Lando Norris snatches pole position for 2025 Mexican Grand Prix from Charles Leclerc

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Lando Norris claimed an impressive pole position for the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix in a tight qualifying session that could have been anyone’s for the taking.

Drivers struggled for grip at the start of Q1 as cars cleared the dusty circuit, which resulted in some surprising results in the early laps. Norris topped the timings with his first flying lap, but Piastri’s struggles appeared to continue, finding himself seven tenths of a second behind his teammate.

Verstappen had a scruffy opening lap, which saw him fighting the Red Bull and suffering a huge snap of oversteer at the chicane. Despite the messy lap, he still put the car in third with half of the session remaining.

Alex Albon had a disappointing first part of qualifying, finding himself out in Q1 after having a messy FP3 earlier in the day. Albon complained that the brakes “aren’t working at all” echoing similar frustrations from this morning’s final practice.

Piastri found himself in big trouble again in Q2, placing his McLaren over a second behind Norris in the opening flying laps, where the Brit had topped timings. The championship leader was running a scrubbed set of soft tyres, but was still slower than Hamilton in the Ferrari, who was running softs that had already done a fast lap.

The middle qualifying session looked as though it could have been anyone’s game, with the Haas finding some pace this afternoon. Piastri was lucky to scrape his way into the final part of qualifying, knocking Yuki Tsunoda out of Q2.

Charles Leclerc took provisional pole in the first flying laps, with Norris splitting the Ferraris. Piastri found himself behind Verstappen in fifth after those first laps, with the Aussie needing to ensure he’s not stuck behind the Red Bull or George Russell for the race.

Norris crossed the line to take pole position, leading from the two Ferraris, with his teammate finding himself all the way down in eighth. Piastri finished behind Carlos Sainz, who will be dropped to P12 after being handed a five-place grid penalty after crashing with Kimi Antonelli last weekend at COTA.

The pole position could prove crucial to Norris’ championship hopes, with the Brit taking his first pole position since the Belgian Grand Prix in July. With Verstappen in fifth and Piastri in sixth, Norris has a prime opportunity to score some significant points this weekend.