����ֱ��

MEXICO CITY: Lando Norris regained the lead in the drivers’ world championship for the first time in six months on Sunday when he steered his McLaren to a commanding victory in a breathless Mexico Grand Prix.
Driving with great authority, the 25-year-old Briton came home 30.324 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with four-time champion Max Verstappen third for Red Bull.
For Norris, it was a first win in Mexico, his sixth this season and the 10th of his career — achieved with a near-perfect race from pole position to lift him back to the top of the drivers’ title race by one point for the first time since the ����ֱ��n race in April.
With four races remaining, Norris has 357 points, ahead of Piastri on 356 and Verstappen, who is third on 321.
“A beautiful win to celebrate here in this stadium in Mexico,” said Norris.
“It’s one weekend at a time for me. I am happy and I am focused on myself. I am just keeping my head down and I keep to myself...
“I just stay relaxed and it helps. It helped me get a good start and it’s the best thing.”
Leclerc, who gained his seventh podium of the season, said: “I am very happy with the weekend. We didn’t know what to expect here so to get on the podium is a nice surprise.”
For Verstappen, it ended his sparkling streak of winning three of the past four races.
“It was very hectic at the start and I almost crashed out. To be fighting for P2 with all that happened — a strong race for me,” he reflected.
Haas teenage rookie Oliver Bearman was a career best fourth ahead of Norris’ McLaren team-mate and previously runaway series leader Oscar Piastri, and Mercedes’ young rookie Kimi Antonelli.
The Italian’s teammate George Russell was seventh ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, Esteban Ocon in the second Haas and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
The packed stands on a hot day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez witnessed high-speed chaos at the start as the leaders powered down and into the first corner.
Norris made a good start from his 14th career pole and was one of four cars abreast as they turned in, but he held on to his lead as Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen drew alongside him.

- Breathless -

Leclerc battled Hamilton and ran off while Verstappen, in uncompromising mood, also ran off after attacking. He returned third but gave it back to Hamilton.
Russell lost a place to the Dutchman and was adamant he was forced off while Hamilton complained at the aggression in T1.
“What are they doing about it?” he asked. The stewards took a dim view of his part in the start, meting out a 10-second penalty.
Hamilton was aghast to learn of his punishment, which was followed by a decision not to punish Verstappen for his misdemeanours.
Norris stayed in front ahead of the two Ferraris in grid order while Verstappen lunged at every opening, bouncing off on lap six and then making contact with Hamilton as he tried again on lap seven.
Looking serene in the sunshine, Norris was five seconds clear by lap 15.
Behind him it was breathless stuff in the thin air at 2,200 meters altitude, but Norris appeared unflustered as the chasing pack began to pit.
Norris pitted on lap 34, but such was his superiority he rejoined the race still with an eight second lead.
In a frantic finale, Verstappen was third and chasing Leclerc, while Bearman resisted Piastri before a late VSC deployment to clear Carlos Sainz’s parked Williams halted the drama until the final lap.

