Less than a week since the race in Austin, Formula One was in Mexico City for round 19 of the 2026 World Championship for what was looking almost certainly like the Drivers’ Championship decider - 20-year old Kimi Antonelli needed just 2 clear points to secure his maiden World Championship. The venue for this contest, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which first hosted a Formula One race in 1963, is situated some 2,240 metres above sea level, making it by far the highest circuit on the calendar. The high altitude and thinner air present unique challenges, reducing aerodynamic downforce despite the teams running high-downforce configurations, while also making cooling of the power units and brakes particularly difficult. The 4.304 km track features 17 corners and a 1.3km main straight, which the cars would have to navigate for 71 laps on Sunday. The long run to the first corner frequently produces dramatic opening-lap action, while the stadium section, with its packed grandstands and enthusiastic Mexican supporters, provides one of the most distinctive atmospheres in Formula One. For Aston Martin, Mexico offered an opportunity to recover promptly from a disappointing weekend in Austin, as there was less need for outright raw pace, although the demands of the high altitude would place additional pressure on engine cooling and reliability. Going into the weekend, Alonso and Stroll were feeling quietly confident that they could mount enough of a challenge to secure some points.
Free Practice
Friday's opening Free Practice session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez saw Aston Martin reserve driver Jak Crawford take over Stroll's AMR26 for one of the team's four mandated rookie practice sessions of the season. Crawford was one of ten young drivers participating in FP1 as teams fulfilled their obligations to provide opportunities for emerging talent. The American was one of the first drivers onto the track, beginning his programme on hard compound tyres and going round just once, without setting a lap time, before returning to his garage. Alonso remained in his garage for the opening five minutes and then headed out on medium tyres. After 15 minutes, Alonso was running an encouraging P3, 1.25 seconds behind Leclerc, who headed the timesheets, and he came back in shortly afterwards.
As the session approached its halfway point, both Aston Martins resumed their programmes, but with the track bedding in Alonso had slipped to P7, approximately one second behind Hamilton, who had taken over at the top of the timesheets. Crawford was further adrift, in P17, some 2.4 seconds off Hamilton's pace, still on the hard tyres and familiarising himself with the circuit and the AMR26. The American had a brief excursion onto the grass through the stadium section but continued without apparent damage. Both cars returned to their garages before Crawford headed out again with 20 minutes remaining. As the session entered the final quarter Alonso was still in P7 and on medium tyres, while Crawford, who had switched to medium tyres as well, was P17. However, Crawford's session came to an abrupt end when his AMR26 lost power on a straight and came to a halt beside the circuit, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. The team promptly assessed that the failure was battery related and had to send the mechanics to recover Crawford's stranded car wearing protective firefighting apparel as a precaution against the electrical failure. With Crawford unable to continue, his FP1 programme ended after just 15 laps, limiting the running available to Aston Martin's rookie driver. Alonso, meanwhile, returned to the garage. When practice resumed Alonso continued with what he could of his remaining programme but when the chequered flag fell, Leclerc was still fastest and Alonso was still P7, 1.229 seconds behind the Ferrari after completing 29 laps, all on medium compound tyres. Crawford was classified P19, 2.675 seconds off the pace. Despite the interruption, the team had gathered useful information from Alonso's running, although Crawford's battery failure presented some concern ahead of FP2.
The second Free Practice session had all the team’s regular race drivers at their respective steering wheels. Stroll was back in the cockpit of the AMR26 that Crawford had been forced to abandon earlier and he headed out with medium tyres, while Alonso began his programme on hard compound tyres. There was an early interruption when Bearman pulled his Haas off the track, noting an unusual growling sound from the car. Shortly afterwards, Verstappen and Lawson collided in the stadium section, scattering debris across the racing line and prompting Race Control to suspend the session with a red flag. Marshals quickly cleared the debris, receiving enthusiastic applause from the grandstands, before the session resumed.
During the interruption, Stroll reported over the radio that "this car is broken", suggesting that the problems affecting his AMR26 had not been entirely resolved following Crawford's earlier battery failure. With 20 minutes completed, Alonso was P11 and Stroll was P19.
