Verstappen blames Norris traffic for costing him pole at Mexico City GP qualifying

Max Verstappen was tracking a lap good enough for pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday before traffic from Lando Norris derailed his final qualifying run, leaving him to start fifth on Sunday’s grid.

The Red Bull driver was almost a tenth clear of eventual poleman Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark at the end of the second sector, having posted a purple opening sector and matched Hamilton through the middle portion of the lap. The lap fell apart in the stadium section. Dirty air from the cars ahead at Turn 12 cost Verstappen time, and he then found himself threading between Isack Hadjar and Norris into Turn 13. Norris moved to the right in an attempt to clear the way, but the manoeuvre disrupted Verstappen’s braking reference and he locked up in the tight Foro Sol left-hander, forcing him to abort.

“I arrived to Turn 12 and I see a car slow in front of me, so that’s already where you then lose time with the dirty air,” Verstappen said. “And then I see also the car parking on the right, which in that corner you don’t want, because I arrive to Turn 13 already doing a bit of a different line, you lose your reference, because you always have your references where you brake, and there’s a car, so you cannot see it. When you are of course on the limit in qualifying and you lose all these kind of things, and the angle of the car is a bit different, that makes you lock-up.”

Verstappen’s first qualifying run had been good enough for fourth, but a one-place grid penalty — carried over from a clash with Liam Lawson during second practice at the same stadium-section corners — drops him behind Kimi Antonelli to fifth on the grid.

Despite the frustration, Verstappen acknowledged that his car’s pace had improved steadily across the session. “The grip was awful in practice, so it only got better for me in qualifying,” he said. “We were in the fight for pole, my final lap was up there for pole, for sure, but unfortunately we couldn’t finish the lap.”

Looking ahead to the race, Verstappen warned that engine temperatures will be a significant concern if he is unable to make early progress through the field. Running in traffic at altitude in Mexico City is known to stress power units, and Verstappen noted that even the long run to Turn 1 at the start would not fully compensate for the disadvantage of beginning outside the front two rows.

“Everything is going to be hot, we know that, but it’s probably more about how the engine will respond to when it is running really hot,” he said. “Maybe we haven’t really operated there a lot, but I guess everyone will be in the same situation.”