Mexican GP: Norris delivers hammer blow as Piastri and Verstappen suffer setbacks

Lando Norris has delivered arguably the most important pole position of his career, striking a hammer on Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.

Norris set a blistering final lap to secure pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, joined on the front row by Charles Leclerc with Lewis Hamilton in third.

Lando Norris delivers incredible lap to secure key pole

Norris had looked in control throughout the session until a late challenge from Leclerc threatened to steal pole position away.

Seeing that off, the McLaren driver recorded an important result in the context of the championship, with Max Verstappen only fifth while Piastri will line up for Sunday’s race in seventh despite qualifying eighth.

Lance Stroll was the first driver to bank a lap, recording a 1:18.815s. That was immediately demoted by Fernando Alonso in the sister Aston Martin, who managed a 1:17.936s.

It was an important early lap for Alonso who was unable to complete his soft tyre running in Free Practice 3 when his car experienced dramas that kept it in the garage in the final minutes.

Of the front-runners, Norris was first on track. He was immediately four-tenths faster than anyone else through the first sector, carrying that through the middle third of the lap too.

Across the line, the McLaren driver managed a 1:17.147s to shoot to the top of the timesheets.

By contrast, Piastri could do no better than 1:17.850s, a time that left him behind Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman, and Alex Albon. However, he reported a DRS issue in his car.

Verstappen was forced to wrestle his dancing Red Bull on several instances on his first flying lap, slotting in only third with a time 0.159s off Norris’ pace.

Gabriel Bortoleto had his initial lap time deleted for track limits at Turn 12, the right-hander entering the stadium complex, to sit without a time midway through the opening segment.

A second effort from Piastri saw the Australian improve to third with a 1:17.158s – fourth when Oliver Bearman logged a time 0.042s better.

Ahead of the final flurry, the bottom five were Stroll, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda, and Pierre Gasly.

Track improvement was significant, resulting in Hadjar going fastest and Lawson third best with their final Qualifying 3 laps.

When the flag fell, the five drivers caught short were Colapinto, Stroll, Gasly, Albon, and Bortoleto.

Hadjar opened proceedings in Qualifying 2, setting a 1:17.137s.

It was a moving target for drivers and teams, as the sun began to dip, shadows lengthen, track temp cool, and dust get cleaned off the racing line.

Leclerc and Verstappen read those changes the best, the Ferrari driver taking provisional pole with a 1:16.658s, 0.166s quicker than Verstappen.

Norris was quicker still, managing a 1:16.252s to mark a half-second gain over his Qualifying 1 lap.

Piastri was a second off the pace, albeit with a used set of rubber, to sit 10th and on the bubble for elimination as he reported an anomaly in his power unit.

A strong lap from Carlos Sainz saw the Spaniard third best after the first runs, the Williams driver 0.506s off Norris’ pace.

Lawson aborted his initial lap, the Kiwi running again out of sequence with the rest of the pack – aside from his Racing Bulls teammate who was also out on track with six-minutes remaining.

Hadjar managed the fourth-fastest time, while Lawson again aborted his lap to remain without a time to his name.

Verstappen’s final run saw him rise to second best, though still more than three-tenths away from Norris’s initial lap.

Hamilton went quicker than the Red Bull driver by more than a tenth, the Dutchman bumped again when George Russell flashed across the line.

As he began his flying lap, Piastri had fallen to 13th, second slowest of the drivers to have recorded a time. His final Qualifying 2 effort was an improvement, climbing to seventh to escape elimination, though 0.485s away from Norris.

Missing the cut were Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Lawson, who did manage a lap in the end, but a pedestrian 1:18.072s.

Norris was among the first cars out on track as Qualifying 3 commenced, Verstappen at the head of the pack.

A strong opening sector, and a half slipstream from Russell on approach to Turn 4, helped the Red Bull driver before a wobble through the middle split hurt his time.

He still managed a 1:16.455s, an effort almost immediately beaten by Norris with a 1:16.170s.

Piastri was a match for Verstappen, logging a 1:16.469s in what was a promising lap for the Australian in a difficult session to that point.

However, it wasn’t done, with Hamilton going second best, which became third when Leclerc recorded a 1:15.991s – a seven-tenth gain from Qualifying 2.

All 10 remaining runners filtered back out with three minutes remaining, Piastri the first of the heavy hitters.

The championship leader was a tenth down on the ultimate pace at the first split, maintaining that gap to the second split, completing the lap at 1:16.174s.

It marked an improvement, but it wasn’t enough as, behind him, others were going faster.

Norris went purple through all three sectors to deliver an incredible 1:15.586s to take pole. Leclerc too was flying but fell 0.262s short to seal second from Hamilton who slotted in third.

Russell was fourth from Verstappen in fifth, then Antonelli, Sainz and Piastri in eighth. The top 10 was completed by Hadjar and Oliver Bearman.

The grain of positivity for Piastri, however, is that a five-place penalty for Carlos Sainz carried over from last weekend’s United States Grand Prix will see the McLaren driver rise to seventh on the grid.

Mexico City Grand Prix, Qualifying results

1. Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:16.252
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:16.658
3. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:16.458
4. George Russell, Mercedes, 1:16.537
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:16.605
6. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:16.773
7. Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:16.607
8. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:16.737
9. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:16.804
10. Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:16.787
11. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, 1:16.816
12. Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:16.837
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:17.016
14. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:17.103
15. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, 1:18.072
16. Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:17.412
17. Alex Albon, Williams, 1:17.490
18. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:17.546
19. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:17.606
20. Franco Colapinto, Alpine, 1:17.670