Championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris qualified second and third for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, paving the way for another thrilling battle. Both drivers expressed satisfaction with their starting positions, but they are aware that the respective Red Bull and McLaren teams’ second drivers, Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri, did not qualify in the top half of the grid. “I wasn’t sure it would be possible to be on the front row,” said three-time champion and series leader Verstappen, whose first fastest lap in Q3 was removed because he went above the track limit.
So, doing that makes me very pleased! I felt a lot of strain because I hadn’t done any laps on Friday and we were playing catch-up. I have to do well in qualifying. “This is probably one of those hardest roads to get right — low downforce, effortless lock-up and to slide … it’s additionally one of the hardest ones on the calendar.”
Norris, who is behind Verstappen by 57 points with five races remaining, was penalized five seconds for speeding off-track when lapping him during last Sunday’s United States Grand Prix and has stated that he is trying hard to beat him and win the title.
“No one has run long distances on the tires we’ll be using tomorrow, so there are some questions for us all. “Ferrari has been strong in qualifying and the long run in recent races, so it will be challenging. “But I am in a good position so I am looking forward to it.”
Norris also stated that he had been considering improvements he could make to avoid becoming too easily entangled if passing Verstappen on track. “I might be more aggressive or I might be less aggressive,” he told me. “It depends…” Let’s see what happens.