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Carlos Sainz took a sensational pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix by beating title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Sainz took his first pole for over a year with two laps that were good enough for pole as Verstappen rescued his qualifying after his first lap in Q3 was deleted for track limits.

The Dutchman was 0.225s down on Sainz but will be relieved to start ahead of Norris, who is 57 points behind him in the Drivers’ Championship.

McLaren went into qualifying as favourites but Norris was unable to find more pace when it mattered most and will hope to get the jump on Verstappen on the long run down to Turn One.

Charles Leclerc was left frustrated with a poor final lap as the track evolved, so will start in fourth ahead of Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

A dramatic qualifying from start to finish also saw home hero Sergio Perez knocked out in Q1, along with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, so they will have a huge task ahead of them when the lights go out at 8pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.

Sainz denies title contenders pole after Verstappen’s huge lap

Ferrari looked strong throughout Friday practice but McLaren had a one-two in final practice ahead of qualifying.

But, similarly to last year in Mexico City, Ferrari were quick as the track evolved and conditions cooled slightly, which Sainz made the most of after Q3 was delayed for Yuki Tsunoda’s crash at the end of Q2.

The Spaniard, who is leaving Ferrari to join Williams next year, was originally quicker than Verstappen after the first Q3 runs, then went even faster to cement pole with his second run.

However, there was drama for Verstappen when his first lap in Q3 was deleted for cutting Turn Two, which left him under huge pressure.

He showed why he has won the last three world titles though with a superb lap to improve on his illegal effort and, crucially, kept the car within track limits to beat Norris by 0.089s to get onto the front row.

Norris had a poor first Q3 effort but recovered to third and will look to use the benefit of the slipstream effect down to Turn One.

Neither of the title contenders could get close to Sainz though, who took his first pole since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

“Very happy and a great couple of laps. A lot of times around Mexico you always have the feeling like you cannot put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult with how much sliding there is,” said Sainz.

“But honestly my two laps in Q3 were pretty much identical, almost perfect. I just put two really solid laps in Q3, enough for pole, and very happy because that’s not normally the case around Mexico with how tricky it is.”

Leclerc had two messy laps in the final part of qualifying, so had to settle for fourth but Ferrari still have an opportunity to eat into their 48-points deficit to McLaren’s in the Constructors’ Championship as Piastri and Perez were eliminated in Q1.

Russell qualified fifth in his underdeveloped Mercedes following his big crash in second practice.

The British driver’s car is the Miami-spec Mercedes from May, since the team didn’t have enough spare parts and were forced to change his chassis overnight.

He still managed to outqualify Hamilton though, who has the new floor on his car but made an error on his last lap in qualifying.

Perez and Piastri knocked out early

Perez has been a driver under pressure after admitting himself he had a “terrible” season and the home crowd expected him to perform at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

But it all went wrong in the first part of qualifying when all three of his laps were simply uncompetitive and led to a fifth Q1 elimination in 2024.

The Mexican visibly didn’t have the confidence to attack the corners, so will start down in 18th behind Piastri, who made a costly error in Q1.

“Very difficult one, very difficult to stop the car. I just couldn’t get on top of it,” Perez, who faces pressure to retain his Red Bull seat despite having a contract for 2025, told Sky Sports F1.

“I couldn’t stop the car soon enough and I was just putting too much energy into the tyres braking. That was the main issue for me.

“It was very similar to the rest of the weekend. I just cannot stop the car and I’m struggling a lot with that part of the phase going into the low-speed, it’s a little bit similar to Austin when I just cannot attack the corners into the braking, and here you have a lot of that.

“[On Sunday] it’s just very important to try to maximise the day. If we are able to score some good points, it will be a tremendous effort, but it’s going to be very difficult from the position we’re in.”

Piastri had a lock up in Turn Four on his first qualifying lap, then had a lap deleted for running wide in Turn 12. However, that lap still would not have been good enough to reach Q2 but the mistake lost him around one second in lap time.

Now on older soft rubber, Piastri didn’t have the tyre life to get out of the bottom five and is highly unlikely to play a role to help Norris in the title battle, just like Perez with Verstappen.

“I just went off in Turn 12, got beached on the kerb there and that was it,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.

“My lap was easily going to be enough so it’s very frustrating to have made that mistake. I lost about a second. A pain.

“It’s just a tricky circuit but I don’t think qualifying was down to it being tricky, I just made a very poor mistake and that was it.

“We have a similar position to Lando last year, so I will make sure I will do my homework on how he went through the field and try to do the same I guess.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Mexico City GP schedule

Sunday October 27
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Race build-up on Sunday from 7.30pm)

Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues with the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday with lights out at 8pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime