F1 qualifying results: Mexico City Grand Prix

Max Verstappen’s incredible form since Formula 1’s summer shutdown has sparked a three-way fight for the Drivers’ Championship and put the Red Bull driver in position to pull off arguably the sport’s biggest comeback and secure his fifth title.

Mexico is the next stop on the calendar, and today the grid will set the starting order for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. While Verstappen was fastest in Friday’s second hour of practice ahead of Charles Leclerc and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris topped the timesheets in Saturday’s final hour of practice at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

As things stand in the title fight, Oscar Piastri remains at the top of the standings, with a 14-point lead over his McLaren teammate Norris and a 40-point lead over Verstappen. But Verstappen has shaved 60 points off hero Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.

Who will take pole position in today’s critical qualifying hour? Follow us so we can discover it together.

Qualifying begins at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.

Update: Norris, with a thunderous lap at the end of qualifying, will start tomorrow in P1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix. With Norris just 14 points behind Piastri in the title race, the British driver has a tremendous opportunity to close that gap, as Piastri will start sixth and Verstappen will start fifth.

It was a good day for Ferrari as Leclerc will start alongside Norris on the front row and Lewis Hamilton will start behind Norris in P3.

Provisional grid for the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix

Here is the provisional starting order for the Mexico City Grand Prix, which will be completed throughout the session.

Classification of the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix

Follow here as qualifying time unfolds.

18 minutes passed and the pit lane came to life with the Aston Martin pairing of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso the first to take to the track, followed by the Alpine pairing of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.

Championship contenders such as Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri remained in their respective garages as the session began.

Stroll set the benchmark with a 1:18.815, but was quickly overtaken at the top of the timesheets by Oliver Bearman, Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Colapinto. Bearman led the way for the moment with a 1:17.765.

Soon, the two McLarens took to the track and Norris turned purple in the first two sectors, to the top of the time table, with a 1:17.147. Piastri, however, continued to struggle and could only manage a 1:17.850, leaving him in third position for the time being. However, as Alexander Albon and Isack Hadjar gained time, Piastri soon found himself in seventh position.

And Max Verstappen had not yet taken to the track.

Finally, Verstappen roared out of the garage and attacked the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, but a wobble in Turns 9 and 10 prevented him from moving into P1.

But his lap was still good for third position.

A strong effort from George Russell followed Verstappen’s effort, as the Mercedes driver clocked a time of 1:17.194, just 0.047 seconds behind Norris.

Bearman responded with a thunderous lap, as the Haas rookie clocked a lap of 1:17.106, good enough to move ahead of Norris and top the timesheets once again.

That lap left Piastri, the championship leader, in 15th position for the moment. The McLaren driver was then in the elimination zone for the moment, but responded with a lap good enough for third position.

What was concerning, however, was the fact that on both push laps, Piastri was behind Bearman in a Haas.

With seven minutes left, the five drivers in the elimination zone were Yuki Tsunoda, Colapinto, Nico Hülkenberg, Albon and Stroll.

Norris returned to the top of the timesheets as he was the first driver in qualifying to break the 1:17.000 mark, achieving a time of 1:16.899. With five minutes left in Q1, he was in P1, followed by Charles Leclerc, Bearman, Piastri and Russell in the top five.

Verstappen was down in P7.

With less than four minutes to go, Isack Hadjar turned purple in the second sector, and his thunderous 1:16.733 took him to P1, indicating that the times were going to start to drop, and that neither driver was feeling too comfortable to advance to Q2.

Verstappen’s second push lap was off Hadjar’s pace as he placed P5, 0.343 seconds off Hadjar’s lap.

With 90 seconds left, Hadjar remained in P1, followed by Norris, Liam Lawson, Leclerc and Verstappen in the top five. At that point in Q1, Kimi Antonelli, Gasly, Colapinto, Hülkenberg and Stroll were the five drivers in the elimination zone.

Antonelli’s final effort was good for tenth position, but with 30 seconds remaining, the Mercedes rookie was certainly not confident.

When the checkered flag waved, Hadjar remained at the top of the timing table, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Russell, Norris and Ocon in the top five. Verstappen moved up in P9, while Piastri was right behind him in P10.

Colapinto was the first driver eliminated, in 20th position. Gabriel Bortoleto, Albon, Gasly and Stroll were the other drivers eliminated.

