What the teams said – Qualifying in Mexico City

Ferrari

Ferrari have been quick all weekend, but it was Charles Leclerc who looked the pick of the two Scuderia cars. But come Q3, Lewis Hamilton was the one to nail his last lap when it mattered and make the most of the track evolution to grab a brilliant pole position. It is his first P1 start in a Grand Prix for Ferrari, as he hunts his second race win for the team. The oldest man to be on pole since Mario Andretti in 1982, Hamilton certainly stole some of Antonelli’s thunder on Saturday.

Leclerc had a scrappy final run in Q3, knowing pole was in his grasp. But he just could not get his tyres in the right working window and had to settle for a still decent P3, especially considering he starts on the clean side of the grid and will have a slipstream down to Turn 1.

Lewis Hamilton, 1st, 1:16.514

"It’s an incredibly special feeling to take my first pole position for Ferrari. I’ve been working towards a moment like this for a long time, so to finally achieve it means a lot. It hasn’t been a straightforward weekend, with the running we missed and the issue we had yesterday, but we took important lessons from the last race, made good progress with the setup, and today we brought it all together when it mattered.

"The margins are so fine, which makes this result all the more rewarding. A huge thank you to everyone at the track and back in Maranello. We can be proud of today, but of course, our focus now turns to tomorrow and converting this into a strong result for the team."

Charles Leclerc, 3rd, 1:16.633

"I think there was a bit more in it today. On the out-laps, it was quite difficult to put the tyres in the right window, and this was our biggest challenge. There's such low grip with the downforce that we have here in Mexico City, that you've got to push the car to the limit in these conditions, which is quite fun. On my second run in Q3, I had a clean out-lap, but at the end, I just didn't put the lap together. Starting third here is not too bad, so we will give it all and see what we can bring home for the team."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"I am very happy for Lewis and for the whole team. His first pole position with Ferrari is an important milestone and a result that rewards all the work that has gone into it. This weekend, Lewis found the right balance between pushing and managing the tyres, and today it paid off. Charles had a good first run in Q3 and then made a small mistake on his last attempt, but P3 is still a good place to start from here.

"The most important part of the job, however, will be tomorrow. Both Lewis and Charles will be starting on the clean side and a lot will be about the race down to Turn 1, where the slipstream could play a big role. After the first lap, the key will be to try and be in clean air, as overheating in dirty air is an issue we all have to deal with. We now have to find the best strategy and execute a clean start, with both drivers working together as a team."

Mercedes

Kimi Antonelli wound up just 0.001s behind Norris in the final practice session, paving the way for the Italian to fight for pole. But Mercedes just did not seem to really have the pace in the early stages of Qualifying. While both cars comfortably made Q3, neither looked right in the mix. That is until the final laps, when George Russell pulled out something special to grab P2 on the grid. He wound up just 0.009s off pole, and is well placed to make a challenge for the victory to keep his slim chances in the title fight going.

As for Antonelli, he wound up fifth after struggling to warm up his tyres in Q3. But he starts fourth thanks to Verstappen’s penalty, and if he finishes there he will have done more than enough to take the World Championship crown.

Kimi Antonelli, 5th, 1:16.707

"It wasn’t my best qualifying today. I struggled to find the grip from the tyres in Q3 and didn’t put together the lap I wanted, with a few too many mistakes. It’s disappointing as I felt more comfortable earlier in the session and hoped we could be fighting further forward. That said, we’re still P4 and there is plenty to play for tomorrow.

"The run to Turn One is very long here, so getting a good start and staying out of trouble will be important. We’ve also saved a set of Soft tyres which could give us some options in the race. I think we have a good chance to fight for a strong result, so I’ll get some rest tonight, reset and focus on doing the best race we can tomorrow."

George Russell, 2nd, 1:16.523

"That wasn’t an easy session, but I was pleased with my final lap. It came together when it mattered and we were able to get a good result out of the session. It was tricky getting the tyres into the right window and we took a slightly different approach with our preparation compared to some of those around us. We opted to go for it on the first lap at the end of Q3, rather than take a preparation lap, and that proved the right call. The performance was clearly in the car, but we need to understand why we haven’t been able to access it as consistently as we would like recently.

