The Mexican Grand Prix weekend is undoubtedly marked by Lando Norris, who showcased a perfect connection with his MCL39. While in free practice he posted a race pace unmatched by any other driver, in qualifying he put together the perfect lap that earned him pole position, almost three tenths ahead of his rivals, reclaiming what had been missing in recent rounds. The other title contenders could do nothing. Oscar Piastri continues to experience a difficult period that began in Baku with two incidents. The Australian complained of a lack of pace in all sessions so far, an aspect that becomes even more striking when compared to his teammate’s performance. The situation doesn’t improve with Max Verstappen, also struggling in his race simulation, who will start fifth, two positions ahead of the championship leader.
Norris and the secret of the perfect lap
Among the three title contenders, Norris is undoubtedly the most in-form. In Mexico City, he was untouchable in every session. In free practice, he set the fastest time only in FP3, but his race simulation was unreachable for all competitors. In qualifying, he delivered an impressive lap, nearly three tenths faster than the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who were the nearest challengers. The result even surprised Norris himself: “I’m happy to be back on pole, it’s been a while, so it feels great,” he said in parc fermé. “The lap… I don’t know. It was one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened. I felt good, but then when I crossed the line and saw a 1:15.5, I was pleasantly surprised. I felt good all weekend. I was a bit nervous with the Ferrari in Q3 at the end, but I brought out my best when I needed to, and I’m happy with that.”
The lap came to beat Leclerc’s time, who had provisional pole after his first attempt. Norris compared his final lap to the pole he achieved in Monaco, finding in Mexico the feelings he had said were missing in this year’s car: “I braked everywhere. I pushed a bit more in high speed and all those things. But I had no delta, so I didn’t know if I was ahead, behind, if it was good, bad, or otherwise. There were a few small points where I thought I had a small mistake and didn’t get the best exits, but overall, the feeling was quite good. I was happy, but I thought I’d do around 1:15.9, 1:15.8. I thought if I could beat Charles, I’d be pretty happy. So when I saw 1:15.5 on the dashboard, I smiled because it was one of those laps where everything came together perfectly. It felt very natural and similar to my lap in Monaco.”
Even Norris himself describes the lap as a mystery, having found nearly six tenths between his first and second Q3 attempts. These tenths proved crucial to beat Leclerc and secure pole. “Very often, in the laps I do best, I don’t really know what happened or how it happened. But six tenths: I was surprised.” This is deliberate: since Monaco, the British driver has asked not to see the delta, staying completely unaware of the other drivers’ performance: “The less I know, the better I usually go in qualifying laps. I haven’t used the delta since Monaco; I’ve never used it in qualifying since. When I don’t have it, I push no matter what, no matter how the lap started, no matter how a corner was. I guess it’s because without a reference, you always try to maximize every corner. Otherwise, sometimes you focus on it too much, and it’s never the best approach.”
The Hermanos Rodriguez circuit suits Norris’ driving style perfectly: he returned to command his MCL39, demonstrating the car’s full potential in every sector. In the championship, he is only 14 points behind leader Piastri. Given Piastri’s struggles and starting seventh, the Mexican GP could be a pivotal race for the title fight. Norris has only one goal: “I’m here to win. I won’t think about collecting points, I’ll look forward. I know there will be fast drivers behind me, and the run to turn one is long, and so on.” Behind him will be the two Ferraris, and the battle with Leclerc promises to be tough, especially remembering Austin: “Ferrari’s race pace is usually very strong. So I expect a battle. I don’t expect it to be easy. But yes, eyes forward, and I’ll see how far I can win.” Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen will start further back and will need to fight to avoid losing too many points and to stay in the championship hunt. Norris knows they will still be in contention: “You’re talking about two of the best drivers on the grid. So I don’t think you can ever exclude them from fighting back. Our race pace has always been very strong this season, so I still expect Oscar to come through and have a good race. Same with Max: when has he ever not attacked and pushed forward? I hope to stay ahead at the first corner, and then these guys can challenge me with everyone else.”
Piastri: “Pace missing, situation I don’t like”
While part of the McLaren garage celebrates, the difficulties that began in Baku continue. That weekend, for the first time in the season, Piastri made two critical mistakes in qualifying and the race. His performance in Mexico is starkly different from his pole-winning teammate. In free practice, Oscar felt calm due to the many things tried, but in qualifying he only managed seventh, a position that could cost him the championship lead if maintained in the race. “There were a few areas where I thought I could fix things and make some easy progress, but not all. I think I did reasonable work in qualifying, and the car seemed reasonable too. So yes, the lack of lap time is a bit of a mystery. I haven’t changed much in my driving style since the start of the season, and not even a few races ago when things were really good. So it’s hard to pinpoint where lap time was lost this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll find it.”
What impresses is the lack of pace across all sessions. Even Piastri himself can’t explain it: “I think this weekend and last have been very different from all the others: the pace simply wasn’t there. Everything felt normal, and I thought I did a decent job, but the lap time isn’t there. We’re in a situation I don’t like. The main problem I need to fix is to regain pace.” In the race: “I’ll try to start well and see what I can do. Turn one is long, so there are opportunities, and I’ll try to take them.”
Verstappen: “It’s been a disaster so far”
The situation isn’t better in Verstappen’s garage, where he complained of a lack of grip all weekend. In FP2 he was fastest, but his race pace was lacking. In qualifying, he couldn’t even produce a strong lap, leaving him to start fifth. “No grip, totally. Everything you don’t want, I had it. We were off a bit all weekend, tried different things, but nothing worked. It went badly, we obviously tried to find a solution but didn’t succeed. It won’t be good. There wasn’t a single positive aspect. I won’t lie, it’s been a disaster so far.”
Race prospects don’t look better: “I don’t expect to be in that battle ahead of me. They’re faster by kilometers, so it will depend on the people around me.” Red Bull brought a new floor to Mexico: “The changes were significant enough to normally see a difference, as we saw in the last three weekends: if you make a change, you see something, but this weekend has been tough.”
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