Seeing the colours of Max Verstappen's RB 21 closing in monstrously, approaching the final laps, of the Mexico City Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc's stronghold of second place was weakening.
The soft tyres that Verstappen was running were evidently the more competitive compound to be on, and he was using them to great effect after starting on the medium tyres.
Dropping to the lower reaches of the top ten, once he made his pit stop, it seemed there was little stopping the Red Bull driver, as he took advantage of many of his rivals making a second stop. However, after last year's winner Carlos Sainz slipped out of contention, through the stadium section, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.
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This thwarted Verstappen from making an impression on the Ferrari, as the last lap began. And speaking post-race, Leclerc was more than relieved to have seen race director intervene: "I was quite happy about the [Virtual] Safety Car. My tyres were completely gone and I could see Max was coming back on the softer tyre, so it was tough. It saved me at the end!"
Therefore, for the second weekend in succession, Leclerc stood on the podium.
Leclerc also had a very interesting first lap, whereby he retained second place from Lewis Hamilton by going off the track and not handing the position back. The stewards did not involve themselves in this incident, with more leniency given on such instances during first laps.
Going four-wide into Turn 1! 😲
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 27, 2025
We head onboard with Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell and Verstappen for the frenetic race start 👀#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/CkJIB0CZCe
And on those dramatic first few turns, Leclerc told formula1.com: "I hated every metre of that first corner. There was the start, which wasn't a great one, strangely that kind of helped me because I don't think Lando [Norris] would have come back to the right if I had a good start, so luckily I could have a slipstream.
"But then I was a passenger trying to defend my place. Everything was super tight. Luckily my race or Lewis' race didn't end up here because I really thought it would."
His latest podium is his seventh of 2025, but it is now over a year since either he or Ferrari have won a grand prix. And each of the four upcoming races, in this 2025 season, are races in which the Monegasque has never won at.