Key moments
- Qualifying timesHow they finishedPreviewAll eyes on turn one...
- Race begins at 8pm GMT in Mexico City
Latest updates
Luke Slater
15 minutes to go until lights out
Mercedes cars are in place. They have dropped off the pace a little since their excellent run before the summer break.
📍 On the Grid pic.twitter.com/heccZ7bZSb
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 27, 2024
F1 driver head to head qualifying
A few close contests in there, no closer than at Alpine where the pair are dead level after 24 events (20 qualifying and four sprint qualifying). Undoubtedly Lewis Hamilton’s worst season when it comes to qualifying. Fernando Alonso too has lost a bit of his total supremacy over Lance Stroll.Not close at Red Bull, mind you... nor McLaren.
Strategy chat
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli are predicting that the best way to navigate the race is a one-stop, either medium to hard or hard to medium. A two-stopper is possible starting on the softs, then doing two stints on mediums. Soft to hard is also possible, but may not be that popular. Hopefully we see some variety in strategy. Last week in Austin a two-stopper turned into an easy one-stop race for many, with those pitting early very much compromised.
Verstappen and Perez are the only drivers to have two new sets of mediums. Other than that it is much of a muchness at the front when it comes to tyre choices: most have one new set of hards, one new and one used set of mediums at their disposal. With used softs, too.
How the rest of the calendar looks in 2024
After today’s race:
November 3: Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Interlagos
November 23: Las Vegas Grand Prix
December 1: Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail
December 8: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina
As I mentioned yesterday, Verstappen needs to be 53 points ahead after the sprint in Qatar –which does not seem too far off. Or, after the main race, just 27 points ahead of Norris (Leclerc still in mathematical contention).
He could also win the championship in Las Vegas if he leaves there with a 61-point lead or possibly even a 60-point one depending on how many race wins he and Norris get between now and then. Race wins is the first tie-breaker and Verstappen currently has seven to Norris’s three. If Verstappen wins today then Norris cannot beat eight, with just four rounds left.
Watch: The crash that ended Tsunoda’s Q2
And everyone else’s, for that matter.
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 26, 2024RED FLAG IN Q2! 🟥
Yuki Tsunoda finds the barriers 💥 pic.twitter.com/RuytNvvwxL
400 grands prix for Fernando Alonso
His 397th grand prix start, though. Here is his career in numbers.
Debut: 2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win: 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Race starts: 396
Wins: 32
Poles: 22
Championships: 2 (2005, 2006)
Teams driven for: Minardi, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine, Aston Martin
Of course, Alonso is more than just these numbers. Is there a driver – modern or otherwise – whose numbers do not tell the whole story of their abilities? Probably quite a few but 32 wins and (just) two championships does feel like an underachievement for a man of Alonso’s hefty talent.
A lot of that, of course, comes down to his reputation and making some bad decisions along the way. Still, a mightily impressive career who will go down as one of F1’s greatest talents. Would you put him in the top 10 of all time? Probably, yes.
Drivers championship standings
Everyone from Sainz up is in mathematical contention to win the drivers’ championship but given there are only 146 points left on the board and Sainz is 139 points behind with three other drivers between him and Verstappen… yeah, that isn’t happening is it?
As the races go on Norris’s hopes are becoming more and more theoretical too. Perhaps that has a plus side in taking each race as it comes, not that he has been talking his chance up or anything. Verstappen could also take the championship without winning any races in the second half of the season. The last time that happened was in 2009 with Brawn and Jenson Button.
Current constructor standings
As strange as it sounds looking at this table, it is now a two-way fight for the championship and Red Bull are not in it. Good news for Ferrari is that they start this race 1-4 whereas Red Bull are 2-18 and McLaren 3-17. A perfect chance for them to overtake Red Bull and eat into McLaren.
Marko speaks about Perez
No stranger to frank opinion, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko let fly about Perez and Tsunoda in their qualifying struggles yesterday to Sky Germany. Tsunoda did out-qualify team-mate Lawson but also binned it at the end of Q2.
On Perez he said: “I heard him on the radio complaining a lot about brake problems...but the hoped-for upturn that we all expected unfortunately didn’t materialise.” On Tsunoda: “He had a spin in Austin and now this crash in qualifying. We thought he had stabilised, but apparently now, when the pressure comes from Lawson, it’s noticeable.”
