Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz clinched pole position for 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix.
McLaren dominated the timing sheets across FP3 and first two Qualifying segments but come Q3, Sainz found his groove to take his first pole in 28 races ahead of his ex Toro Rosso teammate, Max Verstappen.
Q1 though saw two shocks as Osar Piastri and home hero, Sergio Perez were eliminated.
Now here is a roundup of all the action across FP3 and Qualifying for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix.
FP3
Mercedes’ George Russell was first out on track but it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the soft tyre who set the benchmark time, having posted 1m 18.397 as he looked to maximise his track time after a difficult Friday Practice.
Verstappen found 0.068 seconds on his next flier but was soon displaced by Russell then Lewis Hamilton at the summit, but it was Sainz who set the pace with 1m 17.825 just 16 minutes into the session.
Sainz continued to set the pace at the halfway mark as he lowered his benchmark time to 1m 17.447 in the 27th minute, and ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc by 0.169s.
The Spaniard further lowered the fastest lap to 1m 17.334 with 18 minutes left ahead of qualifying simulations.
McLaren eventually showed a glimpse of their true pace at the end as Piastri posted 1m 16.492 with 13 minutes left, which saw the Aussie top the session from teammate, Lando Norris by 0.059s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1m 16.492 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.059 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.340 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.511 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.568 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.740 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.810 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.849 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.982 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 1.002 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.019 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 1.147 |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | + 1.220 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.295 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.306 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.327 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.408 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.832 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.936 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.962 |
Qualifying
Q1
Bottas was first out on track and set 1m 18.507 as the benchmark time but Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes drivers opted for medium tyres on their first runs, which saw Norris go quickest with 1m 17.203.
Verstappen however posted 1m 16.998 on soft tyres to sit top with ten minutes left, whilst Lawson was the last driver to set a timed lap, which left Russell, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri and Perez in the elimination zone.
Piastri then saw his second lap deleted after he exceeded track limits at Turn 12 on the soft tyre, but Russell climbed up to sixth.
As the checkered flag fell, Colapinto qualified 16th ahead of Piastri and Perez who only managed 17th and 18th in shock eliminations, ahead of Ocon and Zhou who finished slowest.
Norris meanwhile topped the segment with 1m 16.505 ahead of Sainz.
Q2
Albon was the first driver to hit the circuit and set 1m 17.090 as the initial benchmark time, which Verstappen quickly usurped with 1m 16.629 but Norris eventually set the pace by 0.328s as he posted 1m 16.301 to ultimately top Q2.
The elimination zone meanwhile compromised of; Magnussen, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Leclerc, after Leclerc’s lap was deleted following an error at turn two.
Leclerc however went fourth with two minutes left to drop Alonso into the bottom five.
The checkered flag however was deployed with ten seconds left after Tsunoda caused a red flag on his outlap, having crashed at Turn 12.
Tsunoda consequently was eliminated in 11th position and ahead of his RB teammate, Liam Lawson by 0.033s.
Aston Martin locked out the seventh row as Alonso starts his 400th Grand Prix from 13th, just ahead of Stroll whilst Bottas qualified 15th in his Sauber.
Q3
After a five-minute delay to the start of Q3 due to Tsunoda’s crash, Magnussen and Hulkenberg were first out on track and the Dane posted 1m 18.104 as the initial benchmark time.
Verstappen however went quickest with 1m 16.368 but his lap time was deleted for an error at turn 2, which left him slowest of the top ten once everyone set one lap time.
Sainz meanwhile produced a 1m 16.055 to put himself on provisional pole from Leclerc by 0.360s, with Russell and Hamilton third and fourth for Mercedes ahead of Norris in fifth.
Gasly, Albon, Hulkenberg and Magnussen filled positions 6-9 ahead of Verstappen as teams prepared for the final runs, with Magnussen first back out with nearly three-and-a-half minutes left.
At the checkered flag, nobody could match Sainz who posted 1m 15.946 to claim his first pole position since 2023 Singapore GP.
Verstappen recovered to qualify second ahead of Norris, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Magnussen, Gasly, Albon and Hulkenberg.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 15.946 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.225 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.314 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.319 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.410 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.705 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.940 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.946 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.119 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.419 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1m 17.129 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 0.033 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.039 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.165 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.688 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | 1m 17.558 |
| 17 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.039 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.053 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.059 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 0.514 |
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