Norris fends off Ferrari duo to take pole in Mexico

Lando Norris surged to a stunning pole position in Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Briton leading the way from the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton while McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri ended the session back in eighth.

After setting the pace in Q2, it looked like Norris had a challenge on his hands in the top 10 shootout when Leclerc grabbed provisional pole during the opening runs. But the 25-year-old was in commanding form for his second lap, pumping in a 1:15.586s to go 0.262s quicker than Leclerc’s final effort.

Hamilton added to a solid outing for Ferrari by taking P3, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell in P4 and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in P5. The other Silver Arrows machine of Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, claimed P6 from Williams’ Carlos Sainz, though the Spaniard will take a five-place grid drop following a penalty last time out in Austin.

It looked to be another tricky session for Piastri, with the Australian nearly eight-tenths adrift of his team mate in eighth place, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Haas’ Ollie Bearman completed the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda just missed the cut for Q3 by 0.014s, putting the Red Bull driver out of the session in P11. Also eliminated in the second segment were Haas’ Esteban Ocon in P12 and the Kick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in P13.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed in 14th, while Liam Lawson failed to set a representative time for Racing Bulls, leaving him in 15th.

Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was pushed out of Q1 in P16, followed by the Williams of Alex Albon in P17 and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P18.

Lance Stroll claimed 19th for Aston Martin after aborting his final effort, while the other Alpine of Franco Colapinto rounded out the order in 20th place.

Q1

After three practice sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – each topped by a different driver in Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris respectively – it was time for the paddock to switch their attentions to Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Aston Martin pair of Stroll and Alonso were the first to hit the track on scrubbed soft tyres when the 18-minute Q1 segment got underway, with the latter back in action after having his limited running in FP3 due to a small issue with the front right of his car.

While Kick Sauber’s Bortoleto soon had his early effort deleted for exceeding track limits, Norris set a benchmark of 1:17.147s – seven-tenths ahead of McLaren team mate Piastri, who had seemingly reported a DRS issue on his MCL39.

Once all 20 drivers had put a lap on the board, Russell slotted into second – just 0.047s behind Norris – with Leclerc in third ahead of Verstappen. At the other end of the timesheets, the names at risk were Hulkenberg, Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly and Bortoleto.

As the track rapidly evolved, the order continued to change. Bearman particularly caught the eye by momentarily going fastest – and while he was then beaten by Norris and Leclerc, the Haas driver’s time kept him in third with a few minutes remaining.

With four minutes to go, the drivers now in danger were Gasly, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Stroll – but with the track improvement proving so great, it appeared that anybody could be in trouble if they chose not to put another lap in.

Hadjar and Lawson put their Racing Bulls machines into first and third respectively – Hadjar’s effort of 1:16.733s putting him 0.166s clear of Norris – while Antonelli found himself in the danger zone before improving to P11.

Elsewhere Gasly failed to better his time and Alpine team mate Colapinto also suffered the same fate, the Argentinian having a bit of a moment over the kerbs. Stroll abandoned his effort, meaning that he would also be exiting Q1.

The other Aston Martin of Alonso hauled himself up to P12, pushing Bortoleto back into the drop zone. This left Albon as the only driver that could still improve – but the Williams man was unable to do so, putting him out of the session in P17. Hamilton, meanwhile, ended the segment in P2, just 0.003s back from Hadjar at the top.

Knocked out: Bortoleto, Albon, Gasly, Stroll, Colapinto

Q2

After leading the way in Q1, Hadjar was amongst the first to head out on track as 15 minutes went on the clock for Q2. The Frenchman was soon joined by the rest of the pack, with all again running the soft tyres albeit with a mixture of new and used sets across the field.

As the first laps came in, Norris went quickest on a 1:16.252s with a sizeable margin of 0.406s over closest challenger Leclerc, while Sainz was half a second back in third ahead of Verstappen and Hulkenberg.

Piastri, meanwhile, was one second adrift of his team mate in 10th, the Australian reporting that “something weird happened” with his power unit into Turn 5. Elsewhere, Lawson did not get a lap on the board after aborting his effort, having gone wide during his effort.

The New Zealander then dived into the pits at the end of his next attempt, meaning that he was still without a banker lap with just a few minutes remaining – putting him at risk of elimination alongside Bearman, Ocon, Alonso and Antonelli.

Both of the Haas duo moved up into the top 10, but a flurry of lap times were coming in that could change the order, with Hamilton shooting up to second behind Norris. Russell also improved to third, and Mercedes team mate Antonelli bettered his time to go eighth.

Piastri faced a tense moment after finding himself in the elimination zone, before the McLaren man climbed up to seventh. This pushed Tsunoda down into P11, with the Red Bull driver exiting along with Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Lawson, the latter having failed to set a representative time.

Knocked out: Tsunoda, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Lawson

Q3

As the dust settled on Q2, it was time for the all-important top 10 shootout, with the McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari duos joined by Verstappen, Sainz, Hadjar and Bearman. Who would come out on top?

Verstappen was the first to cross the line as the initial laps came in, but the Dutchman’s effort of 1m 16.455s was promptly beaten by Norris. Leclerc, however, went even faster, pumping in a 1:15.991s to go 0.179s clear of Norris.

Hamilton was nearly four-tenths adrift of his team mate in third, with Verstappen fourth while Piastri had to settle for fifth – this time around three-tenths behind Norris. Russell, Antonelli, Sainz, Hadjar and Bearman rounded out the provisional top 10 order.

The focus for all then switched to the decisive final runs. Piastri was the first of the frontrunners to set his time and improved to P3, before Verstappen pushed the Australian down to fourth by moving up to second.

Norris then stormed through on a 1:5.586s, a significant four-tenths quicker than Leclerc’s previous time. While Leclerc did improve on his final lap, the Monegasque could not beat Norris’ effort, sitting 0.262s behind in P2.

Hamilton slotted in behind Leclerc in third while Russell moved up to fourth, pushing Verstappen down to fifth. Antonelli took sixth ahead of Sainz in seventh, though the Williams driver will ultimately line up in P12 due to a five-place grid penalty carried over from the United States Grand Prix weekend.

Piastri ended up back in eighth – nearly six-tenths behind Norris’ effort – with Hadjar taking ninth and Bearman rounding out the top 10.

The 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix is set to begin at 14:00 local time on Sunday (20:00 GMT). With the longest run to turn one on the calendar and an infamous slipstream there are no guarantees the pole sitter will lead after the opening lap.