Lando Norris delivered a stunning final flying lap to take pole position for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Norris’ F1 Driver’s title rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri qualified fifth and eight respectively. 

After being beaten to provisional pole in the opening runs of Q3 by Leclerc, Norris found almost six tenths of a second over his opener to post a final lap of 1:15.586 that put him 0.262 clear of the Monegasque driver, with Hamilton 0.352 off top spot. 

“I'm happy to be back on pole. It's actually been quite a long time, so a good feeling,” said Norris afterwards. “The lap—I don't know. It was one of those laps where you don't really know what happened. It felt decent, but then when I crossed the line and saw a 15.5, I was very pleasantly surprised.”

Earlier, in the opening runs of Q1, Norris set pace with an opening lap of 1:17.147, with Mercedes’ George Russell in P2, a little over five hundredths off the McLaren driver. Leclerc took P2 ahead of Verstappen. Norris then put in an early second run to lower the bar to 1:16.889 and Leclerc was next across the line 0.125s off the pace. 

In the final runs, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar posted a good final lap of 1:16.733 to take P1 ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ George Russell, while Norris, who cruised around his final lap, was fourth ahead of late Haas improver Esteban Ocon.  Further back, Verstappen’s 1:17.076 left him in ninth place just under a tenth ahead of Piastri. 

Ruled out at the end of the Q1, from P16 back, were Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Williams’ Alex Albon, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and in last place, Franco Colapinto in the other Alpine. 

Norris again set the early pace in Q2, with the British driver posting a lap of 1:16.252 to take top spot ahead of Leclerc and Williams’ Carlos Sainz. Verstappen’s 1:16.824 handed him fourth place ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda. 

And Norris tightened his grip on top spot in the final runs, posting a lap of 1:16.252 to end the session two tenths of a second clear of Hamilton. Once again, Verstappen and Piastri struggled, with the Red Bull driver in P4, 0.353s off Norris and the McLaren driver in P7 0.485 adrift. 

The Australian’s final lap jumped him out of the drop zone at the expense of Tsunoda, who was the first man ruled out at the end of Q2, in P11, just 0.012s behind 10th-placed Hadjar. Also ruled out behind the Japanese driver were Ocon, Kick Sauber’s Hülkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. 

Verstappen was first out on track at the start of the top-10 shootout and the Dutchman found an improvement over previous sessions, posting a lap of 1:16.455. However, Norris was flying and the McLaren racer went 0.285 clear to take top spot. 

Despite the pace, he couldn’t hold onto provisional pole. Leclerc became the first man below 1m16s, and he shocked the Briton by stealing P1 by just under eight hundredths of a second. Hamilton slotted into third to push Verstappen out to fourth ahead of the final runs. 

Norris was not to be denied and on his final lap took a massive step forward, improving by almost six tenths of a second to take pole with a lap of 1:15.586, ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton. Russell qualified fourth ahead of Verstappen, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took P6. Sainz qualified seventh but a five-place grid penalty for causing a collision last time out in Austin means he will drop to P12 and Piastri will start tomorrow’s race behind Antonelli and ahead of Hadjar, Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Tsunoda. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.586 - -
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.848 0.262 
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.938 0.352 
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.034 0.448 
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:16.070 0.484 
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.118 0.532 
7 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:16.172 0.586 
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.174 0.588 
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.252 0.666 
10 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:16.460 0.874 
11 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:16.816 1.230 
12 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:16.837 1.251 
13 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.016 1.430 
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.103 1.517 
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:18.072 2.486 
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.412 1.826 
17 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.490 1.904 
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:17.546 1.960 
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.606 2.020 
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:17.670 2.084