Lando Norris dominated the battle for pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on another difficult day for championship leader Oscar Piastri, who will start seventh.
Norris made himself the man to beat with the fastest time in FP3, and despite predictions of a super-close top-10 shootout, the Briton was peerless at the crunch. Charles Leclerc was the only driver capable of applying any real pressure on Norris, topping the time sheet after the first runs, but a blistering final lap comprising three purple sectors blew the Ferrari out of the water.
Norris’s fastest time was 1m15.586s, putting himself 0.262s clear at the head of the field to claim his first pole position since July’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“I’m happy to be back on pole – it’s actually been quite a long time, so a good feeling,” he said. “It was one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened.
“Felt decent, but then when I crossed the line and saw a 15.5s I was very pleasantly surprised.
“I’ve been feeling good all weekend, especially today. I got a little bit nervous of the Ferrari in Q3 at the end, but I pulled it out when it mattered, and I’m happy because of that.”
Leclerc found a minor improvement with his final flying lap to hang onto second place, and while he didn’t think he was really in contention for pole, he said victory was his target from the front row of the grid.
“I’m pretty happy with the job we’ve done,” he said. “I don’t think there was much more in the car – there’s a bit here and there, as always in qualifying, but I’m very happy with today’s performance.
“We’ll do everything in order to get first place into the first corner and then see what’s possible.”
Lewis Hamilton completed a strong day for Ferrari, qualifying 0.09s behind Leclerc in the team’s first double top-three qualifying result of the season, and was optimistic that having a double slipstream on the long run to the first turn could work in his favor.
“I’m really, really happy,” he said. “I’m honored to be up here with Charles and with Lando – these guys have been so quick all year.
“P3 is kind of the perfect spot actually at th is track, so I’m hoping I can make the most of that at the start. I think our race pace is not too bad.”
George Russell qualified a further 0.096s back in fourth, which was enough to push title contender Max Verstappen down to fifth, the Dutchman a further 0.036s back. Verstappen never looked as comfortable on Saturday as he had on Friday, when he topped FP2, despite rolling back some of the overnight changes made to the car after an uncompetitive FP3.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was sixth fastest ahead of Carlos Sainz, though the Spaniard will start 12th after serving a five-place penalty for hitting Antonelli at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Sainz’s penalty is the barest of consolations for title leader Piastri, who will inherit the place after qualifying eighth fastest and a whopping 0.588s slower than his teammate, the biggest gap between the McLaren drivers of the season. The Australian never looked hooked up around the Mexico City circuit, and though he got within 0.3s of Norris after the first runs of Q3, he failed to kick on from there, leaving him in the lower reaches of the top 10. If he and Norris finish where they are to start, Piastri will lose the championship lead after 15 rounds at the top of the title table.
Isack Hadjar finished ninth ahead of Oliver Bearman to complete the top 10.
Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out 11th, though the Japanese driver was a defensible 0.2s slower than Q3-bound teammate Verstappen and just 0.012s off a spot in Q3. Esteban Ocon was eliminated in 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, while Liam Lawson will start 15th after failing to set a representative lap.
Gabriel Bortoleto was the first driver eliminated from a super-tight Q1 session that saw the entire field spread over less than 1s, though the gap from the Brazilian Sauber driver to safety was 0.121s. Alex Albon couldn’t execute a clean final lap for Williams owing to brake problems, leaving him stranded in 17th ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Lance Stroll abandoned his scrappy final lap on the fast-evolving track and ended up 19th ahead of Franco Colapinto, whose last shot at progression ended off the track after bouncing off the curb at Turn 3.