"It’s very close between the four teams at the front, so tomorrow should be an interesting race. Overtaking will be difficult and managing the power unit and brake temperatures will be important, but we’ll see what opportunities come our way. My focus is on finishing the season strongly and maximising every opportunity we have."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"It was incredibly close out there today. The gap between Lewis (Hamilton) and George was probably no more than 50 centimetres on track, which shows how fine the margins were. It was a difficult session for us though overall. The tyre was tricky to get into the right window and the grip dropped away quickly, so getting the preparation right was important. George’s quickest lap came without a preparation lap, whereas we took a different approach with Kimi, so we need to look at that and understand whether we could have optimised it better.

"The race will be a different challenge. The margins were just as small on Friday’s long runs as we saw on the single lap today, so getting the start, strategy and tyre management right will be important. We are starting from a position where we can fight, and our focus will be on executing a clean race with both cars and seeing what opportunities come our way."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"We had a relatively straightforward FP3, evaluating the changes we made overnight and doing some work to better understand the tyres on lower fuel. We made some progress with the set-up, although we were still struggling with a loose rear on corner entry and understeer at the apex of the slower corners. That made it difficult to put a complete lap together. Our pace on the Medium tyre wasn’t particularly strong, but the additional grip from the Soft helped and, by the end of the session, it looked like we might have the performance to fight for pole.

"We didn’t change much on either car going into qualifying, but it was a slightly messy start to the session, and we were lacking some pace early on. The track temperature continued to drop, which would normally help us, but after the first runs in Q2 we still looked to be a few tenths away. We improved as the session progressed and George produced a very strong final lap in Q3 to take a place on the front row, just a few milliseconds from pole. Kimi finished P5 and wasn’t especially happy with either the car or his own performance. With penalties applied, we will start P2 and P4 tomorrow. Given the long run to Turn One, that puts us in a reasonable position. Our long-run pace on Friday looked competitive, but managing brake and Power Unit temperatures is likely to be one of the key factors in the race. Both drivers can fight for the podium and, if we can manage those temperatures and use the performance in the car, hopefully we can be in the fight for the win too."

Red Bull

Max Verstappen qualified fourth in Mexico City, which at the start of the day he might have taken. But Red Bull got their car into a better working window for Qualifying, with the Dutchman in the mix throughout. His first run in Q3 was exceptionally quick, but he locked up on his final run through the stadium section which ended his charge. With his grid penalty, he starts fifth tomorrow.

Isack Hadjar was frustrated throughout the day with how his car was behaving, and he came close to missing out on Q2, leaving it very late to get a lap in. He aborted his first run in Q3 too after a lock up, but did manage to at least beat the midfield cars to grab seventh on the grid.

Max Verstappen, 4th, 1:16.692

“I think overall my Qualifying went really well. We improved the car a lot from practice and it was all coming together nicely for Pole. Unfortunately, I was in some dirty air and the car in front of me, instead of going left, was driving right. This meant I lost my reference, lost downforce and had the car in the wrong place for the braking point, so I locked up. It was a shame as I was for sure in the fight for Pole and it affected my lap. However, the most important thing for me was that the car was in the right window and that it will feel a lot better in the race tomorrow. Ultimately, it was really promising how we turned things around; it is quite tough to follow here but if you have a good race car then you can do something."

Isack Hadjar, 7th, 1:16.900

"I feel like I didn't do a good enough job today, I just couldn't get it to click throughout Qualifying. The car was very fast and we had real potential to be on Pole, so that's frustrating. I think I made too many mistakes. The pace was there, but I found it a little trickier to drive than in practice. I was locking up a lot, particularly into T13, and I just couldn't get a feel for the brakes. The Team has put in hard work to get the car to where it is and you always want to deliver for them. Starting from seventh isn't going to be easy, but a lot can happen in T1 and the race pace was looking promising. We'll need to make some early moves tomorrow, so let's see where we can end up."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“After a bumpy start to the weekend, that was a good turnaround again today in Qualifying, so well done to everyone in the Team for coming together and making a strong improvement compared to where we were with the car yesterday. We had the pace to fight for the top positions this afternoon, even if the final lap in Q3 did not go to plan.

