Mexico GP qualifying: Norris takes pole as title rivals struggle

lando norris Gave a significant boost to his championship chances by securing pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, while clinching the title from rivals max verstappen And oscar piastri Passed in fifth and seventh class respectively.

Norris is 14 points behind Piastri in the standings But if both cars finish where they started in Sunday’s race he will finish ahead of his McLaren teammate.

Norris’ lap, which was 0.262 seconds off charles leclercSecond-placed Ferrari also helps to match the pace of Verstappen, who has been ahead of both McLarens in the last four races and is 40 points behind Piastri.

No driver has won in Mexico after qualifying outside the top three since Alain Prost (13th) in 1990.

Reacting to his pole position on McLaren’s team radio, Norris said: “What a lap, what a lap! Even I don’t know how I did it. …The less I know, the better.”

When Norris was asked about his lap in the post-qualifying interview, he said he did not expect it to be so impressive.

,[It was] One of those laps where you don’t really know what happened, it felt good but then when I crossed the line and saw 15.5 [milliseconds]I was very pleasantly surprised,” Norris said.

A frustrated Piastri admitted he was unsure why he struggled for pace this weekend.

,[The car] Feels fine, just no speed which is a bit of a mystery – that’s been more or less the difference all weekend. We’ll see where I was going wrong at that time and I have to say it’s a bit disappointing,” the Australian told Sky Sports.

Norris’ first task will be to stop the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Ki Lewis HamiltonThose who qualified second and third came down to Turn 1 in the long race.

Hamilton’s qualifying performance was his best since joining Ferrari, and he was only 0.090 seconds behind teammate Leclerc.

“These guys have been so fast all year and it’s an amazing feeling,” Hamilton said. “It’s the first time we’ve both been in the top three in qualifying this year and the team really deserves it, so we’ve been working as hard as we can and I’m grateful to everyone in this team for continuing to push the envelope and not give up.

“Bearing in mind we haven’t really pushed the car further in development, but we’ve figured out more, and our processes are better this weekend, and that’s what you’re seeing.”

His Ferrari teammate Leclerc said: “It’s very difficult, this qualifying. It’s very difficult because there is very little grip, so the car is slipping a lot. It is very difficult, but we are quite happy with the work we have done. I don’t think there was much left in the car.”

george russell Qualified fourth for Mercedes and will start fifth ahead of Verstappen kmy antonelli In the sixth.

carlos saenz Qualified in seventh place, but will drop to 12th after being imposed a five-place grid penalty for a collision with Antonelli at last weekend’s US Grand Prix.

The penalty means Piastri moves up one place on the grid from his qualifying result and will start seventh behind Racing Bull isaac hadjar,

haas driver oliver bearman Secured his third Q3 appearance in as many races and will start from ninth position considering Sainz’s penalty.

Under pressure, Red Bull driver yuki tsunoda Sainz finished 10th thanks to a penalty, but was 0.012 seconds off one place in Q3. Red Bull is expected to make a decision on Tsunoda’s future after this weekend’s race, and qualifying behind Hadjar – the driver has been tipped to replace him next year – will only weaken his case to remain at the team.

esteban ocon Qualified in 11th place and will start ahead of Sainz on the grid. Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg Finished 13th on the grid ahead of Aston martin‘S fernando alonso 14th and 2nd Racing Bull Liam Lawson In the 15th.

Gabriel Bortoletto He will start 16th after qualifying his Sauber 0.121 seconds off a spot in Q2. Alex Albon He failed to make it out of Q1 for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix qualifying as he returned to the pits after complaining of brake problems.

pierre gasly Will make 18th start for Alpine ahead of Aston Martin lance stroll 19th and 2nd in Alpine Franco Colapinto In last place.