Alonso then returned to the garage, switched to soft compound tyres and immediately improved, to P5, on his initial run. The session was then further disrupted when Hamilton was forced to stop his Ferrari on the circuit, triggering another Virtual Safety Car. With the circuit at 2.2 km above sea level, the reduced air density was testing this new era of power units and batteries and making reliability an important consideration throughout the weekend. At the halfway point, Alonso was running in P6 and Stroll P20, with Norris at the top of the timesheets. Both Aston Martins returned to their garages for further adjustments before Stroll headed back onto the circuit on soft tyres, seeing if he could find some improvement in his lap times.
As the session entered the final quarter, Alonso had slipped to P12, although his best time was only 0.769 seconds behind Leclerc, who had moved to the top of the timesheets. Stroll was still struggling though in P20, despite the switch to soft tyres. During the closing minutes, almost the entire field was running on soft tyres for their final qualifying simulations. Stroll, however, reverted to the medium compound for his last few laps, suggesting that Aston Martin was concentrating on gathering additional tyre data rather than attempting another outright fast lap. Neither Aston Martin improved before the chequered flag fell to mark the end of the session. Leclerc finished fastest ahead of Norris and Russell, with Alonso in P12, the same time distance behind the Ferrari after completing 30 laps. Stroll remained P20, having completed 24 laps and having endured a difficult return to the cockpit.
Across Friday's two sessions, Aston Martin completed a combined total of 98 laps, although the running was unevenly distributed between the drivers. The team would now analyse the data and investigate the problems affecting Stroll's car ahead of Saturday's final practice session and Qualifying. After the session, Verstappen and Lawson were handed one place grid penalties by the Stewards for their avoidable collision and for “behaving in a manner considered unacceptable” and judged them to be both at fault.
Saturday's final Free Practice session got underway at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, but there was little urgency among the teams to begin their programmes, with Haas reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, replacing Esteban Ocon for the session, initially being the only driver to venture onto the circuit. Almost ten minutes had elapsed before four more drivers had taken to the track, but none of them recorded a representative time. Hülkenberg eventually established the early benchmark as the rest of the field began to emerge from their garages. Alonso was among those that came out, but his opening run ended when he spun and ran onto the grass, complaining over the radio that he was unable to downshift properly and that something appeared to be wrong with the engine.
After 15 minutes, Stroll was briefly P3 among the 11 drivers who had recorded times, while Alonso was the last of those - without a representative lap. Both Aston Martin drivers were running on soft compound tyres. The Spaniard subsequently recovered to set the fifth-fastest time, 1.144 seconds behind Antonelli, who was then leading the session. As more drivers completed their runs, the Aston Martins gradually slipped down the order, so that by the halfway point, Alonso was P11, 1.151 seconds behind Hamilton, who had moved to the top of the timesheets, while Stroll was P14. Both green machines returned to their garages for adjustments before heading back onto the circuit. However, their subsequent running brought little improvement, with Alonso P12 and Stroll P15 as the session entered its final quarter.
With nine minutes remaining, Stroll received an instruction over the radio to return to the pits after the team identified another problem with his car. The Canadian was told to box, bringing his running to a premature end while the mechanics began stripping the chassis. The latest interruption followed the battery failure experienced by Crawford during Friday's FP1 and Stroll's complaints about the car's behaviour during FP2, although the precise nature of Saturday's problem was not immediately clear.
Neither Aston Martin was able to improve during the closing minutes. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso was only P14 and Stroll P18, with Norris fastest, ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc. Having struggled with both reliability and performance throughout the three practice sessions, Aston Martin looked like they were facing another difficult Qualifying session.
Qualifying
When the lights turned green for Qualifying to begin both Aston Martins headed out promptly on soft compound tyres. Alonso made an encouraging start, briefly going fastest during the opening minutes, while Stroll had a less successful first run, running wide at turn four and taking an excursion across the grass. However, Alonso's promising start came to an abrupt end just seven minutes into Q1 when the Spaniard was instructed by his engineer to stop the car immediately after fluid was seen escaping from the rear of his AMR26, accompanied by a puff of smoke. Race Control deployed the red flag, bringing the session to a halt while Alonso pulled off the circuit. His frustration was evident as he climbed from the stricken car and threw his arms up in huge disbelief, another technical failure having brought his running to a premature conclusion. The AMR26 was recovered and Qualifying resumed without Aston Martin’s lead driver and with only ten minutes remaining. Alonso's early lap time was still on the board, but with the rest of the field improving, his chances of progressing to Q2 depended entirely on whether it would be sufficient to keep him within the top 16. Stroll, meanwhile, had to find a competitive lap if he was to avoid elimination himself.
