2026 Mexico City Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell

21 hours ago

3 min read

With the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez being notorious for its difficulty to overtake, Qualifying was pretty crucial on All Hallows' Eve ahead of the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso, Ryo Hirakawa, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, and Valtteri Bottas were the six slowest drivers! Despite being outqualified by his teammate yet again, Alex Albon called his lap “the best of the season”, whilst Fernando Alonso was absolutely fuming over an engine failure that cost him a chance to fight for a spot in Q3! After Esteban Ocon was shockingly dropped by Haas earlier in the day, Ryo Hirakawa qualified 19th in his debut F1 Qualifying session, ahead of a frustrated Lance Stroll, whilst Sergio Perez was over 7 tenths clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas in an all-Cadillac back row! Lewis Hamilton topped Q1 for Ferrari, with Isack Hadjar close behind for Red Bull!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, and Carlos Sainz all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! It’s one thing for Audi to consistently get one car in P11, but I particularly feel for Nico Hulkenberg on this one as he was less than 6 tenths off the fastest time (in Q2)! Despite being comfortably slower than his teammate, Franco Colapinto was still able to outqualify Oscar Piastri by 6 thousandths of a second, as the Aussie failed to make Q3 for the first time in over 2 years! After many issues across the weekend, Gabriel Bortoleto could only manage 14th, whilst Oliver Bearman was miles clear of Carlos Sainz for P15! Lando Norris was on top for McLaren in Q2, with a tenth and a half separating him from the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a 1:16.514 was enough for Lewis Hamilton to achieve his first Grand Prix Pole Position for Ferrari! After a couple of Sprint Poles, Lewis finally came up clutch on a Saturday Q3 session, taking his first GP Pole since Hungary 2023! George Russell will start alongside his fellow Brit on the front row, missing out on Pole by just 9 thousandths of a second (after a wonderful lap of his own), whilst Charles Leclerc once again fell short in P3! Max Verstappen felt like he got blocked on his final run, with that combined with his 1-place grid penalty (for a Practice incident with Liam Lawson) meaning he will start from 5th, with Champion-elect Andrea Kimi Antonelli moving up a place! After a brilliant lap in Q2, Lando Norris could only manage P6 after going a tenth slower in Q3, whilst Isack Hadjar seemed very annoyed all afternoon! Liam Lawson once again qualified best of the rest, albeit he was later disqualified from the session, meaning teammate Arvid Lindblad will start from P8, one place above Pierre Gasly!