"On Max’s last attempt, he was the fastest on track up until the point where he got traffic from Lando in the last sector and lost the chance to fight for Pole, so that’s a shame. Isack showed strong pace as well and kept building throughout Qualifying. There was certainly the potential for more.

"For tomorrow, even if we start quite far back, we will try to put some pressure on our competitors and be ready to take any opportunities from what happens ahead of us. It is going to be a long race, extremely demanding on the chassis and PUs, and of course in terms of tyre management, so we look forward to the battles on track.”

McLaren

Lando Norris was fastest in final practice, and with Oscar Piastri not that much further back, hopes were high that McLaren could fight for pole. But they had a difficult Qualifying, with Piastri knocked out in Q2 for the first time this season. He ran used tyres initially in that segment which didn’t help, and then could not nail his last lap when the pressure was on.

Norris made Q3 with relative ease, but once there it did not go to plan. He admitted that there was nothing wrong with his last lap per se, he just could not quite get the car in the same working window as he managed when he topped the timing sheets in Q2.

Lando Norris, 6th, 1:16.824

"A challenging afternoon. My Q2 lap was incredibly strong, but it was unrealistic to expect a repeat of that in Q3 with the car currently not consistent enough from one run to the next, so putting together two strong laps is a real challenge. I don’t think we had more than this result available today as Pole wasn't within our reach.

"We’ll work towards tomorrow’s race now. We know that overtaking looks incredibly challenging with the speed limiter, but we’ll do our best to gain positions from sixth to secure strong points for the team."

Oscar Piastri, 13th, 1:17.646

"A frustrating Qualifying today. Up until Q2, we were in a really competitive position. The car felt well-balanced throughout Free Practice 3 and during the first phase of Qualifying, but the moment we fitted the new set of tyres, its behaviour completely changed. It was a bizarre situation after making only minor setup tweaks, so we’ll need to investigate thoroughly to understand what went wrong.

"Looking ahead to tomorrow's race, our objective remains to push forward and fight our way into the points. We know we have solid underlying race pace, but overtaking around this circuit will be extremely tough with the current straight-line speed characteristics and limited slipstream effect. It will require a calculated and determined drive through the field, but we will make the most of every opportunity to progress."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

"A result that certainly leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. To be honest, we were hoping to secure two good positions on the starting grid, because our performance seemed to be better than what we’d seen in recent races, but the MCL40’s inconsistency let us down at the crucial moments. It happened first with Oscar in Q2, and it’s a shame because up until that point he’d shown himself to be very competitive, even on a track that’s certainly not best suited to his style. Then it was Lando’s turn on his second attempt in Q3, when a place in at least the first two rows was definitely within his reach.

"We know that when the drivers push this car to the absolute limit, its behaviour can sometimes be unpredictable, even more so when racing in windy conditions and on a slippery track: the slightest snap can easily result in a sudden loss of grip, which comes at a high cost. This makes the drivers’ task very difficult and demands flawless execution from the whole team: it’s up to us to put ourselves in the best possible position to showcase our pace, both in this final stage of the season and, above all, next season.

"For tomorrow, we’ll aim to make the most of the strong stamina we demonstrated in Free Practice to try and achieve the best possible result. Lando is still in a position to fight for a podium finish, whilst it’s clear that Oscar’s aim is to finish in the points and thus demonstrate that his progress can translate into a good result. The battle for third place is wide open, and we must do everything we can to secure at least that result."

Racing Bulls

Having looked the pick of the midfield all the way throughout practice, it was no surprise that Racing Bulls got both cars to Q3 with relative ease. They had two runs on fresh soft tyres, with Liam Lawson beating his team mate Arvid Lindblad by less than a tenth. The duo initially looked set to trade places thanks to Lawson's one place grid drop, until news broke that the Kiwi racer had been disqualified from Qualifying for a technical breach regarding his car's MGU-K deployment.

