Norris shines - Piastri stumbles: McLaren's qualifying contrast

McLaren’s qualifying session delivered contrasting results, with Norris excelling and Piastri struggling after a critical mistake.

Lando Norris will start third on the grid for the Mexican Grand Prix following a solid qualifying session. The McLaren F1 driver is not complaining about this performance, especially considering the challenging weekend he’s had.

“It’s always hard to say, but I’m quite pleased. I think I struggled to extract more from the car during the final lap, while Carlos and Max got everything they could out of theirs. But I’m happy with this result,” Norris stated.

The Briton remains cautious about his race-winning chances: “It’s hard to predict; nobody has done long runs, so it’s an open question. But Ferrari has been very fast on longer stints lately, so it will be tough, but we’ll give it everything.”

Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, couldn’t overcome a mistake and a lack of pace in Q1, failing to progress beyond the first part of qualifying, which leaves him starting from the back of the grid this Sunday.

“I went off track at Turn 12, got stuck on the kerb, and that’s all there is to it—my session was ruined!” the Australian vented. “My lap could easily have been enough, so it’s incredibly frustrating to have made that mistake.”

“I lost about a second. It’s annoying. It’s a tricky circuit, but I don’t think today’s issue was due to the track being challenging; I just made a really big, silly mistake, and that’s that.”

Piastri is hoping to replicate Norris’s comeback from last year on the same circuit: “We’re in a similar position to where Lando was last year, so I’ll make sure to do my homework on how he moved through the field and try to do the same, I suppose.”