Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won the Mexican Grand Prix from Lando Norris who advantage of two 10-second penalties for Max Verstappen in their title battle on an action-packed Sunday.
A week after McLaren driver Norris was handed a 5-second penalty at the US race in a duel with Verstappen which dropped him behind the rival, the two were at it again in the early stages in Mexico City.
This time it was the Red Bull triple champion found guilty by stewards to have forced Norris off the track and of gaining an advantage which carried 10 seconds each.
Verstappen had earlier beaten pole sitter Sainz at the start but the Spaniard reclaimed the lead and team-mate Charles Leclerc slipped into second during the Verstappen-Norris fight.
But Norris passed Leclerc with eight laps left to finish ahead of the US winner.
Verstappen recovered from dropping to 15th after serving the penalties to sixth in at least some damage limitation, behind Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Norris cut the gap on Verstappen by 10 points to 47, with 140 points still up for grabs in the remaining four weekends.
But Red Bull lost second place in the constructors’ list to Ferrari who also closed in on leaders McLaren.