Lando Norris vows to win Mexico City Grand Prix and pile pain on title rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri | F1 News

Lando Norris vowed to take a decisive win at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday night, with his main rivals baffled by their lack of pace.

The Briton produced the most dominant qualifying performance of his career to take pole position from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with Max Verstappen starting fifth and championship leader Oscar Piastri seventh after qualifying nearly six tenths slower than his teammate.

Norris trails Piastri by 14 points in the drivers’ standings, and if he wins on Sunday, his McLaren teammate will need to finish at least fourth to retain the lead in the title hunt.

Norris was full of confidence as he looked forward to Sunday’s race.

“I’m here to win,” he said.

“I’ll be looking forward. I know I’ll have some fast players behind me.

“It’s a long distance until Turn 1. The race pace from Ferrari is usually very strong.

“I’m expecting a fight, and I’m not expecting it to be easy. I’m looking forward and I’ll see how much I can win.”

Lack of speed is ‘a mystery’, says Piastri

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told Sky Sports F1 after the race that Norris was faster than Piastri in “almost every corner” at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Australian driver, who is now in danger of relinquishing the title lead he has held since April, cut a frustrated figure on Saturday evening and insisted he was baffled by his lack of pace.

“Everything seems to be fine, there is no pace that is a bit ambiguous,” he said. Sky Sports F1.

“It was pretty much the same gap all weekend, so we’ll take a look at where things were going wrong. Obviously it’s a bit frustrating.

“Not much has changed in terms of how I feel in the car. Only this weekend and last weekend I felt like the pace wasn’t there.

“I’m not 100 percent sure why yet, so we’ll do some digging.”

Piastri’s best chance to make up places in the long run may come until Turn 1, and he will be hoping to get a hold of Qatar as he lines up behind Norris, Hamilton and Verstappen on the left side of the grid.

“This will be an opportunity to make some progress forward,” he acknowledged. “We’ll see what I can do.”

Verstappen: Everything we tried did not work

Verstappen entered the weekend in the best form of the three title hopefuls and was looking to repeat last week’s stunning weekend in Austin and make further progress to close the 40-point gap between him and the drivers’ standings.

But like Piastri, he suffered a frustrating lack of pace with Red Bull unable to compete with the rampant Norris.

“If we knew, we would change it, and unfortunately we don’t,” he said. Sky Sports F1.

“We tried a lot of things and it wasn’t good. It’s not about not trying, it’s about not finding it.

“We went into qualifying to try something again and we didn’t get it right in some corners. It made it better in some places, but in other areas it was more difficult and it didn’t allow me to put pressure.

“I knew from the first round of Division I that it wasn’t going to go well. Basically, everything we tried didn’t really work.”

However, he does not share the same optimism as Piastri about his ability to make up the first corner.

“There’s really no recovery drive when you don’t have pace,” he added.

“I need people to retire in front of me to move forward.

“Every lap I did this weekend was not good. In the short or long term I never felt it in the window and that will not suddenly change tomorrow for the better.”

Sky Sports F1 schedule for Mexico City GP

Sunday 26 October
6.30pm: Sunday Grand Prix: preparation for the Mexico City Grand Prix*
8pm: Mexico City Grand Prix*
10pm: Checkered Flag: Mexico City Prize Reaction

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

The thrilling Formula 1 title race continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday with the lights out at 8pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime