Q1

The first part of Saturday’s qualifying in Mexico offered more drama than expected with not one but two surprising early exits.

One of them was Oscar Piastri, who won the third practice session and was one of the main candidates to claim the pole position.

However, the McLaren driver got his time deleted and will start the Mexican GP from seventeenth place. This marks the first time, Piastri has missed Q3 this season.

The second one was Sergio Perez, who was aiming for a redemption weekend in front of the home crowd. But now, with his Red Bull seat at risk, he will start from eighteenth on Sunday.

Left disappointed was also Franco Colapinto, who after his impressive performance in F1 so far after practically jumping in a moving train, was hoping for a better result. Tomorrow, in front of many home fans traveling from nearby Argentina, he will only start from sixteenth place. 

Less surprising were the exits of Esteban Ocon and Guanyu Zhou, though their teammates managed to reach Q2 without trouble. They will start the Mexican GP from the second-to-last and last positions on the grid.

Q2

In the second part of qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Lando Norris continued to impress and after going fastest in Q3, he did the same in Q2.

Pierre Gasly also delivered a strong result, placing sixth in Q1 and finishing tenth in Q2, securing Alpine’s spot in Q3 for the second consecutive weekend.

The fans in Mexico also saw another stunning performance from both Haas drivers getting once again in the top ten.

However, these results came with a bit of luck, as Yuki Tsunoda triggered a red flag that ended the session early, not letting anyone else improve.

A left-front tyre lockup caused a spin, sending the RB driver into the barriers and knocking himself out in P11. This also affected Tsunoda’s teammate Liam Lawson, who couldn’t improve his time due to the red flag and finished twelfth.

Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished in thirteenth and fourteenth, respectively, while Valtteri Bottas will try to secure his first points of the season, starting from P15 tomorrow.

Q3

The start of Q3 was slightly delayed as the barriers needed repairs following Tsunoda’s crash.

Although Norris showed impressive pace in the first two parts, it was Carlos Sainz, who spectacularly claimed the pole position for Ferrari in the end, with Norris settling for P3.

With seven minutes remaining, Max Verstappen saw his time deleted but still had plenty of chances to improve, ultimately putting his Red Bull between Sainz and Norris.

Charles Leclerc qualified fourth, followed by the Mercedes pair, with George Russell narrowly outpacing Lewis Hamilton.

Kevin Magnussen will start the Mexican GP from seventh, joined by Pierre Gasly in the fourth row after the Alpine driver set the eighth-fastest time.

Alex Albon secured ninth on the grid, with Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas rounding out the top 10.