Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz beat title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Mexico City Grand Prix to secure pole position.

Sainz, who took his first pole position since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, was quick enough to take pole in both heats in the final qualifying session.

In the end, the Spaniard was 0.225 seconds faster than Verstappen, with Norris only 0.089 seconds behind.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Norris starts the race 57 points behind Verstappen, with 146 points still available in the remaining five races.

At first glance, third place is not ideal for a driver who needs to score an average of almost 12 points per race over the rest of the season to win the title.

But Mexico has one of the longest routes to the first corner in Formula 1 and sometimes starting at the back can be advantageous due to the strong slipstream effect.

The winner in Mexico crossed the finish line from third place on the grid in three of the last four races.

Norris said: “To be honest I’m pretty happy with third place. I feel like I reached the limits of the car pretty quickly, which made us look pretty good, but I struggled to get more out of the car.

“None of us have done decent long runs with the tires we will be running tomorrow, but Ferrari have been very fast in qualifying and on the long runs recently, so it will be tough.”

Both Norris and Verstappen were under more pressure than usual in the final laps as neither had a good lap time.

Verstappen’s first lap was canceled for exceeding the track limit and Norris’s was simply slow.

Verstappen, who missed most of Friday with an engine problem, said: “Yesterday I did practically no laps, so I was already under a lot of pressure, and then that put a little more pressure on.”

“I’m very happy to be in the front row, I didn’t think it would be possible.”

Sainz said: “Great few laps. In Mexico it often feels like you can’t get a lap in and that it’s extremely difficult to slide so much. But my two rounds were almost identical, almost perfect.

“Since Austin we have taken a step forward, especially on my side, and in qualifying we also tried to find something different with the out-lap and tire preparation. I’m looking forward to finishing the work tomorrow, but I’ll take pole position. Very happy.”

Norris has no support from his teammate Oscar Piastri, who was eliminated in the first training session for the second time in a row.

McLaren did their first runs on medium tires in the first session to save the soft tires for later, but it seems they have harpooned Piastri.

The Australian said: “On the medium I didn’t have a lot of confidence, I was driving well on the first soft lap and then I just went wrong in turn 12. We tried to go again but I had no grip because the tires were too hot.” . Disappointing.

“The car is fast. It’s just a shame that I have to start over again. Ironically, it’s the same place where Lando started last year and he had a good race, so all is not lost.”

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also had another difficult session, being 0.8 seconds slower than Verstappen in the first qualifying session and retiring in 18th place.

“At low speed I can’t brake, I can’t attack the car,” Perez said. “I just start slipping. That’s my main problem at the moment and it showed up even more here.

“Every time I try to attack it just blocks. There are still four races left and we have to stay up there as a team.”

Russell was pleasantly surprised and finished fifth after an accident in second practice on Friday, the fourth incident for a Mercedes driver in four days on track. That meant he was driving an older specification car while Lewis Hamilton had the upgrade introduced in Austin.

“Really happy with the recovery,” he said. “We are still on the old parts from 12 races ago. My womb felt really strong, I was super happy with it.

“Checo and Piastri are not in the right position. P5 is probably the best we could have hoped for. The three teams at the front have a tough battle ahead of them, so maybe the race is coming our way.”

Fernando Alonso qualified 13th for Aston Martin on the weekend he celebrates his 400th grand prix, but said he felt he could have finished in the top 10 if not for a red flag in the second qualifying session would have been interrupted when Yuki Tsunoda crashed with his RB coming into the stadium area.

“There was more to come,” said Alonso. “I was pleasantly surprised by the car in qualifying. It felt much better and I was able to attack with more confidence.

“On the red flag lap I was 0.2 seconds ahead and maybe P9 or P10 was possible. I’m happy with the car and maybe that will give us the impetus to get back into the race.”

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