Lando Norris won the battle for pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix, but it was another difficult day for championship leader Oscar Piastri, who started seventh.
Norris set the fastest time in FP3 and showed an unparalleled performance in a close call even though it was expected to be a close battle within the top 10. Charles Leclerc was the only driver able to put any real pressure on Norris, topping the timesheets on his first run, but blew the Ferrari out of the water with a blistering final lap consisting of three purple sectors.
Norris’ fastest time was 1 minute 15.586 seconds, giving him a 0.262 second lead over the front and taking his first pole position since the Belgian Grand Prix in July.
“I’m happy to be back on pole position. It’s been quite a long time actually, so it feels really good,” he said. “It was a lap where I had no idea what was going on.
“It felt OK, but when I crossed the line and saw 15.5 seconds, I was very pleasantly surprised.
“I felt good all weekend, especially today. I was a little nervous about the Ferrari at the end of Q3, but I was able to pull out when it mattered. I’m happy with that.”
Leclerc found a slight improvement in the final flying lap to maintain second place. Although he didn’t expect to really be in contention for pole, he said from the front row of the grid that his goal was to win.
“I’m pretty happy with the work we did,” he said. “I don’t think the car could have had anything better than that. As always in qualifying, we had a little problem here and there, but I’m very happy with today’s performance.
“We will try our best to be first in the first corner and then see what is possible.”
Lewis Hamilton finished off a strong day for Ferrari, qualifying 0.09 seconds behind Leclerc in the team’s first double top-three qualifying result of the season, and was optimistic that a double slipstream on the long run to the first corner could give him an advantage.
“I’m really, really happy,” he said. “It’s an honor to be here with Charles and Lando, they’ve been very fast all year.
“Third is actually the perfect spot on this course, so I hope I can make the most of it at the start. I don’t think my race pace will be too bad.”
George Russell qualified in fourth place, a further 0.096 seconds behind, which was enough to push title contender Max Verstappen down to fifth, with the Dutchman a further 0.036 seconds behind. Verstappen didn’t look as comfortable as he did on Saturday, when he led FP2 on Friday, despite working all night to undo some of the changes he made to the car after an uncompetitive FP3.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz, but the Spaniard will start 12th after receiving a fifth-place penalty for colliding with Antonelli at last weekend’s American Grand Prix.
Sainz’s penalty was minimal consolation for title leader Piastri, who will take over after qualifying eighth, a whopping 0.588 seconds slower than his teammate, the biggest gap between McLaren drivers this season. The Australian never seemed to get carried away at the Mexico City circuit, and although he came within 0.3 seconds of Norris on his first run of Q3, he was unable to get off to a good start and remained at the bottom of the top 10. If he and Norris finish where they started, Piastri will be at the top of the title table after 15 rounds and lose the championship lead.
Isaac Hajjar finished in ninth place ahead of Oliver Bearman, rounding out the top 10.
Hiroki Tsunoda was eliminated in 11th place, but the Japanese driver was 0.2 seconds slower than his teammate Verstappen, who qualified for Q3, leaving him just 0.012 seconds away from qualifying for Q3. Esteban Ocon was eliminated in 12th place, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, while Liam Lawson failed to record a representative lap and will start 15th.
Gabriel Bortleto became the first driver to be removed from the ultra-tight Q1 session where the entire field was spread out by less than a second, but the difference between safety with the Brazilian Sauber driver was 0.121s. Alex Albon was unable to run a clean final lap for Williams due to brake problems, leaving him stranded in 17th place in front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Lance Stroll abandoned a rough final lap on a fast-developing track to finish 19th in front of Franco Colapinto, who bounced off a curb in Turn 3 and ended up going off the track with his final shot in progress.
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