Liam Lawson, 8th, 1:17.029

“It feels good to have two cars finish in Q3 today. The penalty from yesterday means I'll be starting in P9, but it's positive for both of us to be leading the midfield. I apologised to Max after yesterday's incident as it was unnecessary. It's something I'll learn from moving forward, but we're now both focused on tomorrow. It's a tough track, but I love driving the car and I'm excited for the race where we'll be pushing for double points."

Arvid Lindblad, 9th, 1:17.117

"I don’t feel like I delivered as well as I could have today, and there was definitely more time to find. I found a really good rhythm in Q2, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to carry that into Q3 and didn’t deliver the laps I know I’m capable of. The team have done a great job with the set-up this weekend, and the drivability has definitely improved, so it’s disappointing not to have converted that into a higher starting position. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow; we’re still starting from a good position and I think points are definitely within reach.”

Mattia Spini, Head of Trackside Engineering

"A very good Saturday for the team with both cars through to Q3 and ahead of our direct competitors. Both drivers struggled with the car balance in the low-speed section at the start of FP3, but we improved the behaviour throughout the session. By the end, they were more comfortable and setting competitive lap times, leaving only some fine-tuning ahead of qualifying.

“We expected Q1 to be challenging, with different run plans across the field, and the red flag in the middle of the session added another complication. We managed it well and got both cars into Q2 using just one set of tyres each. Arvid found a significant chunk of lap time on his first run in Q2, while Liam made his step on the second, securing a place in Q3 for both drivers. With Liam carrying a one-place grid penalty, it was important for him to qualify ahead, and he did exactly that. Our focus now turns to the race, where a good start and a strong opening lap will be paramount.”

Alpine

Pierre Gasly made it all the way to Q3 for the fourth time in the last five race weekends. He was only 0.036s off the pace of Lindblad ahead too which was encouraging, with Alpine looking to have lost ground in their fight with Racing Bulls of late, especially on pace. Franco Colapinto could not match his team mate but he did take 12th which is a decent starting slot.

Both will inherit a place thanks to Lawson's disqualification, enhancing the teams chance of points.

Pierre Gasly, 10th, 1:17.153

“I am happy to be in Q3 today. It's been tight all weekend in the midfield so we knew we would need to maximise everything in Q1 and Q2 to ensure we could advance to the top ten. I have no regrets in Q3, I gave it everything I had, and we just lack a couple of hundredths to Racing Bulls who seem to have a little bit on us at the moment. That has been a trend recently, so something for us to continue to work on and improve. After a positive day yesterday, Free Practice 3 was a little difficult, tyres were cold, I lacked grip, but that changed for Qualifying. It's a tight window to perform and it is difficult to get it right sometimes. Looking ahead to the race, it's a long run down to Turn 1 here and it's never an easy start. I will focus on what I can control and hopefully we can take the fight to Liam [Lawson] and Arvid [Lindblad] ahead and give them a hard time. Our race pace was good yesterday so of course our target has to be to score points.”

Franco Colapinto, 12th, 1:17.640

“I'm not super happy with today's result, as I thought there was more performance out there and the chance of possibly making it into Q3. I was not super comfortable in the car in Qualifying and it was tricky to get the best out of the tyres for the full lap. The start of the lap was good and felt strong but we were generally losing time as the lap went on, particularly in the tight final sector. The focus now is to do our best job in the race, where I think we're probably more competitive and consistent. We're usually quite good off the line and it's a very long run down to Turn 1 here. So, we'll look to make some places on the opening lap and go from there, with points again being the target for the team.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“Today's result is probably a fair reflection of our current level of competitiveness. After a positive day yesterday, we had some concern after Free Practice 3 with both drivers struggling more than we would have liked, especially with tyre preparation. We turned it around for Qualifying where both drivers did a good job in Q1 to progress, with Pierre saving a set of new Softs with an eye on tomorrow's race. Q2 was tight and Franco has been a little bit off Pierre on most runs this weekend, having more limitations on braking, and he lost some time in the final sector as the rears overheat and grip tends to lack. He is still in the mix for tomorrow starting P12 especially with the long run down to Turn 1 where I am sure he will be keen to put some pressure on those ahead. Pierre ended P10 where he had a good first run in Q3, and two thirds of his final lap were strong before a scrappier final sector, missing just a tenth or so to the Racing Bulls. He is eager for a good start tomorrow and he will try to make some moves ahead as we aim to have both cars scoring together.”