It is not a big leap to think that as long as Lawson keeps it out of the barriers and mostly ahead of Tsunoda then he will be in that Red Bull alongside Verstappen at the start of 2025. The problem is that is a big leap from someone who has done just a handful of races to going up alongside a man who has destroyed the confidence of almost every driver he has raced in the same team as.
I still think it’s mad they didn’t pick Carlos Sainz for next year when he was available. Perez’s poor form is the main reason why Red Bull are unlikely to win the constructors’ this year.
Pit-lane start for Ocon
He was due to line up 19th anyway but a replacement with a new energy store and control electronics without FIA approval means he will be required to start the 71-lap race from the pit lane.
Esteban will start today's #MexicoGP from the pitlane pic.twitter.com/XhbO9NGtVK
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) October 27, 2024
A couple of notable names out in Q1
Oscar Piastri failed to make it into Q3 for the first time this season (though he has failed to make it into SQ3 as he did in Austin). He put it down to a mistake he made on his first hot lap in Q1 which was deleted for track limits. He never regained the pace enough to get through after that.
Another, slightly less notable, eliminated driver was Sergio Perez. I pondered yesterday whether this was the lowest point of his career and it is hard to argue against that. In a car that is likely going to win the world drivers’ championship again, he has scored just 65 points since the Miami Grand Prix all the way back in early May.
There is very little argument for Red Bull keeping his services next year, despite his contract. He was unlucky in Baku when he was the better Red Bull driver but that is one race since Miami where he has come close to the required standard. Being behind Verstappen is one thing, but it is the distance that is worrying. More concerning though is the trend.
Times and classification after qualifying
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari 1:16.778
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull +0.225sec
- Lando Norris, McLaren +0.314sec
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.319sec
- George Russell, Mercedes +0.410sec
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes +0.705sec
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas +0.940sec
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine +0.946sec
- Alexander Albon, Williams +1.119sec
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas +1.419sec
- Yuki Tsunoda, RB 1:17.129
- Liam Lawson, RB 1:17.162
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin 1:17.168
- Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:17.294
- Valtteri Bottas, Sauber 1:17.817
- Franco Colapinto, Williams 1:17.558
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren 1:17.597
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull 1:17.611
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine 1:17.617
- Zhou Guanyu, Sauber 1:18.072
Good afternoon F1 fans
Welcome to our coverage for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix as it is officially know, but the Mexican Grand Prix to most. Not sure what I think about city rather than country names for races when there is no other race in that territory but here we are. It is hardly the worst thing in the world.
As has been the case for plenty of this season, yesterday’s qualifying session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was a good and largely unpredictable one. Oscar Piastri was fastest in FP3 but failed to make it out of Q1. Pierre Gasly was last in FP3 but made it into the top 10. And for much of the session Lando Norris looked like a shoo-in for pole position but could only manage third, 0.3sec or so behind polesitter Carlos Sainz and just shy of Max Verstappen’s time in second.
Why? Well, this circuit is a low-grip one where it is difficult to string a lap together and several drivers certainly failed in that regard yesterday. Sainz did not, though, with both of his Q3 times good enough for pole. He has just four races left for Ferrari after today until he moves to Williams in 2025 and they come at a time when the team are on the up. He can look at that two ways, I guess. Firstly, annoyance that he is moving, secondly he should be happy that he has a car capable of this at all as plenty of drivers would love to drive this Ferrari for just a couple of races.
Norris said he was happy with third, explaining that he believes he got the maximum from the car quite early and from then on it was about just maximising what was there rather than searching for what wasn’t. In any case, third is not such a bad place to be in Mexico City as the long run down to turn one with two cars ahead can be a significant aid. In fact, the man starting third has won here three times in the last four years.
Either way, it could be an interesting first lap. Norris and Verstappen clashed on track twice last week in Austin and it may well happen again here. Certainly the opening section of the track invites it. Norris probably should forget that he is in a championship battle with Verstappen and just race as he sees fit. The 57-point deficit he has to Verstappen makes his challenge almost theoretical at this point, given that Red Bull seem to have overcome the worst of their car issues.
Anyway, the race begins at 8pm GMT and we will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and action and reaction from the race.