Norris surprises with pole, Verstappen struggles
Qualifying in Mexico produced an unexpected result. Lando Norris took pole position. The difference was 0.262 seconds. Max Verstappen got no further than P5. He complained of lack of grip throughout the session.
Friday showed a different picture: Verstappen was very fast over one lap, with Norris following close behind. During the night between Friday and Saturday, both teams changed their set-ups and that ultimately determined the result.
Key change in set-ups
Red Bull deliberately chose slightly less responsive front wheel behaviour. They thus wanted to reduce peak torque on the rear tyres. McLaren did the opposite. They placed more weight on the nose. That gave more front end feel over one fast lap. That choice paid off in qualifying.
- Red Bull: less sharp front end to save rear tyres.
- McLaren: a little more on the nose to allow a fast qualifying lap.
- Result: Norris took pole, Verstappen lacked grip on qualifying day.
Tyre behaviour: core and surface
A big cause lies with the behaviour of the tyres. The 2025 Pirelli front tyre is stiffer than before. That makes it harder to find right balance. There are two main parts in a tyre: the core and the tread. The core has to warm up first. That takes several laps. In the first qualifying laps, grip comes mainly from the still cold tread. The core is then too stiff to work well with.
If the tread heats up too quickly before the core yields, the surface overheats. That causes rapid degradation. That is exactly what Red Bull saw in the long runs: over one fast lap, the car was very fast. But in race simulations, the rear tyres died quickly due to high peak loads.
Why McLaren benefited
McLaren proved more flexible at this circuit. The team keeps the temperature of the rear tyres much better under control. This allows the car to be tuned a little tighter without the rear tyres breaking down quickly. That flexibility gave the McLaren an extra window in which a perfect lap was possible.
Moreover, McLaren could use smaller cooling slots. So the car suffered less from thin air at altitude. Aerodynamics remained more effective. The combination of cooling, tyre temperature and rear wheel compliance gave McLaren the advantage that Red Bull did not have.
Mechanical reactions and track details
There was also a marked difference in how the car reacted mechanically over uneven surfaces. At the outcome of Turn 9 there is a bump that unbalanced the Red Bull more often than not. The McLaren remained more stable there. That extra smoothness helps save tyres and maintain confidence at high speed.
Impact on riders
The driving required at this circuit requires a lot of shifting and improvisation. Lando has shown more confidence in this recently. Oscar Piastri struggled again. He was 0.6 seconds slower than Norris and sat on P8. The team indicated that Oscar is still learning how to exploit the car when grip is low and the car slides a lot.
Between Norris and Piastri, the two Ferraris finished, with Charles Leclerc just ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari proved several tenths quicker than the Red Bull. Carlos Sainz delivered a strong lap in the Williams, but received a five-place penalty due to an incident in the previous race. As a result, he will start from position 12.
What this weekend means
Mexico shows how small the window is between perfect and bad tyre temperatures. On circuits like this, details weigh extra heavily. Set-up choices, cooling and tyre temperature determine the difference between pole and midfield.
Red Bull still has speed over one lap. But McLaren has more flexibility in tyre temperature and cooling. That flexibility can be decisive on this kind of track configuration.
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