Yahoo Autos Carlos Sainz Secures First Pole of 2024 Season for Mexico City Grand Prix
Carlos Sainz secured his first pole of the 2024 season in grand fashion ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix. Sainz' was third out in Q3, and as he bested Max Verstappen's time, the Red Bull's first lap was deleted for exiting track limits. This is Sainz's sixth career pole and the fourth pole for Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc captured the other three Ferrari poles and will start in fourth, with the Red Bull of Verstappen and McLaren of Lando Norris separating the drivers.
The only driver that could improve on Sainz's initial run in Q3 was Sainz when he improved from 1:16.055 to 1:15:946.
He was told over the radio of his pole with his race engineer saying, "What a lap."
Sainz quickly corrected, "Two laps."
Max Verstappen will start on the front row after a frustrating start to the season; before his deleted Q3 lap time, he had a poor performance in FP3 after an engine replacement Friday night.
"Yesterday, I barely did any laps," Verstappen told F1TV. "We’re playing a lot of catch up FP3 wasn’t really good. I was already under a lot of pressure to have a good qualifying, and then, of course, my lap time got taken away, which added a little more pressure, very happy to be on the front row. I honestly didn’t expect that to be possible."
Norris will start third on Sunday, one position behind Verstappen, who continues to pace behind in the race to the year's WDC. He secured the fastest lap in the first two qualifying rounds but couldn't carry the speed into the third round.
"I struggled to get a little bit more out of it in the final two laps," Norris told James Hinchcliffe. "Carlos and Max did good laps, especially Carlos. He’s been really quick all weekend."
Norris, who has had repeated bad starts when he starts on the front pole, is happy with starting third on a track that often creates trouble up front early. The McLaren driver is unsure who will have the real advantage tomorrow, with no one testing out the preferred race tire on a long run in practice.
"It’s tough to say," Norris continued. "None of us have done proper long runs on the tires that we’ll be on tomorrow."
The two Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, will start next to each other in fifth and sixth position. Russell's position in fifth is especially impressive since his car had to be rebuilt overnight after a brutal hit Friday evening in FP2.
The Haas of Kevin Magnussen will start in seventh position with his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who will also make it into Q3 and secure 10th. This is the second race in a row that both Haas' made Q3, as their updates after the fall break seem to be making the biggest among the mid-level teams.
Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon separated the two Haas drivers, with Albon's car also being rebuilt after a crash with Ollie Bearman in FP1.
There were a few early surprises in qualifying, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri not making it to Q3 for a Grand Prix for the first time this season. Piastri went wide in Q1, sending all four wheels past the white line and having his best lap time deleted. Piastri ran one more lap on the same tires but could not improve enough to make it into Q2; he will start 17th in Sunday's Grand Prix. Red Bull's Sergio Perez also failed to make it out of Q1 and will start 18th in his home race.
Q2 ended under a red flag when VCARB's Yuki Tsunoda ended up in the wall after sliding in Turn 12 while attempting to make the top 10. Tsunoda will start 11th, second best in the Red Bull family, as he continues the internal battle for the second Red Bull seat next year. His new teammate, Liam Lawson, will start next to him in 12th.
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