Norris nails it for pole at Hermanos Rodriguez, keeps pressure on Piastri, who stumbles to P8; Ferrari strong at altitude, as Leclerc notches P2, Hamilton P3 ahead of Russell & Verstappen
Lando Norris continued to ratchet up the pressure on his championship leading teammate Oscar Piastri by laying down a blistering lap good enough for pole during Saturday Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix. Norris was by far the fastest driver on the day and headed the P2 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by nearly three-tenths. The Scuderia nevertheless had a very good day between Leclerc’s solid second-best effort and Lewis Hamilton’s stout P3, and the fabled team from Maranello will be desperate to convert those efforts into race pace as they incredibly hunt their first win of the season here in Round 20. Piastri, on the other hand, continued to scuffle down the stretch, notching only the eighth best time in Q3. While Piastri will gain a position due to a penalty to Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who unbelievably out-qualified him, the young Aussie’s famous equipoise seems to have deserted him at the most crucial juncture of the season. In fact, he has been out-scored by Norris in every race since his last win in the Netherlands back in Round 15. With five races remaining and his points lead over his teammate down to just 14, Piastri will have to fight from deep in the top ten on the grid to maximize his result in the race, hoping that Norris drops back, while also avoiding trouble with the other contenders that could further damage his championship aspirations.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen saw his impressive late season comeback efforts somewhat stymied when Mercedes’ George Russel got then better of him, P4 to P5. Still, the Red Bull in Verstappen’s hands has traditionally been an impressive weapon here at the high altitude of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and usually seems well suited the quirky nature of the circuit so, one would be foolish to count the Dutchman out as a contender come race day.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:
| DRIVER | TEAM | TIMES | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:15.586 | ||
| 2 – Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.262 | ||
| 3 – Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.352 | ||
| 4 – George Russell | Mercedes | +0.448 | ||
| 5 – Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.484 | ||
| 6 – Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.532 | ||
| 7 – Carlos Sainz* | Williams | +0.586 | ||
| 8 – Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.588 | ||
| 9. Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +0.666 | ||
| 10 – Oliver Bearman | Haas | +0.874 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula!1.com.
Sunday’s Mexico City GP airs live on ABC starting at 4 PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Norris can keep upping the pressure on teammate & rival Piastri by converting pole into victory or if Ferrari can translate their qualifying pace into an opportunity for their first win of the season!