. Lawson tried to take the place back at the next left-hander. Verstappen bounced over the kerb on the exit, rejoined alongside him, and the two cars touched.

The contact damaged the floor of the Red Bull and the front wing of the Racing Bulls. The debris brought out a red flag. Verstappen still finished the session fifth and Lawson ninth, on a day on which both had already handed their cars to rookies Ayumu Iwasa and Nikola Tsolov in first practice. The full session: Leclerc fastest in Mexico FP2.

Formula 1’s own video shows the moment the two cars touched in second practice:

The stewards turned a warning into a grid drop

A practice incident like this usually ends with a formal warning. The stewards went further. They called the behaviour of both drivers “unacceptable” and noted that overtaking in the final sector had been raised at the team managers’ meeting earlier that Friday. Both drivers admitted the moves were unnecessary and “clumsy”. Pointing to similar incidents in practice sessions this year, the stewards escalated the penalty to a one-place grid drop each.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane did not take sides. “Completely unnecessary, and I say that to both of them,” he told formula1.com. Verstappen called Lawson’s driving not very smart, while Lawson said on team radio that Verstappen “literally drove into me”.

For Lawson the timing is awkward. Racing Bulls have not confirmed their 2027 line-up yet. He is ninth in the championship with 77 points, 39 more than team-mate Arvid Lindblad, according to the official standings.

Five new parts, fifty places for Bottas

Bottas retired in Austin with a suspected power unit failure, his ninth retirement of the season. Cadillac answered by fitting a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics. The FIA’s list of new elements shows the fifth engine and turbocharger of an allocation of four, and the fourth MGU-K, energy store and control electronics of an allocation of three.

Each first breach of an element costs ten grid places, so the total comes to 50. Any penalty above 15 places sends a driver to the back, so Bottas starts last whatever happens in qualifying. He also missed Thursday’s media day through illness, and Colton Herta drove his car in first practice (the ten FP1 stand-ins). Cadillac team-mate Sergio Pérez also felt unwell and arrived late at the track on Friday, but both drivers ran in practice.

Racing Bulls also changed the energy store and control electronics on both cars, and Audi did the same on Nico Hülkenberg’s car. All of those parts are within the allocation and carry no penalty.

Two pit lane fines for Aston Martin, 12,500 euros for Audi

Fernando Alonso was caught speeding in the pit lane twice on Friday: at 80.2 km/h in first practice and at 80.1 km/h in second practice, against a limit of 80 km/h. The stewards fined Aston Martin €100 each time.

Audi paid more. The team was fined €7,500 after Freddie Slater, driving car 98 in first practice, was released with a cooling fan still attached to the car. The fan did not come off, but the stewards ruled that it could have. Audi was fined a further €5,000 for carrying the floor of Gabriel Bortoleto’s car across the garage under a sheet during second practice, and for screening the car while mechanics worked underneath it.

Our verdict: a fair line, drawn late in the season

The stewards were right to act. Two drivers who are not even on a push lap have no reason to fight wheel to wheel, and the warning had been given that same day. A single grid place will hardly change Verstappen’s race, but it shows that the stewards now treat practice clashes as incidents with consequences. For Lawson, fighting for his seat, an unnecessary penalty point is the last thing he needed.

Qualifying on Saturday, Antonelli needs ninth on Sunday

Qualifying decides where the penalties actually bite. On Sunday, Kimi Antonelli is world champion with a top-nine finish, whatever his rivals do. All the scenarios: F1 2026 championship permutations. Results as they come in: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results.

Sources: FIA stewards’ decisions and power unit documents, Mexico City Grand Prix 2026; formula1.com.

Was a grid drop the right call for a practice clash, or should the stewards have stopped at a warning? Tell us in the comments.