With an impressive lap time of 1:15.586s, Lando Norris took pole position for the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, 0.262s clear of Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, followed by Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m here to win - I’m going to be looking forward,” said the 25-year-old Brit in his post-qualifying interview. “I’m expecting a battle, not expecting it to be easy.”
Speaking about his flying lap, he stressed: “It was one of those laps you don’t know what’s happening,” he added. “I knew it was decent, but when I crossed the line, I was pleasantly surprised.”
The McLaren driver will split the front row with Leclerc, who outlined: “This Qualifying is very difficult. There is very little grip, so the car is sliding a lot. I’m happy with the job we have done. I don’t think there was a lot more in the car.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton stormed to P3, his personal best qualifying this season.
“I’m honored to be up here with Charles and Lando; these guys have been so quick this year,” he commented. “P3 is the perfect spot at this track, so I’m hoping I can make the most of that at the start.”
Overall, the Prancing Horse finished strong with everything to play on Sunday’s race.
Mercedes’ George Russell will start from fourth, sharing the second row with his former teammate. He recorded a lap time of 1:16.034s.
Norris is looking to steal teammate Oscar Piastri’s Drivers’ Championship lead, as of today, standing by just 14 points with just five rounds to go.
Meanwhile, four-time world champion Max Verstappen will be lining up in fifth place, side by side with Italian driver Kimi Antonelli, who rounded up a solid outing for the German squad in sixth place.
Moreover, Piastri struggled to find pace all weekend, qualifying P8, almost eight-tenths behind Norris.
During the media pen, the Australian shared his frustration: “It was tough. It felt like some of my laps when it counted were not bad, but just not the lap time I’m expecting, obviously.
“There are some things we need to try to understand, but obviously a frustrating session.”
Benefiting from Carlos Sainz’s five-place grid penalty, due to a collision with Antonelli at the United States Grand Prix, he will start seventh.
For his part, the Spaniard, who took victory in Mexico with Ferrari last season, will line up in P12.
Verstappen, also in contention for the title, trails Piastri by 40 points.
The Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Haas’ Ollie Bearman sealed the top 10.
“Tomorrow I really want to fight to come back into the points after a difficult weekend we had in Austin,” asserted Hadjar. “There are several different scenarios that can happen in Turn 1 since it’s quite far away from the grid, so we have to take every opportunity that might present itself.”
Anything can happen tomorrow when the drivers start their engines and the lights go off, racing through the 1.2km (0.75mi) main straight, towards Turn 1.
Provisional Qualifying Classification by the FIA at the time of writing.
