Winners and losers from the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying

McLaren is back on top with Lando Norris snagging pole position in Mexico, while teammate Oscar Piastri and upcoming title rival Max Verstappen will start further down the grid.

These are PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from qualifying at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, taking place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Lando Norris

It’s pole position for Lando Norris — his first since the Belgian Grand Prix back in late July, and a critical step in reasserting his position in the fight for the F1 2025 championship.

A clearly pleased Norris called his final flying lap “one of those laps where you don’t really know what happened,” the first of the weekend to crack the 1:15 mark on one of F1’s most challenging circuits. Making his performance all the more impressive is the fact that he was one of nine drivers who sat out FP1 in order to pass the reigns to a rookie, as well as the fact that he felt like he made multiple mistakes on that final flyer.

As things currently stand, Norris sits 14 points behind Piastri in the drivers’ championship. Anything can happen in the race, of course, but if Norris is able to win the race, Piastri will need to finish the race fourth or higher to maintain his lead.

If you’re Lando Norris, things are looking quite rosy for you at the moment.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

Championship leader Oscar Piastri seems frankly perplexed as to where his pace has gone, and his seventh-place starting position highlights just how challenging he’s found his McLaren of late.

Piastri has been off the pace all weekend when compared to Norris, but he told media that “everything feels normal” with the MCL39, which makes that performance deficit feel all the more frustrating — especially since several gremlins that the Aussie believed to be Austin specific have made their way to Mexico City as well.

And, as pointed out above, if Norris wins on Sunday, Piastri is going to have to finish fourth or higher to maintain his championship lead. It’s possible that Piastri has a car better suited to long-run performance than single-lap pace, but as things stand, it’s looking very likely we could see a changing of the metaphorical guard this weekend when it comes to the title fight.

Winner: Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari sits just seven points in arrears of Mercedes in a fierce battle for second place in the 2025 constructors’ championship, but the tables could very well be turned after the checkered flag tomorrow — at least, if Ferrari’s qualifying pace translates into race pace.

Charles Leclerc will line up on the front row alongside Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton will be starting from third just behind. George Russell is sure to put up a strong fight from fourth, and Kimi Antonelli feels he can make the most of his sixth-place start, but Ferrari will have the jump into the first turn.

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Loser: Alex Albon

Williams’ pace has come and gone all weekend in Mexico City, and it’s been Alex Albon who has fallen victim to the wildest swings of performance thanks in large part to issues with both his power unit and his brakes. As he put it to media, it’s been similar to “extinguishing fires all weekend.”

The result was a disappointing exit in Q1 and a 17th-place start on the grid after Friday saw him cresting the top 10 in practice. It’ll be a difficult run to the points from there.

Winner: Carlos Sainz

On the other side of the Williams coin is Carlos Sainz Jr., who managed to power through plenty of challenges in practice to take a seventh-place starting position in Mexico City.

Despite a few struggles, the Spanish driver opted to focus on the positives of his performance, which he branded as being “one of my best qualifyings of the year, if not my best lap of the year.” The pace was such that he felt confident he could have made it through both Q1 and Q2 with just a single flying lap — a very different experience to that of his teammate.

Of course, there is one major downside: Sainz qualified seventh, but he’ll be starting from 12th on the grid due to a lingering five-place grid penalty following contact in Austin. Still, his pace in qualifying for Mexico City really highlights the way Sainz has managed to find performance behind the wheel of the Williams.

Loser: Liam Lawson

He may have had a strong Q1, but it all fell apart for Liam Lawson in Q2 when he failed to get a first lap on the board and then struggled on a new tire for the second lap.

Speaking to media, the Kiwi driver said he felt like the car had been in a good place throughout the weekend, but that the VCARB team chased performance a little bit too far in the wrong direction, leaving them struggling when it mattered most.

With Isack Hadjar qualifying in the top 10, it’s clear that Racing Bulls had what it took to secure a strong starting position. Unfortunately, a tough Q2 means Lawson is starting from 15th on the grid.

Winner: Oliver Bearman

Oliver Bearman handed over his Haas to Ryo Hirakawa in Free Practice 1 and could only manage to set the 17th quickest time in both FP2 and FP3. But come qualifying, the Briton put it all on the table to launch into Q3 and snag a 10th place — which will be a promotion to ninth place on the grid following Carlos Sainz’s penalty.

Speaking to media after the session, Bearman sounded somewhat surprised by his qualifying speed, if only because Haas’ long-run race pace stood out as the highlight of the weekend. But despite the setbacks, he’ll line up for Sunday’s race in a great position to score points.

Loser: Alpine

With Pierre Gasly claiming Friday was his worst session of the season and Franco Colapinto struggling to ascend from the bottom of the timing charts all weekend long, it was another difficult qualifying session for Alpine, with its drivers lining up 18th and 20th, respectively.

Gasly told media that the Alpine is struggling with balance, which makes it almost impossible to string each corner together in such a way as to produce speed. Meanwhile, Colapinto quite literally caught air while bouncing off the kerbs in Q1.

“Nothing is going in the direction we need,” the Argentinian concluded. And that most certainly sounds like the story of the season for a team that has struggled to find consistency.

Read next: Mexican GP: Norris delivers hammer blow as Piastri and Verstappen suffer setbacks