Mexico GP: Sainz snatches pole from Verstappen and Norris

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed his sixth career pole position by pipping Max Verstappen to the top spot in qualifying for Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Verstappen's chief title rival Lando Norris missed out on the front row but the McLaren will start from the second row alongside Charles Leclerc, while George Russell and Lewis Hamilton made it an all-Mercedes row three.

The session saw a brief stoppage after a heavy crash for RB's Yuki Tsunoda at the end of Q2, and there were shock first round exits for Oscar Piastri and home favourite Sergio Perez.

• 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix - Qualifying results

It had been a busy build-up to the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc taking charge on Friday amid problems for Max Verstappen. McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were in the ascendency in final practice, but who would come out top in qualifying?

Q1: Norris fastest as Piastri and Perez both miss the first cut

First out on track when the lights went green for Q1 was Sauber's Valtteri Bottas followed by his team mate Zhou Guanyu and the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Both Ferraris were also out, albeit on the medium compound rather than the expected softs. They were still good enough to put Sainz at the top by four tenths from Leclerc.

Then it was Norris in charge on a time of 1:17.203s with Lewis Hamilton slotting into third between the Ferrari team mates, although it was a disappointing start for Piastri who was only eighth fastest after locking up. Soon it was Verstappen who sprang to the top by two tenths from Norris.

It was still early days with no times yet from either RB or Haas. When they logged their first runs, Nico Hulkenberg leapt into second and Yuki Tsunoda was fourth. Then it was Pierre Gasly's time to shine going second, but the rapidly evolving situation was threatening to catch out a number of top names including Piastri, George Russell and Sergio Perez.

Russell soon leapt to safety in fourth although his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton was only P8. The laps continued to come fast and furious but Norris held a three tenths advantage over Sainz and Verstappen at the top, well ahead of Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen.

The real drama was among the lower ranks: late fliers from Bottas and Stroll got both through to the second round at the cost of Williams' Franco Colapinto who lost time with a small lock-up in turn 4. The big shock came from Piastri and Perez both missing the cut, the McLaren having a crucial lap time deleted. Less surprisingly also out were Ocon and Zhou.

"I just went off in turn 12," Piastri explained. "Just got beached on the kerb there and that was it. Very frustrated to make that mistake, I lost about a second. So yeah, painful. It's a tricky circuit, but today wasn't down to it being tricky - I just made one mistake, and that was it."

Q2: Norris stays quickest over Verstappen after red flag for Tsunoda

After that breathless start there was a brief pause before the second round got underway with both Ferrari drivers setting off on used softs. Also quick to head out were Verstappen and Williams' Alex Albon. The Red Bull set a target time of 1:16.629s, with Sainz half a second back and Leclerc suffering a lurid sideways slide that saw his time subsequently deleted, allowing Gasly to take up P3 instead.

That was only the opening salvo. Soon Norris was in charge at the top by three tenths, with Russell and Hamilton making their Q2 bow in third and fourth respectively. A strong lap from Albon meant that those at risk of elimination were Magnussen, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Bottas - as well as Leclerc who was still lacking a time.

The cars streamed back out with three minutes to go to make their claim on a place in the final round. On new tyres, Leclerc bounded up to third, until Sainz also improved his time - although it wasn't enough to steal P2 from Verstappen. Both Haas drivers made it into the top ten by the skin of their teeth leaving Gasly on the bubble just before the session was red flagged.

The cause for the premature finish was Tsunoda understeering and crashing out at turn 12. It left him on the wrong side of the cut, so he will line up in 11th on the grid tomorrow alongside team mate Liam Lawson. Both Astons also ended up being eliminated, while Bottas was predictably the slowest of all.

Q3: Sainz seals Mexico GP pole ahead of Verstappen and Norris

There was a small delay clearing up Tsunoda's accident and effecting repairs to the barrier before the final top ten pole shoot-out round got underway. When the lights at the end of pit lane went green, Verstappen was keen to get to work on a new set of tyres.

Verstappen's time of 1:16.368s was faster than Norris' messy run, but it wasn't enough to keep him ahead of Sainz' 1:16.055s which has been set with a little assist from Leclerc. Verstappen's time was then deleted for exceeding track limits leaving him under pressure to perform on his last run. It promoted Leclerc to second, with Russell and Hamilton respectively third and fourth for Mercedes.

One final onslaught of flying laps ensued. Sainz duly clinched pole while Verstappen found enough time to split the Ferraris and go second. Norris then slotted in right behind him to demote Leclerc to fourth. Russell and Hamilton held on to the third row meaning Magnussen ended up seventh ahead of Gasly. Albon pipped Hulkenberg to P9 after the Haas driver made a small error on his final run..

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter