Lando Norris delivered a dominant and statement win in the Mexico City Grand Prix to reclaim the leadership of the world championship from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by a single point with four races of the season to go.

Knocking Piastri off the top of the standings for the first time since April after the Australian finished fifth, Norris capped a stunning weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to victory by a 30-second margin.

Leaving the distant chasing pack to engage in breathless and, at times, chaotic battles behind him once he had survived the slipstreaming perils of the long run to the first corner from pole, Norris' only uncomfortable moment of the day thereafter came after the race when he was booed in his winner's interview and on the podium.

Leclerc just held on to second from Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who recovered well from fifth on the grid to finish third after an early tussle with Lewis Hamilton saw the old rivals bang wheels at the first turn and then the latter handed a penally by stewards for cutting the track three corners later.

And although beaten by Norris, Verstappen still reduced his deficit to the championship summit overall, with the reigning champion now 36 points back with 116 left up for grabs.

Piastri struggled all weekend long in Norris' wake although a final result of fifth was better than it had looked likely to be for him for much of the race after a late McLaren gamble on a second pit stop paid relative dividends.

The impressive Oliver Bearman denied Piastri fourth, though, in the best result of the British rookie's career so far after a brilliant drive from ninth on the grid. It matched Haas' best result in 10 seasons of F1.

Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finished sixth and seventh respectively after twice swapping position on track in an ultimately forlorn bid for a better result for the team.

Russell had grown increasingly agitated over team radio ahead of the first swap at what he saw as Mercedes' initial delay to let him through, but ultimately stuck to his word about letting Antonelli back ahead if he could not make up ground on the cars ahead.

Hamilton ran in his grid position of third early on but slipped down the order and eventually finished eighth after he was given a 10-second penalty by stewards for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn Four when in fierce battle on lap six with Verstappen.

Esteban Ocon capped a bumper day for Haas with ninth in their second car, while Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point for Sauber.

Norris completes post-Zandvoort turnaround in runaway win

What a difference eight weeks makes.

It was back on August 31 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort that Norris' hopes of becoming world champion for the first time took a major hit when his car failed him while running second to Piastri late in the race, costing the Briton 18 points. Norris left that weekend a season-high 34 points behind Piastri in the standings.

But Norris has now outscored Piastri in each of the five races since, culminating in the Briton emphatically returning to the top step of the podium on Sunday for his first win in Mexico and sixth triumph of the year.

"I love it. What a race," said a beaming Norris in his post-race interview conducted in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez's stadium section, which some of the crowd tried to drown out with boos.

"I could just keep my eyes focused and forward and focus on what I was doing.

Norris' only challenge came, as expected, at the start when the polesitter was slipstreamed by the cars behind on the long 860m run down to the first complex of corners.

A good launch from the outside of the front row allowed him to cut off Leclerc well before the braking zone but as the Ferraris and fast-starting Verstappen went three abreast immediately behind him, Leclerc and the Red Bull ran wide off track.

Leclerc went across the grass and came back on the track out of Turn Three ahead of Norris in the lead, although swiftly handed the place back to the McLaren.

From there, Norris swiftly stamped his authority on the race to devastating effect.

He led Leclerc by two seconds by lap six, 10 seconds by lap 22 and was 18 seconds ahead of second place when the Ferrari made his sole visit to the pits on lap 31.

Verstappen, Piastri come on strong late on

With Norris in a league of his own out front, the challenge for his two title rivals quickly became about limiting the damage to their own championship aspirations and seeing if they could salvage a podium finish.

Verstappen did so despite an inauspicious start to the race saw the Dutchman twice run across the grass in the opening six laps.

The Red Bull first went off at Turn One, trapped on the outside kerb as the Ferraris battled on his inside, before scurrying across the grass and rejoining at Turn Three. He then was across the grass at Turn Two five laps later as an overtake attempt on Hamilton for third saw the two cars brush wheels, the contact also sending the Ferrari wide.

Stewards ruled no further action was required there but did ultimately intervene at the next corner when Hamilton, now behind Verstappen, outbraked himself, ran straight on and then cut back across the grass to rejoin back ahead of the Red Bull.

In the chaos, the Red Bull was then overtaken for fourth by Bearman.

But Verstappen's decision to start on the medium tyres eventually came into its own as, once pitting for softs on lap 37, he moved into the final podium spot when the five cars in front of him all pitted for a second time.

"It was very hectic at the beginning of the race for me. I almost crashed," he admitted.

"Everyone around me was on soft tyres and we were on medium, so it was a bit of a struggle. It was about surviving the first stint.

"Once we bolted on the softs I think we were a little bit more competitive and happier."

Piastri's race also belatedly came alive thanks to strategy.

The Australian had compounded his qualifying woes by losing two places on the first lap to run ninth and was close behind the Mercedes' on lap 47 when McLaren asked him if he would consider making a second stop, for soft tyres.

It seemed a big gamble at the time, but worked out well.

Mercedes pitted Antonelli at the same time but a faster McLaren service got their man ahead. Rejoining seventh, Piastri followed a bold but crucial move down the inside of Ocon at Turn Six on lap 50 by brilliantly darting down the inside of Russell into the first turn with 11 laps to go.

He finished just over a second behind Bearman and, while frustrated by traffic, felt it had been a positive race on an otherwise chastening weekend for him.

"It felt like we had very good pace; it was just incredibly difficult to use it with the DRS train and getting stuck in dirty air, which was a shame," said Piastri.

"We did make some progress, and I learned a lot as well.

Formula 1's thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on November 7-9, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

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