Mexico City Grand Prix: Qualifying team notes – Pirelli

Lando Norris will start tomorrow’s Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from pole position, thanks to a fastest Q3 lap in 1’15″586. It’s the McLaren driver’s fifth pole this year, his first in Mexico and his 14th overall.

He came under pressure from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was quickest after the first Q3 run, but will start alongside the Englishman on the front row with a time of 1’15″848. The second row of the grid tomorrow will see Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari start third thanks to a lap in 1’15″938, with George Russell next to him in fourth for Mercedes.

The third row sees championship contender Max Verstappen (Red Bull) fifth and the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli in sixth. Last year’s winner in Mexico City, Carlos Sainz, qualified seventh, one place ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri, but the Spaniard takes a five place grid penalty tomorrow.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Rome Flynn. The American actor first made his name as a student of the attorney played by Viola Davis in the series, “How To Get Away With Murder.” His performance in the popular soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” earned him an Emmy Award as Best Young Actor in a drama series.

In FP3, the focus was firmly on qualifying, not surprising as no driver has won this race from lower than P3 on the grid since it returned to the calendar in 2015. Norris was quickest in 1’16″633, putting together the perfect lap, fastest in all three sectors. That time is around 1.5 tenths slower than the best time in the corresponding session last year, most likely down to the higher track temperatures today.

Hamilton was second fastest for Ferrari, followed by Russell in the Mercedes, who unlike the two ahead of him, set his best time on used Softs. All drivers completed runs on the C5 apart from Fernando Alonso, who despite running six sets of tyres in the session, as part of Aston Martin’s usual scrubbing-in process, had to sit out most of the hour with a technical issue.

The C5 was the only tyre used throughout qualifying. On what is the third shortest track on the calendar, traffic is always an issue, leading to the usual anxiety about getting out on track to complete a final lap, while leaving gaps to the cars in front. Isack Hadjar was quickest for Racing Bulls in Q1, with Norris stamping his authority on Q2 before putting together another perfect lap to clinch pole in the top-ten shoot-out.

Mario Isola: “Track conditions and tyre degradation in FP3 when race simulation was relevant were very similar to yesterday. However, in qualifying track evolution meant that times matched those from our simulations.

“In this session the C5’s performance was seen over a single lap. Those drivers who got to the first corner after the long run of over one kilometre, with the tyres at the right temperature across the front axle definitely benefited from a well balanced car and therefore had a competitive advantage. Managing rear tyre temperature in the final sector was the key to gaining a few precious hundredths.

“The few drivers who managed to set their best time on a second lap probably owe it exclusively to the improvement from track evolution. Track temperature which could reach 50°C tomorrow, will therefore be a key factor when it comes to strategy choices with the aim of managing thermal degradation.

“With no drivers having saved two sets of Mediums, its effectively clear that a one-stop strategy will be the most popular choice for the race. The Medium has proved to be the most versatile compound this weekend and starting on it opens up a couple of options at least.

“If drivers can extend their first stint to a window between laps 42 and 48, they could fit Softs to go to the flag. On the other hand, if the C4 performance drop is too high, a switch to the Hard compound between laps 26 and 32 is possible.

“Starting on the Soft could give an initial advantage in terms of grip, but the heavy fuel load would require the driver to manage their race pace. In this situation, a shift to the C4 would come between laps 23 and 29, or if the C2 is preferred, between laps 20 and 26.

“Finally, in theory, one can also look at a two-stop strategy, running Soft-Medium-Soft, which produces a similar overall race time to the one-stop. However, the disadvantage of losing places after the pit stops, and the difficulty in overtaking at this track, means this is really only viable on paper.”

Check out our Saturday gallery from Mexico City here.