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MEXICO CITY — Carlos Sainz climbed on top of his vibrant red Ferrari, spreading his arms wide before raising his fists in the air.

The emotions were evident. The Spaniard started the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole, and though he lost the lead to Max Verstappen, Sainz regained first and put together one of the strongest drives of his Formula One career. His race engineer, Ricciardo Adami, called Sunday’s performance “a master class” over the radio at the end of the race.

Sainz is the first driver to win the Mexico City GP from pole in eight years and the first Ferrari driver to win the race since 1990 when Alain Prost accomplished the feat. This season is the first time Sainz has won multiple grands prix — the first in Australia 16 days after surgery and now here in Mexico.

Ferrari wasn’t good enough to be in the constructors’ title fight before summer break, but its recent upgrades have helped push the Maranello-based team to second in the standings with four races to go. It’s fair to say that Ferrari could be in the mix again in 2025 if things stay the course.

But it’ll be without Sainz.

“Honestly, I really wanted this one — I needed it for myself, I wanted to get it done,” Sainz said. “I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari, and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible.

“Now four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible, and if another one comes, I will go for it.”

How the victory unfolded

Sainz had to work for his second victory of the season.

Verstappen took the lead after the grid barreled towards Turn 1, though that wasn’t surprising. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a low-grip track, and as the Ferrari driver noted, Red Bull tends to start well at these circuits. Verstappen stayed on the inside of Sainz heading into Turn 1, and though Sainz said he braked as late as he could, Verstappen did the same. This left Sainz with “no space to go into Turn 2.” Verstappen emerged with the early race lead.

Because of the early collision between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda, the grid settled behind the safety car for several laps. Verstappen nailed the restart, but Sainz stayed in his rearview mirrors, never letting the Red Bull stray too far out of sight. He made his move on Lap 9.

“With Max, you need to be determined. You need to be decisive,” Sainz said. “If you’re not, you’re never going to pass him. And in that case, I think I caught him a bit by surprise, and I could make it stick.”

With some help from DRS and a tow, Sainz lunged past the Dutchman to re-secure a lead the Spaniard never relinquished. The Ferrari driver initially appeared too far back to make the move, but in the final 100 meters, Sainz said, “I felt like I had a good momentum, and I’ve been feeling very confident braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car has been giving me confidence to brake late there, and I just went for it, and it happened. Also, this mentality of knowing I had a bit less to lose in that battle and that I could be aggressive and send one.”

He described it as a “high tension” moment because a chaotic battle unfolded between Verstappen and Lando Norris behind him. It resulted in the Red Bull driver receiving two 10-second time penalties, which he served on the first pit stop.

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Once Sainz regained the lead, roughly 60 or so laps remained. Plenty of action unfolded throughout the race, like Liam Lawson battling Sergio Pérez or Norris hunting Charles Leclerc in those final laps. Ahead of all of them, it appeared to be a rather problem-free race for Sainz aside from the report of a misfire. He said that was an “isolated incident.”

“The only misfire I had all race was at the exit of Turn 3. Landing after the curb, I did a little short shift and it gave me a misfire, which was a bit scary, but we’ve had them during the weekend and we know it’s due to the altitude and the mapping,” Sainz said. “But once I was in the lead, I was trusting my pace, my management, and I knew this weekend I’ve been very quick, and I knew I just had to do whatever I had planned, and the win was possible.”

Sainz retook the lead from Verstappen with a daring lunge into Turn 1. (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

At around lap 49, Sainz also raised over the radio that he felt Ferrari was pushing too hard. It was a Prancing Horse 1-2 at the time, and Leclerc wasn’t far behind. The Monegasque driver, though, lost second in a battle with Norris. He lost the rear and nearly hit the barriers, saving it at the last moment.

It may not have been a Ferrari 1-2 in the end; however, the first and third-place finishes, plus Leclerc securing the fastest lap, was enough to launch the team ahead of Red Bull in the standings — a 25-point lead to be specific.

‘The perfect goodbye’

Sainz admitted he shed a tear as the Spanish national anthem played in celebration at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Just below the podium stood his parents, Carlos Sainz Sr. and Reyes Vázquez de Castro, and his partner, Rebecca Donaldson. His best friends also attended the race weekend, and all those present made this moment that much sweeter.

“It’s one of the best moments in my career. My mom had never been present on a race win with me, and the fact that she was coming here this weekend, I wanted really to win a race in front of her,” Sainz said. “On top of that, the way the whole weekend panned out, it was just perfect.

“Losing at the start and then having to fight back with Max just made everything a bit more tricky. Probably makes it taste even better because I had to work hard for it.”

Sainz celebrated with his father, family and friends after the race. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

It has been a long year, not just for Ferrari but also for Sainz. News broke in February that Lewis Hamilton would join the team in 2025, leaving the 30-year-old without a seat despite being competitive among the top teams. It wasn’t until late July that the announcement came that Sainz would head to Williams Racing next season, a team trying to rebuild.

Meanwhile, Ferrari started the season competitively before falling into a tricky development stretch that saw it drop behind McLaren and Mercedes by summer break. It brought upgrades in Monza, and Leclerc won, but time would tell if it was a proper step forward. That confirmation came in Austin when Ferrari went 1-2, with Leclerc winning his third grand prix of the season.

Leclerc said that the constructors’ championship is “realistically possible.” Ferrari is 29 points behind McLaren, which leads the standings with 566 points. But as Sainz noted, the team will need to be consistent. Winning the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2008 would be the perfect sendoff for Sainz.

“I think it could have been quite easy for me to lose a bit of motivation and to lose a bit of the drive to make it happen, but those three weeks of break (after Singapore) served me well,” Sainz said. “I managed to regain a bit of the determination and the drive that I needed for these last five, six races of the season. And I managed to put myself in a position with improving my driving, my confidence with the car, to put myself in a position to, first, win in Austin that I didn’t make it happen — Charles did a great job there — and put myself in a position to win here and this one I was just going to make sure it doesn’t slip from my hands.

“Not an easy year, but proud of the way that I’ve managed to keep myself in it and obviously trying to help the team now as much as I can to win these constructors because it would be the perfect goodbye for me.”

(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)