Norris eyes first-corner opportunity as Verstappen admits uncertainty

Lando Norris has pinpointed the start of Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix – which features the longest run of the year to the first corner – as his “best opportunity” to seize the lead of a race in which he realistically needs to make up ground on Max Verstappen to reignite his world title bid.

Title challenger Norris will start from third behind second-placed Verstappen, the 57-point championship leader, for just the second time in the last nine races after narrowly losing out to his Red Bull rival in a tense qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

But both world title contenders were upstaged by the impressive Carlos Sainz, who took pole position by two tenths of a second to return Ferrari to the front of the grid just six days on from the Italian team’s dominant one-two finish in the USA.

The race starts at 8pm, with build-up from 6.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.

Norris, who was pipped to a front-row berth by his Red Bull rival by 0.089s, admits McLaren have not yet had an answer to Ferrari’s speed this weekend, so knows the importance of gaining ground at the start on a circuit where overtaking is otherwise difficult.

“It’s tough, Ferrari is just very fast,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying on the challenge at the front this weekend.

“Even if you look at last weekend, they were quicker in qualifying and then quicker in the race.

“We don’t have any evidence at the minute saying that we’re going to be much quicker than them in the race so Turn One, lap one will be our best opportunity.”

There are 768 meters between the front of the grid and the circuit’s opening corner, a tight right-hander, which creates a powerful slipstream for following cars and can act as a crucial slingshot for an immediate overtake into the first braking zone.

Three of the last four winners in Mexico City have come from Norris’ third-placed grid spot.

“If we can have a good start, hopefully it’s exciting down to Turn One,” added the Briton.

Not that Norris is convinced that even a storming start might be enough to get the better of Sainz over the full race distance given the way the Ferrari has performed in Mexico so far.

“Ferrari are just doing things well at the minute,” he added. “They are doing well, Carlos put in some very nice laps at the end, but no chance I’m going three and a half tenths quicker like he did.

“I think we have expected they are probably a bit quicker than we are at the minute but definitely plenty of other cars we can try to beat and we need to beat.”

Verstappen avoids major setback… but remains wary for race

The driver Norris most needs to beat is Verstappen, of course.

After the controversial events of Austin saw the reigning champion increase his championship lead by a potentially-crucial five points to quell a series of gains by his McLaren rival in the previous races, Verstappen impressively avoided a fresh setback in his title defence on Saturday.

The Dutchman had appeared on the back foot after limited running in Friday’s practice sessions due to an engine problem – which necessitated a change of power unit in his Red Bull for the rest of the weekend – and then difficulties with car handling in Saturday’s final practice session.

But, not for the first time, Verstappen rallied superbly in qualifying to deliver a big result when it mattered and ensure he starts Sunday’s grand prix on the front row.

Still, the Dutchman admits his lack of running on the opening day still could have consequences for performance in the 71-lap race given he missed out on higher-fuel running.

Asked by Sky Sports F1 how he felt going in to Sunday, Verstappen replied: “Last year, I would say ‘yeah, no problem’.

“But this year I think we are not the most competitive in the race lately, so this is something that we have to work on.

“But I don’t really have a lot of understanding on that because Friday is always the important day to understand that. We didn’t really have that at all, so I think it will be a bit of a learning exercise in the first stint and then maybe hopefully we can adjust for the second and from there onwards.”

Verstappen has won five of the past six Mexico City GPs, with only one of those triumphs coming when starting on pole position.

Sainz: I have less to lose than title duo at start | Vasseur: We focused on race pace

Of the grid’s top three, it was certainly Sainz exuding the most confidence for the race on Saturday evening.

The Spaniard, who has five races left as a Ferrari driver before Lewis Hamilton joins the team for 2025 and he heads down the grid to Williams, claimed the sixth pole position of his career and first since last year’s Singapore GP in imperious style in Q3.

Both of his laps in the pole shootout were fast enough to head the grid.

And while the history books may show that the polesitter in Mexico has won only three of the eight previous races since the country rejoined the calendar in 2015, Sainz backed himself to stave off the threat from slipstreaming rivals at the start.

“Relatively confident because I know my race pace should be good,” said Sainz, who is chasing a first race win since April’s Australian GP.

“Probably the biggest difficult thing will be the run down into Turn One and starting on pole with a slipstream, no? But I think you can still defend, you can still make it stick into Turn One starting on pole and that will be my target.

“I just need to make sure I do a good 0-100 [kph], which is the most important thing when you start on pole, just make sure you do a good jump.

“And from there obviously do the best I can to defend.”

And noting the fact that his two nearest pursuers are locked in a championship battle whereas he was not, Sainz added: “I have two guys behind fighting for quite important things and the run down into Turn One should be interesting.

“I have obviously less to lose in that sense and I’ll make sure that I try and keep P1.”

Should Sainz indeed hold on to his starting advantage through the tight first section of corners, then he may prove difficult to catch – particularly given Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur suggested that the team had actually set the SF-24 up more with the view to it being quick over the longer race distance than qualifying.

“It was not obvious before that we were much more focused on the race pace, and it’s very good news for us,” Vasseur told Sky Sports F1.

“We were not expecting to get pole position, we were much more focused on [Sunday].

Wins at two of the past four races have moved Ferrari into outside contention for a first Constructors’ Championship title since 2008. They trail leaders McLaren by 48 points and second-placed Red Bull by just eight points heading into Sunday – and are the only one of the three teams with both their drivers at the front of the grid.

While Charles Leclerc is also in contention for the victory from fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez line up together on the grid’s penultimate row after each suffering disastrous Q1 exits.

“We have the advantage to be under the radar,” suggested Vasseur.

“The discussion is more about the fight between Lando and Max, between Zak [Brown] and Christian [Horner], between Mercedes and I don’t know who – and for me it’s perfect.

“Let’s stay under the radar and stay focused on what we are doing.”

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

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