Audi

Gabriel Bortoleto missed most of FP2 with a car issue, and his luck did not change on Saturday. He was limited to just two laps in final practice with a PU issue, the team opting to change his engine for another one in his pool. Having also missed FP1 for Audi rookie Freddie Slater as the rookies got some laps in, the Brazilian was awfully short of lap time and did well to make it as far as he did. Nico Hulkenberg qualified a few places higher up, but could not quite make it to Q3. Nonetheless, the German will start in the top 10 thanks to Lawson's DSQ.

Nico Hulkenberg, 11th, 1:17.306

"It was a pretty good qualifying session overall. We made steady progress throughout, the laps were clean and I don't think there was much more left on the table. Of course, missing out on Q3 by just three hundredths is a bit of a shame, but that's how tight things are in the midfield. P11 isn't a bad place to start from, and we've also got a fresh set of soft tyres available, which could come in handy tomorrow.

"The race here is always a tough one, particularly when it comes to managing temperatures and cooling the power unit. We'll look at our strategy options tonight and see what we can make of it tomorrow."

Gabriel Bortoleto, 14th, 1:17.680

“It was a shame not to be able to take part in FP3 earlier today, but the mechanics have done an incredible job getting the car back together and ready for Qualifying, so I want to say a big thank you to the whole team for their efforts. At least, I have now had some more laps under my belt before going into the race tomorrow, which is a positive considering everything that has happened so far this weekend.

“Q1 felt really good, and I even felt we had the potential to make it into Q3. However, with the track evolving and our balance changing, it became a bit more challenging to adapt, especially given the lack of practice and fine-tuning. It is difficult to predict how tomorrow will pan out for us, but we will try to keep it clean and make the most of our opportunities.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director

“After a very difficult Friday and Saturday morning, the team recovered extremely well, with Nico qualifying P11 and Gabi P14. For Gabi to go straight into qualifying with so little track time and produce that performance was exceptional. Great credit also goes to his mechanics, supported by the crew from Nico’s car, for ensuring his car was ready and giving him the opportunity to deliver. Nico extracted everything we had in the car today, finishing just three hundredths shy and tantalisingly close to a place in Q3. It was a tremendous effort across the team, and those starting positions give us plenty to race for tomorrow.”

Haas

Haas have swapped Esteban Ocon for Ryo Hirakawa for the rest of the race weekend, with the rookie managing plenty of laps in FP3 before embarking on his debut Qualifying session. He gave a good account of himself, winding up around nine tenths behind his team mate after picking up traffic on his final run. Ollie Bearman did make Q2 for the team, but had a messy final lap with one mistake and that cost him a handful of places.

Oliver Bearman, 15th, 1:18.083

“It was a good session, honestly, considering what happened in FP3, which was that we arrived with a car that was just not working at all. Considering that, I think we did a good job, the car felt very good. Especially in Q2, I was on for a really nice lap but made a mistake in Turn 12. It’s a shame, and it’s tough because I’m kind of taking a step into the unknown every time I get into qualifying when we have these FP2 and FP3 sessions when they’re quite disrupted. It’s difficult because the car is quick, we just can’t make it quick in every session, and then it’s challenging to consistently put the car on the edge. I’m excited for tomorrow, let’s see what we can do as the pace looks good and we should be further up the grid than we are.”

