Lando Norris hailed an “incredible” lap as he claimed pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix in a major boost to his championship hopes.
Norris blew the field away in Mexico City to claim his first pole since Belgium in July, with a lap of 1.15.586 to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole by 0.262 seconds.
His title rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri could manage only fifth and eighth respectively in what could prove a significant day in the title race.
Championship leader Piastri will start seventh due to a grid penalty for Williams’ Carlos Sainz but has been off the pace all weekend and was almost six tenths adrift of his team-mate’s pole pace.
Lewis Hamilton was third on another improved day for Ferrari, ahead of George Russell in fourth, and will hope for a first podium with the Scuderia on Sunday.
Norris surprised even himself with the lap he delivered, saying on the team radio: “Ah, what a lap. What a lap! Even I don’t know how I did that!”
He added after qualifying: “It was an incredible lap. There were a couple of places where I thought I messed up a touch.
“When I saw a 15.5 there was a big smile on my face. It was one of those laps where it all came together.
“It is not often this year I get that feeling in this car, despite how good it is.”
Verstappen has won three of the last four races to surge into title contention, now trailing Piastri by 40 points – down from 104 five races ago – and is 26 behind second-placed Norris with 141 points still to fight for.
He has five previous wins in Mexico and was favourite to land another on Sunday but did not have the pace to match Norris in qualifying and was almost five tenths adrift.
It was an even tougher day for Piastri, whose ailing title bid took another blow as a difficult weekend continued.
The Australian was slower than Norris in every corner, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, and was at a loss to explain his struggles.
“There’s just no pace which is a bit of a mystery,” Piastri told Sky Sports.
“It’s just this weekend and last weekend it’s felt like the pace hasn’t come.
“I’ll try my best (in the long run to turn one). That’s going to be an opportunity to make some progress forwards. We’ll see what I can do.”
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez boasts the longest run from pole to the turn one braking point on the F1 calendar and Norris expects a challenge from the Ferrari pair when the lights go out.
Verstappen was despondent over his chances in the race, saying: “I need people to retire in front of me to go ahead.”
But Norris believes his title rivals will make progress.
“You’re talking about two of the best drivers on the grid so I wouldn’t put it past them to come back through,” he added.
“I expect Oscar to come back through and race well, he normally does.
“Same with Max, when has Max ever not been on the attack? Hopefully I can stay ahead on lap one and these guys (Leclerc and Hamilton) can hold everyone else up.”
