F1 star forced into early RETIREMENT at Mexican Grand Prix

A chaotic start to the Mexican Grand Prix saw three drivers retire within the first 20 laps, two from an opening lap crash and one – a former world champion – with a car issue.

Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon made contact down into the first corner, sending the former's VCARB flying into the barriers and damaging the latter's Williams badly enough that he was forced to pull over to the side of the track.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA issue Mexican Grand Prix grid penalty as Mercedes BREACH curfew

READ MORE: FIA hit Verstappen with huge DOUBLE penalty after controversial Norris incident at Mexican GP

The third retiree was Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard's 400th Formula 1 race coming to a disappointing end just 16 laps into the race when he pulled into the Aston Martin garage to retire his car.

It wasn't immediately clear what the two-time world champion's issue was, but the team later revealed that he was struggling with a suspected break cooling issue.

READ MORE: FIA hit Verstappen with huge DOUBLE penalty after controversial Norris incident at Mexican GP

What happened at the Mexican Grand Prix?

Alonso had talked throughout the trip to Mexico about his milestone race, becoming the only driver to reach 400 races entered and saying, perhaps optimistically: "I hope to enjoy the weekend, every second of it."

Meanwhile on track, the action was hectic. Lando Norris overtook Max Verstappen once racing got back underway after the safety car prompted by Tsunoda and Albon's crash, setting in motion a chain reaction of chaos.

Verstappen has been fighting his British title challenger to the very limit of the rules this season, and the FIA stewards took the view that he crossed the line with his actions following the Norris pass, giving him a pair of 10-second penalties for crossing the line when fighting the McLaren driver.

Meanwhile, the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc drove away up the road ahead of the title battle for the second race in a row.

READ MORE: F1 star DEMOTED by FIA just hours before Mexican Grand Prix

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 News Today: Ferrari poach Mercedes star, Toto Wolff admits 'sometimes we get it wrong'

• Today 15:54

Martin Brundle claims this F1 moment blew title race wide open

• Yesterday 22:27

Max Verstappen signs for Mercedes as F1 insider predicts every move in wild silly season

• Yesterday 20:54

Ferrari poach Mercedes F1 star as double signing ramps up title fight

• Yesterday 18:42

F1 News Today: Verstappen to Aston Martin, Mercedes cost cap fears and Sky F1's uncertain future

• Yesterday 07:15

Carlos Sainz told F1 rival team move is a 'no-brainer', but one driver stands in his way

• August 3, 2026 09:44