Ryo Hirakawa, 19th, 1:18.958

“I’m here to be a reserve driver and am always ready. I’ve dreamt about it, and today, the dream has come true to race tomorrow. Today has flown by, there’s been a lot to prepare, and the team has helped a lot, so thanks to them. For the race, there’s a lot to go through, but today the focus was to try to get through Q1. Unfortunately for me, I had traffic in my last push lap, which is a shame as the car was working well. Tonight, I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m excited for the race tomorrow.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It was a bit of a mixed bag for us today. Ryō was drafted into the car last minute, and I think considering that, he’s done a really good job. In FP3, the progress he was making was very clear, and Q1 is always a very tricky session with the tyre being on the edge, but he stayed calm and managed to extract most of the performance. It’s a shame that he had traffic in the worst possible place, in the high-speed corners. I don’t know if he could’ve made it to Q2, but it would’ve been close. That would’ve been his reward for his great effort today.

“On Ollie’s side, we didn’t maximise everything, which is a shame because his FP1 was very strong, but FP2 and FP3, the car wasn’t where it should be, so he completely lost his reference. We managed however, to get the car back to a good base for qualifying, but that meant he started Q1 run one, like it was FP1 run one. On that note, he had a great Q1, and in Q2, he was making great progress but pushed it too hard into Turn 12. There are a few things we can look at to improve consistency, but I’d like to thank the team for all their hard work and effort, as we’ve had engine changes both days in a short space of time and never missed a session, so that’s a great effort. Starting a bit further back than where we wanted to now, but we will race hard tomorrow to try and get back as many places as possible.”

Williams

Not to be for Alex Albon, who exited in Qualifying at the first time of asking. Carlos Sainz scraped into Q2 but could go no further, the Spaniard left slightly frustrated with the feeling in his Williams. Sainz was also noted for not returning to the track correctly via an escape road at Turn 11, but was let off with a warning. As for Albon, he has qualified very close to Alonso, who he tangled with last time out in Austin. Those two might be worth a watch off the line tomorrow...

Carlos Sainz, 16th, 1:18.885

“We had the chance to get the car into Q2 today. We maximised what we had and took our opportunity, so we can be happy with that. Still, I didn’t feel as comfortable compared to yesterday and I was fighting the car a lot more than usual. We’ve been struggling with balance, and we overcorrected slightly with the setup changes we made. We have faster cars in front and behind us tomorrow, so it will be very tricky to get into the points, but we’ll try our best to put on a good show for these fantastic fans!”

Alex Albon, 17th, 1:18.630

“It was a good lap, maybe my best of the year, so I’m happy with that. We had a deployment issue into Turn 1 due to traffic in sector three, which cost us about six tenths - we tried to make it up through the rest of the lap but unfortunately, I think this was the difference in making Q2. Our race pace should be good relative to Aston but realistically, we’ve got a gap to the Alpines. Regardless, we'll try to have some fun out there, with the focus being on getting the most out of our car.”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“It was a great lap from Alex. Because of the yellow flag, we had to push right to the limit, and with the traffic he wasn’t able to get his deployment in the right place and lost out on that lap. Otherwise, that should’ve pulled him through into Q2. It was a great effort from him. Carlos delivered everything the car could, but the gaps are tight. Looking to tomorrow, it’s always entertaining on the run down to Turn 1 here, so as always, head down and we’ll do the best we can.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso was quick throughout practice, and entered Qualifying with high hopes of a strong session for Aston Martin. His first flying lap beat some of the midfield, but then disaster struck when he was told to park up in the stadium with what was later revealed to be an ERS issue. The Spaniard could not contain his frustration, as he exited as a result. Lance Stroll also had a tricky day, a PU problem limited his running in practice, before he too dropped out in Q1.

Fernando Alonso, 18th, 1:18.908

“It was a frustrating way to end what had been looking like a promising Qualifying. The car felt good, and we seemed to be in the fight for a place in Q2. Unfortunately, an engine issue meant we had to stop, and there was nothing more we could do at that point. We will look into exactly what happened, but with the cooling challenges we are facing, tomorrow is going to be difficult. We will do what we can and keep pushing as a team.”

