McLaren driver Lando Norris dominated qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix and secured first place on the grid.
The Briton was significantly faster than the competition on Saturday, with the Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc (+0.262 seconds) and Lewis Hamilton (+0.352) following behind. World champion Max Verstappen didn’t get past fifth place in the Red Bull (+0.484), world championship leader Oscar Piastri (+0.588) will only start from seventh place in the second McLaren.
Piastri only finished eighth in the time hunt at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, more than 2,240 meters above sea level. The Australian, only 14 points ahead of Norris in the World Championship fight, is benefiting from a penalty from seventh-placed Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who has to start five places further back in the race on Sunday (9 p.m. CET/live ServusTV and Sky).
“What a lap. I don’t even know how I did it,” Norris radioed to the pits in surprise after his fifth pole position this year. For McLaren it was the first pole in Mexico since 1990 by Gerhard Berger.
