Hamilton: "What's happening about Charles?"

Engineer: "Investigation ongoing and they will let you know."

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

Ferrari are not going to be pleased in asking the stewards to look into the challenge there on the Ferraris because if they give a penalty to Charles, then Max is in the front of the race.

The stewards think the Charles Leclerc-Lewis Hamilton intra-team battle needs investigating. The seven-time world champion then comes on the radio to ask his pit wall what's going on?

Lando Norris also lost out during the first-lap tussles but now the world champion is up to seventh place after overtaking Franco Colapinto.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli is fourth.

Hamilton: "Got pushed out by my own team-mate."

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton also went off the track in that scrap with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, so let's see what the race control makes of that incident.

George Russell has passed Arvid Lindblad and is now running in fifth place, while Franco Colapinto has climbed from 11th to seventh in the Alpine.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

We said it was going to be chaos and that is exactly what happened. But it was the two Ferraris going wheel to wheel, they didn't give each other an inch. Lewis Hamilton, I'm sure will be furious with his team-mate, they pushed each other all around the outside.

Isack Hadjar was spun round on that opening lap and has now tumbled down the field and is behind pit-lane starter Liam Lawson.

Max Verstappen thinks Charles Leclerc should be giving the position back, while Lewis Hamilton is adamant his team-mate pushed him off the track.

Verstappen: "Charles has to give that position"

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

Just a little point to make which is, everyone behind the front row, apart from Isack Hadjar, have got new tyres so the front row have slightly less grip off the line. It is going to be very close going into Turn One.

Image source, Getty Images

Will this be a championship Sunday in Mexico?

George Russell has lost places on that long run down to Turn One and as everyone makes it out of Turn One, the Mercedes man has dropped all the way down to sixth.

Charles Leclerc is battling with Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton and now the Monegasque driver has passes the seven-time world champion! But will he have to give the position back? There was chaos as the two fought for the lead.

Max Verstappen on his medium tyres has made his way up to second behind Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton has locked up slightly at the first corner as he leads the field from pole position. Has the seven-time world champion slightly flat-spotted his soft tyre?

Right then. Eyes down, look in...

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

I think [Kimi Antonelli] has been incredibly honest, I think he has been quite impressive, we've been impressed by everything he has done this year. He has come out and said I've not been well and I also feel a bit of the pressure. It didn't happen in Austin, he did everything he possibly could do in Austin and now he is in a tricky situation.

His mindset is normally to try and win the race and now he is being told you don't have to win the race. Your instinct as a racing driver is to go for the gap.

The top four of Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and championship leader Kimi Antonelli have all opted to start on the soft tyre in Mexico, with Max Verstappen the odd man out on the medium compound.

At the rear of pack, Oliver Bearman in P14 down to Valtteri Bottas in P21 are also soft runners, and Liam Lawson, starting from the pit lane, will head out on the mediums.

Image source, Getty Images

In the constructors' standings. Mercedes are on their way to dethroning reigning champions McLaren, but a lot would have to go in their favour for them to crowned winner in Mexico tonight. For now, the team are 133 points clear of second-placed Ferrari.

McLaren have found themselves level on points with Red Bull and down to fourth, with drivers' title holder Lando Norris and Max Verstappen starting alongside each other on the third row.

Oscar Piastri was a shock elimination in Q2 yesterday, and while he's moved up one place because of Liam Lawson's disqualification, the Australian is still starting outside the points in P12, with the other red Bull of Isack Hadjar lining up P7.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

It is a definite possibility [for Lewis Hamilton to win the race]. He is in the best place, of course, starting the race.

What I loved yesterday was not only the fact that he put together a really strong lap - he made almost no mistakes when others around him unfortunately did - it was how happy it made him. It was like it was his first pole position. That energy he still carries is a real factor in why he is still able to deliver performances.

He can win this race, he has got to get over the line well and get through the first couple of corners.

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Antonelli is 123 points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and is the champion in waiting, but the battle to finish runner-up in the standings is extremely tight.

Russell occupies that spot at the moment, but with Lewis Hamilton one point behind, Max Verstappen six points away and Charles Leclerc nine points off, the Briton is feeling the pressure with only a few races remaining.

Leclerc can go back into fourth place on Sunday if he finishes third and Verstappen fifth or lower.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The drivers are not optimistic for an exciting race. Overtaking is expected to be difficult, despite the long pit straight, because of the effects of altitude. The thin air at 2,200m reduces drag and therefore the slipstream effect. It also makes following closely difficult because cars are more prone to overheating.

So track position is key - and protecting it tends to dominate strategy.The difficulty of overtaking pushes teams to make fewer pit stops, so the one-stop strategy is expected to dominate.

McLaren’s Lando Norris used it to win last year, starting on softs and switching to mediums. Of the drivers in the top teams, only front-row qualifiers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell do not have a set of new soft tyres for the race. It remains to be seen how much of a handicap that is.

The official strategy prediction is for a medium-soft one-stop. But a) these are notoriously unreliable; and b) having new softs might well lead teams to use them at the start. The chance of a two-stop will depend on what the midfield do, as there is a high chance of getting stuck behind a slower car.

Ferrari looked to have the fastest race pace on Friday but Max Verstappen is an unknown as he had damage on his car as a result of his collision with Liam Lawson, which earned both a one-place grid penalty.

A pit stop takes about 22 seconds, or 12 under a safety car.

Image source, Getty Images

The Mexican crowd would go crazy for home driver Sergio Perez regardless, but the Cadillac man has a milestone to celebrate at the Mexico City Grand Prix: his 300th grand prix in Formula 1.

And the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez can savour Perez for a few more years, as the 36-year-old announced his new contract extension with Cadillac earlier this week, keeping him on the grid until 2029. he made his F1 debut in 2011 and has won six grands prix – five for Red Bull between 2021-24 and one for Racing Point (now Aston Martin) in 2020.

Perez missed the majority of third practice with a power-unit issue, and he lines up P20 for his hime race. "Hopefully, we can get a good start tomorrow and fight with the cars ahead," he said. "Overtaking is very difficult here, so track position will be key."

Image source, Getty Images

Another talking point this weekend has been the unusual contact between Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen. The two drivers tangled during second practice on Friday, with four-time world champion Verstappen accusing Racing Bulls' Lawson of "not very smart behaviour" as the two disputed for position on track.

Both were given a one-place grid penalty for today's race for their part in the incident, dropping Verstappen from fourth to fifth and Lawson from P8 to P9.

However, Lawson was later disqualified from Saturday's qualifying session after breaching the minimum MGU-K power requirement just after crossing the line on his fastest lap in Q2.

As Lawson was set to line up at the back anyway, Racing Bulls have fitted a new power-unit and made set-up changes, so he'll now start from the pit lane instead.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

It is a pretty special location. The grid right now, incredibly busy, all of the teams, mechanics, engineers all around the cars, just getting everything ready for what will be a busy and intense afternoon.