Lance Stroll, 20th, 1:19.072

“We have been struggling a bit here all weekend, mainly with the car balance. I also feel something is not quite right at the rear, and we are also struggling with a lot of engine braking issues. We don’t really understand why yet, so hopefully we can find some learnings ahead of tomorrow. I think the race is going to be quite difficult for us, especially in terms of cooling the car.”

Cadillac

Sergio Perez missed almost all of FP3 with Cadillac opting to swap out his power unit as a precautionary measure, but he was able to come out straight away in Q1. He was joined by Valtteri Bottas, who was still playing catch up after missing FP1. Neither driver could make much progress, despite Bottas towing Perez to try and aid the Mexican's chances of progressing. The Finn did so because he is due to start down the back anyway thanks to grid penalties for taking on new PU components.

Sergio Perez, 21st, 1:19.105

“The conditions were changing quite a lot, but I think we managed them reasonably well. Missing FP3 was far from ideal, as we couldn’t test the changes we made to the car before qualifying. Despite that, I’m pleased with my lap and I think we got the most out of what we had today. Thanks to Valtteri for the tows too, it drew us closer and almost gave us a shot at out qualifying some of the cars ahead.

“Hopefully, we can get a good start tomorrow and fight with the cars ahead. Overtaking is very difficult here, so track position will be key. If we can stay in the mix and keep some faster cars behind us, that would be a positive result.”

Valtteri Bottas, 22nd, 1:19.852

“A straightforward qualifying session for us today with everything going to plan. Obviously, I have the 50-grid place penalty for tomorrow’s race so the plan today was to try and help give Checo the best shot at a lap time. I gave him a tow on the last two runs and I think he gained slightly from it which is why he was pretty close to the cars ahead, but sadly not enough to gain a position. At least we tried as a team.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, everything we've done on my side this weekend has been to prioritise the setup for the race. We’ve done minimal performance running and instead focused on long runs, so let's hope we're going to be a bit closer and in the mix tomorrow.”

Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal

“More tricks than treats for us today. We got off to a rough start with Checo when we had to change his power unit during FP3 which cost him the whole session. A big thank you to the team in the garage for getting him back out in time for Qualifying. This is such a tough track for these cars so losing a lot of data and being unable to validate the set-up changes going into Qualifying is painful.

“As Valtteri has a grid penalty tomorrow for running a new PU following his retirement in Austin, he compromised his Qualifying session to help Checo, so thanks to him for being such a great team player. It is going to be another tough race day tomorrow, but we know that the passionate Mexican fans will lift our spirits and we will give it everything to repay the support.”

Pirelli

Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“We approach the Mexico City Grand Prix with a very open strategic picture. On paper, both a one-stop and a two-stop race are competitive options, with several Medium and Soft tyre combinations capable of delivering a very similar overall race time. The final choice will depend on a range of factors, including each car's characteristics, aerodynamic set-up levels and, above all, the traffic drivers may encounter after a pit stop.

"Many teams may choose to start on the Medium and switch to the Soft between laps 35 and 41, taking it through to the chequered flag. In this scenario, tyre management will remain an important factor despite the relatively low degradation levels. The alternative two-stop strategy would involve starting on the Soft, followed by a stint on the Medium and a final stint once again on the Soft. According to our simulations, there is no significant difference in total race time between these two options. However, teams opting for the two-stop strategy will need to carefully assess the impact of traffic, as the number of cars they may need to overtake after each stop could prove decisive.

"The Hard does not appear to be a particularly competitive choice compared with the main alternatives. An early race neutralisation could alter some strategic scenarios, giving teams the option of completing the race on the C3 or moving towards a two-stop strategy. From a tyre behaviour perspective, compared with yesterday we have not observed any significant abrasion or graining, and several long runs showed tyres remaining in very good condition.

"Further evidence of the circuit’s continuous evolution came during qualifying, the first session in which drivers completed an additional preparation lap before their flying lap, and the final one in which they headed straight into the decisive lap.”