With five minutes remaining, Stroll was only P20 and that is where he finished the round after having a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, adding to the team's woes. Alonso, his early retirement having prevented any further attempts, did slip down the order and he was classified P18. The initial indication from Aston Martin was that Alonso's stoppage had been caused by a water-related issue associated with airflow, although the precise technical explanation remained unclear. Whatever the underlying cause, the incident brought another disappointing end to the Spaniard's Qualifying session, following the problems with his car in Austin the previous weekend. Hamilton finished Q1 fastest ahead of Bearman and Leclerc.
With both Aston Martins eliminated, attention turned to the remaining drivers. After the opening runs in Q2, Leclerc headed the timesheets ahead of Lindblad and Antonelli, but the order changed as the session progressed. With five minutes remaining, Verstappen had moved to P1 ahead of Leclerc and Norris, before Norris improved to finish the session fastest, with Verstappen second and Leclerc third.
The final ten drivers then took to the track to contest for pole position. Following the opening runs in Q3, Leclerc held provisional pole ahead of Verstappen and Norris, but the decisive final attempts produced a different outcome. Hamilton delivered a superb lap to secure pole position, with his old teammate from Mercedes days, Russell, qualifying second and Leclerc third. It was a significant milestone for Hamilton, marking his first pole position for Ferrari and the 105th of his Formula One career, extending his all-time record. At 41 years and 297 days, he also became the oldest driver to secure pole position, adding another distinction to his remarkable career.
For Aston Martin, however, Saturday had been another deeply disappointing day. Alonso's technical failure had prevented him from building on his promising opening lap in Q1, while Stroll had struggled with the handling and reliability of his AMR26 throughout the weekend. With both cars due to start towards the rear of the grid, the team was facing an uphill challenge yet again for the race.
Race
Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix promised to be a significant occasion, with Kimi Antonelli having the opportunity to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to become World Champion at just 20 years of age. The Mercedes driver would start from P4 and Hamilton starting from pole position, while the Aston Martin drivers were each moved up a place after Lawson was disqualified from Qualifying and would start from the pit lane - Alonso would start from P17 and Stroll from P19. When the tyre blankets came off the AMR26s it was revealed that they were both fitted with soft compound tyres for the opening stint of the 71-lap race.
When the lights went out, the action began immediately - Russell was slow getting away and was passed by a number of drivers. One of them was Leclerc who challenged Hamilton for the lead in the first sequences of corners, but was run off track by the British driver, who himself went off track. Verstappen managed to slip past Hamilton, but Leclerc had cut the corner to such an extent that he emerged in front of both Verstappen and Hamilton. Although Leclerc was visibly in the lead, the investigation as to whether he had gained an advantage by leaving the track was already underway.
Away from the battle at the front the Aston Martins both dropped a couple of places on the opening laps, Alonso to P19 and Stroll to P21. On lap four, both AMR26s had returned to the pits, apparently with technical problems, but were sent back out again. Any prospects of recovering positions were quickly extinguished when Alonso was instructed to retire his car on lap six, with Stroll receiving the same instruction shortly afterwards. Alonso managed to return his AMR26 to the garage, but Stroll stopped off the circuit in an awkward position, prompting Race Control to deploy the Virtual Safety Car.
The VSC ended on lap eight, but Aston Martin's race was already over. The team subsequently confirmed that it had been forced to retire both cars because of "abnormal pressure levels in the PU systems", bringing another deeply disappointing double retirement due to the continuing difficulties with the AMR26-Honda package.
With the Aston Martins sidelined, attention returned to the battle at the front. Race Control was investigating the opening-lap incident involving Leclerc and Hamilton, with the Stewards in a conundrum given that both drivers had left the track and cut the corner. On lap 13 the determination was made and Leclerc was handed a five-second time penalty for the incident. At that point, Leclerc’s lead was 3.2 seconds over Verstappen, leaving him vulnerable for when the penalty would be served. The Dutchman was also running on the longer-lasting medium compound tyres, potentially giving him a strategic advantage over the Ferrari. Antonelli, meanwhile, was running comfortably in P4, sufficient for him to secure the World Championship regardless of the developing battle ahead.
By lap 15, Leclerc had extended his advantage over Verstappen to around four seconds, with Hamilton still third.
