Mexico City Grand Prix: Race Recap

Hirakawa made his maiden grand prix getaway from 18th position on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and gained a place on the opening lap, before battling against the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson. Hirakawa pitted on lap 36 for Red soft tires – and shortly afterwards the race was suspended due to barrier damage following Valtteri Bottas’ high-speed accident. The Japanese driver took the standing restart on lap 47 from 17th place, on softs, and pitted again for a used set of softs on lap 57 during a safety car period caused by Arvid Lindblad crashing at Turn 2. Hirakawa restarted from 15th and passed both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon during the closing laps to classify in 13th place at the checkered flag.

Bearman took the start from 14th position on soft tires and moved up to 12th place, before he overhauled Gabriel Bortoleto into Turn 1 for 11th after 19 laps. Bearman came into the pits on lap 40 for Yellow medium tires, before the race was halted due to Bottas’ accident. The Briton took the standing restart from 11th position, on soft tires, but was rear-ended into Turn 4 by Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg – who was issued a time penalty. The damage sustained to Bearman’s VF-26 was too significant for him to continue in the race and he was forced to retire.

TGR Haas F1 Team occupies seventh position in the Constructors’ Championship on 30 points.

Up front Max Verstappen claimed victory for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was third – becoming the 2026 Drivers’ World Champion.

Ollie Bearman:

“I just got smashed off. I was turning into Turn 4, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at everyone else coming past me, facing the wrong way. It was a good race to be honest, I had great pace, and we were in the fight for points, and I was in the points when I was taken out. It happens, it just sucks.”

Ryō Hirakawa:

“There were a lot of things to do today, especially around the start, and lap one – It was not easy, especially here going into Turn 1. You’re thinking about braking points and you’ve got cars all around you, so I think I took too much margin because my focus was to finish the race as I wanted to learn. After that, I was trying to learn from what others were doing, and maybe the first stint was tough, but I learned a lot. After the Safety Car, with the soft compound, I had more confidence and, after the last one, I had much more confidence and passed two cars, so I’m happy to finish like that. I need to digest this moment, I’m really happy as today was my dream, so I just want to enjoy this moment.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“The result is obviously disappointing, but overall, as a team performance, it was a decent day. Race pace was really good with Ollie, we were quicker than Audi, and he made some really nice overtakes. With that Turn 4 incident, Ollie did everything correctly. He put the car in the right place, and there’s nothing you can do when someone drives into you, so it’s really unfortunate. I think we had a chance to score points for sure, but you have to take it on the chin – you can only control what you can control.

“What can I say about Ryō’s first Formula 1 race? The first race start was good, and as we expected, throughout the race, he was improving and he stayed calm. The second race start wasn’t as good, but how he came back to overtake both of the Williams' was spot on, so he should be really proud of his performance. I just want to say thanks to all the crews here, they’ve had a lot to work on this weekend and we never missed a session, even with some big changes. Now, we move on to Brazil.”

Next Up:

Round 20 of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship is the São Paulo Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, São Paulo. Practice – Friday November 6. Qualifying – Saturday November 7. Race – Sunday November 8.