MADRID: Real Madrid finally ended its recent struggles against Barcelona in a tense clasico which saw players confronting each other after the final whistle.
Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham scored as Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in the first clasico of the season on Sunday, halting a four-game losing streak against the Catalan rival.
The victory increased Madrid’s league lead over Barcelona to five points after 10 rounds.
There was a scuffle between the bench players from both teams after Barcelona’s Pedri was sent off just before the final whistle. The altercation continued after the game ended, with Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior and Barcelona star forward Lamine Yamal — who was successfully contained by Madrid defenders during the match — among those involved.
“It was the moment and the tension from both teams,” Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said. “It was the tension of an important match and a close result. We shouldn’t read too much into these moments of tension. All sorts of things have happened in clasicos.”
Vinícius and Yamal — whose pre-match comments upset some Madrid fans — exchanged words a couple of times during the game. Vinícius gestured against Yamal, using his hands to hint that the Barcelona star was talking too much.
“Talk is cheap,” Bellingham posted on Instagram after the match.
The England player called it “a magnificent performance from the whole team.”
“This victory is also for the fans,” he told Real Madrid TV. “Last year we played badly in the big games and today this victory was for everyone.”
Yamal and Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Madrid defender Dani Carvajal also got into an altercation after the match.
Madrid reserve goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was sent off following the post-match scuffle, and Vinícius was among the players shown a yellow card.
Vinícius was visibly upset when he was replaced by Rodrygo in the 72nd. He went straight to the locker room before rejoining his teammates on the bench a few minutes later.
“All coaches know that there are different personalities,” Alonso said. “Now we’ll enjoy it and, when the time comes, we’ll talk about these things in the dressing room, of course.”
Mbappé strikes
France forward Mbappé, who failed to convert a second-half penalty kick, put Madrid ahead halfway through the first half. That came after the VAR had reversed a penalty-kick call and a goal for the hosts in the opening 15 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Mbappé opened the scoring in the 22nd after an assist by Bellingham. Barcelona equalized through Fermín López in the 38th and Bellingham netted the winner in the 43rd.
Mbappé had his penalty kick saved by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 52nd.
Madrid has won 12 of its 13 matches this season, with its lone setback a 5-2 loss at Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league in September.
It was the third loss of the season for Barcelona in all competitions. It had also lost this month 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain at home in the Champions League and 4-1 at Sevilla in the Spanish league.
Yamal was making his third appearance after missing some playing time because of an injury. The youngster couldn’t do much against Madrid defender Álvaro Carreras throughout the match at the Bernabeu.
Mbappé increased his league-leading tally to 11 goals in a breakaway, calmly finding the net with only Szczesny to beat after a nice through ball by Bellingham. It was Mbappé’s 16th goal in his last 13 matches with club and country.
Rashford’s assist
Barcelona equalized after a mistake by Madrid midfielder Arda Guler, who lost possession near the area to allow Marcus Rashford to make a run through the left side and find López for an easy strike from close range.
Bellingham put Madrid ahead again five minutes later, finding the open net from near the goal line after Madrid defender Éder Militão headed the ball toward the goal following another nice run and cross by Vinícius.
Bellingham, who missed the first part of the season because of a shoulder injury, had scored his first goal of the season on Wednesday in Madrid’s 1-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League. He was also involved in the play that led to the missed penalty by Mbappé — a handball by Barcelona defender Eric García as he tried to contain Bellingham inside the area.
Mbappé had another goal called off for offside in first-half stoppage time.
Early penalty reversed by VAR
Madrid was awarded a penalty two minutes into the game after a run by Vinícius inside the area but the call was reversed after video review. Vinícius went down after he kicked Yamal’s leg while trying to get a shot on goal. The referee initially called a foul on Vinícius but changed his mind after looking at the play again.
Madrid thought it had opened the scoring about 10 minutes later when Mbappé found the net with a long-range shot, but VAR came in again to rule that he was offside when he received the ball.
Pedri was sent off deep into second-half stoppage time after a sliding tackle on Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Redemption for Madrid
Madrid was outscored 16-7 as it lost all clasicos last season across all competitions. It was the first time Barcelona won every clasico in a season that had at least three matches between the rivals.
Barcelona arrived Sunday with injury woes in attack, and coach Hansi Flick had to watch the game from a stadium box after he was shown a red card for protesting in the previous round of games. Striker Robert Lewandowski was out with a hamstring injury and forward Raphinha stayed on the injury list because of a right leg ailment sustained in late September. Playmaker Dani Olmo and first-choice goalkeeper Joan García had already been ruled out due to injuries.
Raphinha, who was among those involved in the altercation at the end of the match, netted five of the 16 goals that Barcelona scored in the four matches against Madrid last season.
Other results
Mallorca drew 1-1 with Levante, while Celta Vigo won 3-2 at Osasuna with Pablo Duran scoring an 87th-minute winner.
Rayo Vallecano beat Alaves 1-0 with Alemão’s stoppage-time goal.