McLaren driver Lando Norris, who is 14 points behind leader and teammate Oscar Piastri in the F1 standings, improved his chances of winning the title by taking pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday.
Meanwhile, four-time defending champion Max Verstappen qualified fifth, two places ahead of Piastri. If Norris and Piastri finish in the positions they started the race in, Norris will move ahead of his teammate in the standings.
Norris finished 0.262 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen, who is 40 points off the lead. Verstappen has also finished ahead of Norris and Piastri in the last four races.
Since Alain Prost in 1990, no driver has won in Mexico after qualifying outside the top three. Prost qualified 13th that year.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli qualified sixth, one place ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who dropped to 12th after a collision with Antonelli at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix resulted in a five-place grid penalty for Sainz.
Due to this penalty, Piastri moved from eighth to seventh ahead of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar. Haas’ Oliver Bearman will start ninth, followed by Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda.
–Field level media
