Red Bull’s decision to pit Max Verstappen on the same lap as Charles Leclerc proved pivotal in the Dutchman’s sixth victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The team departed from its original tyre plan to protect track position, a choice Verstappen and team principal Laurent Mekies praised after the race.
Verstappen had started on medium tyres and would ordinarily have stayed out longer. But Red Bull judged that delaying the stop could leave him behind Leclerc, who would have gained several laps on fresh tyres. Overtaking was difficult at the circuit, while dirty air made following another car especially challenging.
The team acted when Leclerc came in to serve a five-second penalty. Verstappen said he did not have the pace to stay with Leclerc, but was close enough to the penalty window for Red Bull to follow him into the pits. He also noted that teams can take extra care when serving a five-second penalty, making it difficult to stop for exactly that amount of time. Verstappen said the decision allowed him to get ahead of Leclerc.
The call left Verstappen with a long stint on soft tyres. Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told him the team would need one of his “magical Mexico stints.” Verstappen said Leclerc had been close, but the Ferrari driver later had to back off to manage cooling, which helped him.
A safety car initially worried Verstappen because he could not pit at that moment. A subsequent red flag, however, allowed him to change tyres and reset the race. The restart meant another standing start, an area Red Bull had struggled with during the season, but Verstappen said both of his starts in Mexico went well.
Mekies credited the strategy group and pit wall for acting quickly when they saw Leclerc coming in. He said Red Bull had learned from its approach in Austin, where the team had been criticised for sticking too closely to its original plan and not reacting openly enough to the race.
Mekies also said Red Bull was surprised that Leclerc’s penalty was only five seconds, describing it as feeling “a bit light,” while acknowledging that the team had to race with the decision as given. Verstappen’s win was his third of the 2026 season and moved him to second in the championship standings. He has said that finishing second or third overall would mean little to him because his focus is on winning the title.
Sources: Autosport.