The Argentine Formula 1 driver, Franco Colapinto, did not manage to advance past Q1 and will start from the sixteenth position in the Mexican Grand Prix. Colapinto missed advancing to the next round of qualifying by just 151 thousandths, marking a time of 1:17.558. This is the second consecutive occasion that the Argentine, part of Williams, has been eliminated in the first qualifying session.
In contrast, his teammate, Thai Alexander Albon, had a good performance reaching Q3 and securing ninth place on the starting grid. Albon, who had been seventh in Q2 before an accident halted the session, now has a chance to score points after recent negative results in Singapore and the United States.
Regarding other surprises of the day, the Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr. achieved pole position with a spectacular time of 1:15.946 in Q3. Sainz, who recently finished second in the US GP and has one victory this season, will share the front row with Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and British Lando Norris (McLaren), who lead the drivers' championship in that order.
At the bottom of the grid are Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Mexican Sergio 'Checo' Pérez (Red Bull), who will start from seventeenth and eighteenth positions, respectively. The development of the race promises to be exciting, with battles on different fronts, including the fight for points between Norris and Verstappen at the top of the championship.
In summary, this is the starting order for the Mexican Grand Prix: 1. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari) 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3. Lando Norris (McLaren) 4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5. George Russell (Mercedes) 6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 9. Alexander Albon (Williams) 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) 11. Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) 12. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 13. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 15. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) 16. Franco Colapinto (Williams) 17. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 18. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 19. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 20. Guanyu Zhou (Sauber)
