MEXICO CITY — Carlos Sainz will line up for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix from pole position after topping qualifying, with Max Verstappen next to him for a front-row start.
The final qualifying round got interesting when Verstappen’s first flying lap time got deleted for track limits. Ferrari had a tentative front row lockout with four minutes to go, Sainz leading Charles Leclerc by 0.360 seconds. But in the end, as the final flying laps around Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez unfolded, Verstappen and Lando Norris bested Leclerc’s final lap, sending the Ferrari driver down to P4.
One of the most shocking moments came in Q1, when Oscar Piastri failed to advance and qualified P17. He told F1TV that his soft tires were overheating, which caused him to lose grip on his final lap. It may feel like deja vu to McLaren fans because Norris qualified P19 last year but still had a rather strong race, climbing his way to a fifth-place finish.
“I think the car is very good. Yeah, just a shame we have to start from the back tomorrow. We’ll try and see what we can do,” Piastri said to F1TV. “Ironically (it’s a) similar position for Lando last year and he had a good race so there’s still opportunities.”
And then there’s the case of home hero Sergio Pérez. Leclerc’s final Q1 lap knocked him out of qualifying, leaving the Mexican driver in P18 ahead of his home grand prix. It comes at a time when there’s been plenty of noise — again — about Pérez’s F1 future after Liam Lawson joined the grid in Austin. Last year, Pérez crashed out Turn 1 on the first lap when he made a charge from fifth, but he’ll have a bigger climb for a shot at a points finish come Sunday.
It opened the door for Ferrari to gain ground in the constructors’ championship, the Maranello-based crew sitting eight points behind Red Bull.
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Q2 ended with 10 seconds to go after Yuki Tsunoda slammed into the barriers at Turn 12. Because the session did not resume, both RB drivers, Aston Martin drivers and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated. Liam Lawson was improving on that final flying lap but qualified P12, 0.114 seconds off of the cutoff.
Here’s how the top 10 qualified.
- Carlos Sainz
- Max Verstappen
- Lando Norris
- Charles Leclerc
- George Russell
- Lewis Hamilton
- Kevin Magnussen
- Pierre Gasly
- Alex Albon
- Nico Hülkenberg
This is a developing story.
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