On lap 28, with the gap to Verstappen hovering between 4.9-5 seconds, Leclerc headed into the pits, leaving the outcome finely balanced. Unexpectedly, Verstappen came into the pits for a mandatory tyre change at the same time and managed to get serviced and away ahead of Leclerc as he served his penalty. Hamilton inherited the lead briefly as he made his mandatory tyre change on the next lap. This moved Antonelli into first place, giving the young Italian his first spell at the front of the race. At the half-distance point, Antonelli led from Norris and Verstappen, although Antonelli and Norris had yet to make their pit stops. Norris brought his McLaren into the pits for a set of new medium tyres on lap 39 followed four laps later by Antonelli, who was the final driver to make a tyre change and rejoined the race in P4.
The complexion of the Grand Prix changed dramatically on lap 46 when Bottas suffered a frightening accident at the end of the long main straight. As the Cadillac approached the heavy braking zone at more than 200mph, its front-left suspension appeared to collapse, leaving the Finn unable to control the car as it careered off track at high speed and into the barriers. Race Control initially deployed the Safety Car before displaying the red flags, bringing the race to a halt, requiring all the remaining cars to return to the pit lane, while the damaged Cadillac and barrier were attended to. Fortunately, Bottas emerged from the accident unharmed.
The order initially appeared to have Verstappen leading from Leclerc and Antonelli, but the Stewards subsequently determined that the restart positions would be based on the running order immediately before the start of the previous lap. This meant that Hamilton would line up ahead of Antonelli when racing resumed.
After a lengthy interruption, the drivers finally returned to the circuit for the restart. Verstappen made a clean getaway and retained the lead, while Leclerc locked up heavily under braking, allowing Hamilton to pass the Ferrari. Antonelli also took advantage of Leclerc's mistake, moving the young Mercedes driver into third place behind Verstappen and Hamilton. With 20 laps remaining, Verstappen continued to lead from Hamilton and Antonelli, a remarkable podium combination featuring two established multiple World Champions and the young Italian on the verge of securing his first title.
The race was interrupted again on lap 59 when Lindblad made contact with Piastri and subsequently struck a wall, bringing his afternoon to an end. The Safety Car was deployed once more, bunching up the remaining field and temporarily neutralising Verstappen's advantage. With ten laps remaining, the leading trio of Verstappen, Hamilton and Antonelli went round behind the Safety Car, which they did for two more laps. When the Safety Car period ended and the cars were released Verstappen successfully defended his lead and they all stayed in formation for the closing stages. Verstappen crossed the line to win the Mexico City Grand Prix but of greater significance was Antonelli’s achievement, whose result was sufficient to secure him the 2026 Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
Reaction and Comment
While Antonelli celebrated winning the Championship, for Aston Martin there was no fiesta - the contrast could hardly have been greater. Alonso and Stroll had to reflect on another weekend undermined by technical problems, with both cars retired after just six laps because of abnormal pressure levels in their power unit systems. Although Aston Martin had identified the immediate reason for withdrawing the cars, the underlying cause of the abnormal pressure readings was not disclosed. Honda's Trackside General Manager, Shintaro Orihara, had expressed concern about the challenges posed by Interlagos being another circuit situated at altitude. Given the problems experienced in Mexico, questions inevitably remained about how effectively the AMR26's power unit could cope with the differing operating conditions encountered throughout the season. The team has now missed out on scoring points in three consecutive Grands Prix since Alonso's eighth-place finish in Malaysia, with the continuing reliability and performance limitations of the AMR26-Honda package leaving little opportunity for either driver to demonstrate their abilities. After the race, Alonso could only say, "A frustrating end to the day. We knew it was going to be tough, but having to retire the car so early is disappointing. The same MGUK issue that stopped us in Qualifying reoccurred and forced us to stop. Days like today bring hard lessons, but we are learning. I'm doing my best to stay motivated and will continue to give everything I can as we look ahead to Brazil next week." Stroll, similarly downbeat, said, "We had an issue and had to stop the car on lap 6 to avoid damaging the battery. A tough day for the team, who have worked long hours this whole weekend. Still, there's plenty to think about with the car and only a few days before we head to Brazil. We'll see what we've got there." Formula One would now head to Brazil for the final leg of the American triple-header, where Aston Martin will be hoping to put its latest disappointment behind it.