Lando Norris has beaten Charles Leclerc by just over a quarter of a second to take McLaren’s first pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez in thirty-five years at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The McLaren looked on fire as he put the lap together to put himself ahead of the Ferrari duo.
Norris is looking to continue to close down his teammate Oscar Piastri’s lead, and victory in Mexico City would allow him to capitalise on his main rivals, Max Verstappen fifth and Piastri ninth and take victory. Norris will take the championship lead, with four Grands Prix and two Sprints remaining, if he wins the race and Piastri finishes fifth or lower.
Norris has looked on fire on Saturday as he topped FP3 ahead of Lewis Hamilton by three tenths. The Bristolian continued that pace in qualifying and will be hoping to close the gap or even retake the championship lead if he outscores Piastri by fifteen points. On the radio to the team afterwards, Norris said: “What a lap. What a lap. Even I don’t know how I did that.”
But Leclerc put in a challenge to the favourite going into Q3, when he took provisional pole. Norris turned the tables under huge pressure with three purple sectors on his way to a 15.586 to beat Leclerc by a whopping two and a half tenths and Hamilton by a further tenth.
Though Leclerc continued to challenge on the final runs, Norris fought back with a lap he was confused by how he did it and secured his first pole since Spa in late July. Hamilton meanwhile, had one of his best qualifying’s of the season as he went third fastest, nine hundredths behind his Ferrari teammate.
The seven-time champion was also nine-hundredths faster than his former teammate George Russell, in what was another competitive qualifying throughout.
Ferrari almost repeated their 2023 Qualifying when they suddenly found pace from Q2 to Q3. It allowed the team to secure their best Saturday on a conventional weekend of the season and Hamilton now has a good chance to score his first Grand Prix podium in red.
Norris said, “I’m happy to be back on pole. It has been quite a long time. The lap it was one of those laps when you don’t really know what happened. It felt decent, but when I crossed the line and saw a [one minute] 15.5, I was very pleasantly surprised. I have been feeling good all weekend. I got a little bit nervous of the Ferrari in Q3, but I pulled it out in the end.”
Leclerc, who had been nearly two tenths quicker than Norris on his first run, felt there was no capacity for anything else in the Ferrari. He said, “This qualifying is very difficult because there is very little grip so the car is sliding a lot and to put everything together is very tricky.”
“I am pretty happy with the job we have done. I don’t think there is much more in the car. We will do everything to get the first place into the first corner and see what’s possible.”
Hamilton, whose previous best Grand Prix qualifying result this season was fourth in Monaco, said: “I’m really happy. I am honoured to be up here with Charles and Lando. These guys have been so quick all year, and it’s an amazing feeling. It’s the first time we’ve both been up here all year and the team really deserves it. We have been working so hard.”
Max Verstappen managed to split the two Mercedes, the four time champion going nearly half a tenth behind Russell and ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Piastri has once again appeared to struggle for pace as he was nine hundredths off his teammate’s pole time and two thousandths behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
But the Melbournian did put his best lap of the weekend as he benefitted from the best of the track conditions; he was nearly six tenths off his teammates pole. He was also nearly knocked out in Q2, as even on new softs, he struggled to keep up with Norris and the two Ferraris.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, who has launched in recent races a come back looked to struggle with the handling; almost every lap he seemed to have an oversteer snap in the middle of the Esses, the quick series of left-rights in the middle of the lap.
The five-time winner looks out of shape with the handling of the car. Red Bull brought a new floor to Mexico but it appears to have not positively impacted their performance, with Verstappen sliding in the high-speed middle sector throughout Qualifying.
Isack Hadjar, who had topped Q1, could only manage ninth, the Frenchman eight hundredths behind Sainz as he went two tenths faster than Ollie Bearman as they completed the top ten.
Yuki Tsunoda put his Red Bull eleventh, the Japanese driver missed out on Q3 by a hundredth and a half, as he was two hundredths ahead of Esteban Ocon. Ocon, meanwhile, was nearly two tenths ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, with Fernando Alonso nearly a tenth behind. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson was the slowest in Q2, the Racing Bull nearly a tenth behind Alonso.
Gabriel Bortoleto found himself knocked out in Q1 when Antonelli got himself out of the drop zone, which means the Brazilian missed out by over a tenth. But the Sauber driver was eight hundredths ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams.
Pierre Gasly was eighteenth six hundredths ahead of Lance Stroll, who split the Alpine’s after going nearly seven hundredths ahead of Franco Colapinto.
Related
- MEXICO CITY GP – Lando Norris leads a British top three nearly three and a half tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third practice
- MEXICO CITY GP – Max Verstappen throws down the gauntlet in FP2, three hundredths ahead of Lando Norris in fourth
- MEXICO CITY GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by a tenth ahead of Kimi Antonelli in first practice
- Welcome to the Mexico City Grand Prix
