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Carlos Sainz Takes Pole in Mexico City

Carlos Sainz was able to comfortably put his Ferrari on pole for the Mexican City Grand Prix, almost a quarter of a second ahead of second-place qualifier Max Verstappen.

Pulling up the rear of the top three was Lando Norris. Norris will need to get by Verstappen in order to keep any hope of taking the driver’s championship at the end of this long campaign.

“[The constructor’s championship] is our number one priority,” Sainz said in the podium interviews, as Ferrari will be the lone team with both cars in the top 4 on the grid. “To bring both cars home, especially if you win the race. Those extra seven, eight points you get when you win are important for the team in constructors.

“I’ll just be looking to keep P1 in turn 1, then hopefully our race pace will be good enough to win it.”

Q3

After a few rounds where the track was taking in a lot of rubber and getting faster all the time, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez seemed to level off at the end of this round. Sainz took pole in spite of completing his lap well before Norris and the Mercedes team.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Leader
1.55Carlos SainzFerrari1:15:946m
2.1Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT+0.225s
3.4Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes+0.314s
4.16Charles LeclercFerrari+0.319s
5.63George RussellMercedes+0.410s
6.44Lewis HamiltonMercedes+0.705s
7.20Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari+0.940s
8.10Pierre GaslyAlpine Renault+0.946s
9.23Alexander AlbonWilliams Mercedes+1.119s
10.27Nico HulkenbergHaas Ferrari+1.419s

Q2

The only incident in qualifying this week came with 20 seconds remaining in this round.

Yuki Tsunoda lost rear grip entering turn 12 after a lock-up on the front, spinning into the wall. The Japanese driver was able to walk away, but the red flag curtailed this round of qualifying.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Advancing
11.22Yuki TsunodaRB Honda RBPT+0.081s
12.30Liam LawsonRB Honda RBPT+0.114s
13.14Fernando AlonsoAston Martin Aramco Mercedes+0.120s
14.18Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco Mercedes+0.246s
15.77Valtteri BottasKICK Sauber Ferrari+0.769s

Q1

There were a couple of surprise eliminations in Q1, as the track changed radically throughout the round as more rubber was laid on it.

Oscar Piastri had a deleted lap time for track limits. He went out, had a faster lap and still did not avoid elimination.

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez had a massively disappointing day, qualifying just 18th to start his home race.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Advancing
16.43Franco ColapintoWilliams Mercedes+0.151s
17.81Oscar PiastriMcLaren Mercedes+0.190s
18.11Sergio PerezRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT+0.204s
19.31Esteban OconAlpine Renault+0.210s
20.24Zhou GuanyuKICK Sauber Ferrari+0.665s

Now that qualifying is out of the way, it’s time for the biggest fiesta on the F1 calendar. Lights out for the Mexico City Grand Prix will come on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. EST.

About the author

Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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