Norris gets Mexican Grand Prix pole position with "perfect lap"
Lando Norris emerged fastest in today's qualifying session for tomorrow's Mexican Grand Prix. He said he was surprised of his own lap but really needed it as Ferari's Leclerc put the pressure on. The Monegasque is set to start from second with Lewis Hamilton third.
Having seen final practice cut short with a "minor issue on the front right", two times world champion Fernando Alonso was among the first to take the track. Stroll was first but it was Alonso who was the faster of the two.
Colapinto came up next and slotted in between the two before Berman took the top of the timing sheet as the big guns got ready to start their laps. Of them, Norris was first to set a time with Piastri following up and again considerably slower that his team mate. The Australian has been struggling badly thus far, similarly to how his USGP weekend proceeded.
Leclerc emerged second fastest a bit later while Hamilton's first lap was compromised at Turn 14. Verstappen and the Mercedes duo were out about a minute later. Russell ended up second with Verstappen 4th after having to correct some oversteer through the high speed Turn 9.
The early runners, including both McLarens, the Ferraris, the Aston Martins and both Haas cars went on for a cooldown lap and another flying lap on the same tyres, most improving on their first laps albeit with Norris retaining the top spot, followed by Leclerc, Bearman and Piastri.
When Hadjar went fastest and Lawson shot up to third everybody knew track improvements were real, triggering nearly everyone to go out again. There were considerable improvements from Sainz and Antonelli initially but as most drivers in the danger zone found an improvement, Antonelli eventually only made it through in 15th.
Oscar Piastri meanwhile returned to the track at the end of the Q1 with fresh softs. He didn't complete his flying lap but it immediately set him a little bit on the back foot, on top of his struggles with tyre warmup and a sliding rear end.
Q2 was kicked off by Isack Hadjar on a fresh set of softs, followed by Hamilton who took on a used set. Verstappen and Leclerc did better but when Norris crossed the line he again went fastest. Piastri in contrast was again considerably slower and only 10th fastest. He reported a PU issue at Turn 5 when returning to the pits.
As in Q1, improvements came across the field towards the end of Q2 with Bearman again impressive to 5th. As both Mercedes secured themselves, Piastri ended up on high pressure for his lap. It didn't look great after a average first and second sector but powering out and sliding through the exit of the final corner proved enough to make it through.
Margins for elimination were extremely tiny with Tsunoda out by one hundredth and Ocon out by 3 hundredth only. Alonso seemed to struggle with oversteer and understeer at various locations at the track to end up in 13th, followed by Hulkenberg who wasn't able to find an improvement on his second outing.
The top 10 shootout, also known as Q3 began with Verstappen setting the first time on the board. It was a proper benchmark which Norris could only improve upon with a great final sector, having been a tenth down after S1 and S2. Oscar Piastri also fared somewhat better this time around with a laptime that was mightily close to matching Verrstappen's.
But it was Ferrari who drew the spotlight to themselves. Both drivers had strong laps but a spectacular first sector for Leclerc ensured provisional pole while Hamilton slotted in between Norris and Verstappen, taking third. The Mercedes duo had to be content with 6th and 7th after their first lap, followed by Sainz, Hadjar and Bearman.
The second outings were kicked off with Piastri who improved but was soon again surpassed by Verstappen. Norris did better still and took pole back. Hamilton briefly got second but Leclerc took that back with his second lap, finalising pole for Norris and second and third place for the Ferraris.
George Russell found a couple tenths in his second lap to make it to 4th while Piastri was a disappointed 7th.