Q2 began moments later with 15 minutes on the clock and 15 drivers fighting for the ten available spots in the third and final segment of qualifying.

The first driver to take to the circuit was Hadjar, who surprisingly topped the timesheets in Q1. The Visa Cash App RB F1 Team rookie set the benchmark for Q2, starting with a 1:17.137.

As expected, his position in P1 was not secure for long.

Hülkenberg then jumped to P1 with a 1:17.016, and a 1:17.088 from Hamilton put the Ferrari driver in P2.

Then Verstappen’s first attempt in Q2 was a 1:16.824, which was good for P1, but only for a few seconds. Leclerc’s lap time was 1:16.658, putting the Ferrari at the front of the field and dropping Verstappen one place.

But then it was Norris’ turn. The McLaren driver turned purple in both Sector 1 and Sector 2, and when he crossed the line, his lap of 1:16.252 not only put him in P1 but also finished 0.406 seconds ahead of Leclerc in P2.

As for Piastri’s first effort in Q2? That came to more than a second behind Norris, and he was down in tenth.

When the clock reached seven minutes, Bearman, Ocon, Alonso, Antonelli and Lawson were the five drivers in the relegation zone. Lawson had yet to post a lap time, as his first effort was eliminated for exceeding track limits.

Then things got worse for Piastri. As he completed his push lap, he informed the team: “[i]I felt that in turn 5, something strange happened with the [power unit].”

McLaren told the driver they were aware of the issue, but with the seconds ticking down, Piastri’s place in Q3 was by no means guaranteed.

With four minutes left in the session, the pit lane filled up as the drivers began lining up for their final push laps in Q2. Verstappen’s final effort in Q2 only served for second place, more than three tenths off Norris’ pace. He was then dropped into third place by Hamilton, who was 0.206 seconds off Norris’ pace.

Verstappen then dropped to fourth place as Russell came in with a time of 1:16.537.

Those times had left Piastri in 13th position, while the championship leader was on his final push lap. The Australian driver managed to cross the finish line in seventh position and, as Jolyon Palmer pointed out, “he needed all that in the last corner.”

As Q2 came to an end, Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon, Hülkenberg, Alonso and Lawson were the five drivers eliminated.

Norris, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr., Leclerc, Piastri, Antonelli, Bearman and Hadjar were the ten drivers who advanced to Q3.

The third and final segment of qualifying began with just 12 minutes on the clock, and the track remained silent as the ten remaining drivers remained in their respective garages.

The first to roar onto the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit? None other than Verstappen, followed by Bearman. They were followed by the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri, with the British driver being the first of the two to attack the track.

Verstappen’s first attempt was 1:16.455, which placed him in first position for the moment. Bearman was the next to cut the beam with a time of 1:17.420, far from Verstappen’s pace.

But then Norris set a time of 1:16.170, almost three tenths ahead of Verstappen, placing the British driver on provisional pole. Piastri came third on his first attempt, but dropped to fourth when Hamilton posted a 1:16.374.

Then Leclerc surprised everyone, shooting home with the first effort in less than 1:16. The Ferrari driver’s 1:15.991 lap put Leclerc in P1, putting the rest of the field on notice that Ferrari might have something up their sleeve here in Q3.

After the first series of races, the drivers finally settled with Leclerc in P1, followed by Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Antonelli, Sainz, Hadjar and Bearman.

The track then fell silent as the clock reached five minutes left, with all ten drivers (and seven teams) making their final preparations for the final push laps of Q3.

Bearman was the first driver to emerge from his garage and begin his final effort on the push lap. When the clock reached 90 seconds, all ten drivers were on the track and the fight for pole position really began.

Piastri’s late effort was good for P3, but he dropped to P4 after Verstappen came in with a good effort for P2. Norris was on an incredible lap, turning purple in the first two sectors. He crossed the finish line with a 1:15.586, placing him in pole position for the moment.

Both Leclerc and Hamilton were close, with Leclerc in second, 0.262 seconds behind Norris, and Hamilton classified third.

Russell qualified fourth, Verstappen fifth, Antonelli sixth and Sainz seventh. However, Sainz has a five-place grid penalty coming from the United States Grand Prix.

Piastri qualified eighth, and will jump to seventh tomorrow after Sainz serves his penalty, with Hadjar and Bearman completing Q3.