Peter Windsor highlights what Max Verstappen did that will ‘come back in spades’ in Mexico City Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen starts from the front row of the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of title rival Lando Norris, following a close qualifying session between the pair.

Polesitter Carlos Sainz was untouchable after Ferrari worked hard on their single-lap pace during the weekend, with Charles Leclerc also looking threatening had it not been for a few errors during his lap.

Sainz’s best efforts in Q3 were both good enough to seal pole, but his final lap that got into the 1m15s was a sublime tour of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez that utilised every inch of the circuit.

Max Verstappen was under pressure in Q3 when his first attempt was deleted for track limits at Turn 2, although replays also showed that he cut Turn 3. Red Bull had another new set of soft tyres available which meant he could complete another timed run for pole.

He ended up two-tenths slower than Sainz but 0.089s faster than Norris, who still went faster than his fastest lap in Q2 but was seamingly unable to extract more from his McLaren.

Peter Windsor spotted something that Verstappen did during the weekend that might help his cause in the race when speaking on his YouTube channel.

Max Verstappen one of few to complete long run for Mexican Grand Prix

Even though it is not a Sprint race this weekend at Mexico, the teams were hampered on Friday by the Pirelli tyre testing for the 2025 compounds.

All teams had to run the test specification tyre for the session which was extended by half an hour, although much of it was spent under Red Flag after George Russell crashed, and could not complete long runs for the race.

Verstappen, whose Friday was also plagued by engine issues, went straight out in FP3 on the medium tyre to complete seven laps. Windsor believes could influence his race as the others did not complete laps under high fuel.

“Max went out very early on because he was desperate to get fuel in the car and go out to do long runs. Ferrari and McLaren didn’t do any long runs, Mercedes did a few, Kevin Magnussen did three [laps], but look at Max,” said Windsor.

“That may well come back in spades, that homework and sort of dedication, even though the car is not very good.”]

Lando Norris needs to ‘stop’ doing one thing in title fight with Max Verstappen

The Mexican GP will serve as another test for Norris in his title battle with Verstappen to see if he has what it takes to fight the Dutchman.

Norris’ lacklustre defence at Turn 1 in Austin from pole on the opening lap eventually led to him needing to pass Verstappen later in the race for the final podium, which caused controversy when he passed the Red Bull driver off the track.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Martin Brundle believes Norris must stop leaving the ‘welcome mat’ out for Verstappen, having raised his concerns over what happened at the start of the pair’s race.

Verstappen made an aggressive move that resulted in both drivers going off track and conceding position to the Ferraris, but the stewards elected not to penalise the Red Bull driver because they were more lenient with first-lap incidents.