2023 Mexico City Grand Prix – qualifying "A tricky qualifying here in Mexico City with mixed results"

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Saturday, 28 October

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Image
FP3 1m18.392s (+0.505s)  22 laps 5th
Q1 1m18.241s (Softs)   2nd
Q2 1m17.874s (Softs)   5th
Q3 1m17.623s (Softs)   7th

“Seventh on the grid. The pace looked good early on, we had a decent Q1, a decent Q2, we just struggled in Q3 with grip for some reason. We’ll have a look and see what we can do tomorrow. We’re still in contention for strong points, and this circuit always throws up opportunities.” 

Image
FP3 1m18.480s (+0.593s)  21 laps 8th
Q1 1m19.227s (Softs)   19th

“Today’s result is obviously not what we wanted. An issue with the car on the first run meant we didn’t set the banker lap we needed. I made a mistake on my second run, and didn’t get a chance to complete my third lap due to the yellow flag, but that’s the way it is sometimes. It’s frustrating as the car was good and the speed was there. I’ll bounce back tomorrow.” 

Image

“A tricky qualifying here in Mexico City with mixed results. Oscar completed a strong qualifying, building through Q1 and Q2. We thought we had decent pace for Q3, but we didn’t see the step forward in pace that we would have liked. Nevertheless, Oscar lines up in a strong position to score points tomorrow.  

“On Lando’s side, we had an issue on the first run, which we are reviewing. This meant we couldn’t put a banker on the timing sheet on the Medium tyre. From there our session was compromised by an imperfect lap from Lando when on Soft tyres and then by the yellow flag on the final lap at an unfortunate time. This sequence of events prevented us from progressing to Q2.  

“Our objective for tomorrow remains the same, to score good points. Oscar starts in a good position, and we know the pace in the car merits more than 18th on the grid for Lando, so will aim to move forward and into the points. Tonight we’ll analyse the data, prepare our plan for the Grand Prix and get ready for an exciting race.”