Norris Surges To Pole In Mexico City

MEXICO CITY — Lando Norris surged to a stunning pole position in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, leading the way from the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton while McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri ended the session back in eighth.

After setting the pace in Q2, it looked like Norris had a challenge on his hands in the top 10 shootout when Leclerc grabbed provisional pole during the opening runs.

But the 25-year-old was in commanding form for his second lap, pumping in a 1 minute 15.586 seconds to go 0.262 seconds quicker than Leclerc’s final effort.

“I’m happy to be back on pole, it’s actually been quite a long time. A good feeling,” Norris said after the session. “The lap? I don’t know. It was one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened, it felt decent but when I crossed the line and saw 1 minute 15.5 seconds, I was very pleasantly surprised.”

George Russell was fourth for Mercedes and four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was fifth in his Red Bull machine.