Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Saturday Round Up - Mexican Grand Prix

26/10/2024

Carlos Sainz took pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix for the first time since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix. Carlos is followed by Verstappen in P2 and Lando Norris in P3.

In a dramatic qualifying session, both Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri were knocked out in Q1. Yuki Tsunoda ruined his and Lawson's chances of making it through to Q3 after Tsunoda hit the barrier while on a flying lap at the very end of Q2.

Both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg will start the Grand Prix in the top ten, along with Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly.

Free Practice Three

Top 10 Results
1) Oscar Piastri 1:16.492
2) Lando Norris +0.059
3) Carlos Sainz +0.340
4) Max Verstappen +0.511
5) Lewis Hamilton +0.568
6) Charles Leclerc +0.740
7) Yuki Tsunoda +0.810
8) George Russell +0.849
9) Kevin Magnussen +0.982
10) Liam Lawson +1.002

For Free Practice Three, Verstappen was back on track after his issues in FP1 and FP2 yesterday. The problem was caused by an "intake air circuit leakage which couldn't be thoroughly resolved before the third practice session."

George Russell had a heavy impact with the barriers at the high-speed corner of Esses, but the team fixed his car, making it ready for running in FP3, as he headed out to the track early in the session.

Verstappen set the first leading lap of the session with a 1:18.329 but continued to complain about low grip.

Russell was the first to go out on the soft tyre and instantly jumped ahead of Verstappen with a time of 1:18.284. But by the halfway mark, Carlos Sainz was ahead with a 1:17.825, followed by Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton and Russell.

Liam Lawson came to a brief stop in his RB at Turn 14 in the stadium sector, bringing out a very short yellow flag, but the New Zealander quickly turned his car around and continued on his way.

With 15 minutes to go, Verstappen again topped the timesheet with a 1:17.003 soft tyre run, but his time didn't stay at the top for long. Championship rival Norris took the lead, quickly followed by his McLaren teammate. Piastri managed to just top his teammate to the top of the leaderboard at the end of the session with a 1:16.492 lap, just 0.059 seconds ahead of Norris.

Qualifying

Q1

Out in Q1
16) Franco Colapinto
17) Oscar Piastri
18) Sergio perez
19) Esteban Ocon
20) Zhou Guanyu

The first cars to get out on track were the Saubers, the Alpine drivers, the Red Bulls and the Aston Martins.

Norris, Russell, Sainz, Leclerc and Piastri were all running on medium tyres in the first part of the session, with them all topping the leaderboard above all the other drivers, who were running soft tyres with ten minutes to go.

However, Verstappen quickly took the lead on the soft tyre by 0.205 seconds with just under ten minutes to go.

With five minutes to go, Colapinto, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri, and Perez were sitting in the bottom five, with Norris topping the timesheet with a 1:16.505.

With two minutes to go, Magnussen, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri, and Perez were in the bottom two, managing only 14th and 15th place.

Shock as Piastri and Perez were both eliminated in Q1 along with Zhou, Ocon and Colapinto with Norris topping the timesheet.

Q2

Out in Q2
11) Yuki Tsunoda
12) Liam Lawson
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Lance Stroll
15) Valtteri Bottas

Alex Albon was the first driver out on the track in Q2. He had the track all to himself for a lap before being joined by Verstappen and Leclerc.

Verstappen took an early lead on new tyres, with Leclerc only managing third. However, he was on used tyres and had his lap time deleted for track limits.

Norris reclaimed the lead with 1:16.301, 0.328 seconds quicker than Verstappen, followed by Russell, Hamilton and Sainz, with Magnussen, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Leclerc in the bottom five with five minutes to go.

Yuki Tsunoda brings out a Red Flag after hitting the kerb with his left front tyre, causing a lock up and headed into the barriers at Turn 12 with ten seconds left on the clock in the session, ending the session for him and everyone else.

Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated, with Norris topping the timesheet.

Q3

Starting Top 10
1) Carlos Sainz 1:15.946
2) Max Verstappen +0.225
3) Lando Norris +0.314
4) Charles Leclerc +0.319
5) George Russell +0.410
6) Lewis Hamilton +0.705
7) Kevin Magnussen +0.940
8) Pierre Gasly +0.946
9) Alex Albon +1.119
10) Nico Hulkenberg +1.419

The track temperature dropped going into Q3 due to clouds covering the sky, and teams had to decide whether to use new or used soft tyres in the first runs.

Verstappen started on brand-new soft tyres, and Magnussen and Hulkenberg also started on the track first in the session.

Verstappen set a provisional pole time of 1:16.368 with eight minutes to go but had his lap time deleted for track limits.

Sainz took provisional pole with a time of 1:16.055, followed by Leclerc, Russell and Hamilton, with Norris only managing fifth.

With three minutes to go, all the drivers were out on track, trying to make gaps when leaving the pit lane. Mercedes waited until the last moment to get out on track.

Carlos Sainz takes pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen in second, Norris in third, Leclerc in fourth, and Russell in the top five.

Carlos Sainz takes his sixth career pole, he said afterwards: “I’m very happy and a great couple of laps, with a lot of times around Mexico you always have a feeling that you can not put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult with how much sliding there is, but today my two laps of Q3 were pretty much identical and almost perfect. I’m very happy because it’s not normally the case around Mexico with how tricky it is.”

“Since Austin on our side we’ve done a step up, also in qualifying trying to find something extra with the out-lap and tyre preparation so it seems like we are going in the right direction. “I’m looking forward to finishing the job tomorrow but at least pole position I will take it because it shows progress and really solid laps.”

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

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