Here's the thing about a truly wild qualifying session: it can give you hope that the machine simply doesn't deserve. Lando Norris will start the Mexico City Grand Prix from sixth on the grid after crashing back down to earth in Q3, forced to admit that McLaren are simply too slow.
That reality check hurt all the more because of what came just moments before. Norris had shown genuine front-running pace across the weekend, going second fastest on Friday, topping FP3, and then blitzing Q2 with what he straight-up called a 'magical' lap where every single element clicked into place. But replicating that kind of magic twice in a row? Impossible. Once that Q2 session ended, the Brit knew what was coming.
It's too difficult, especially when I just look at the onboards from others, it baffles me how we can be quick sometimes,
“I don't think anything slipped away,” Norris said, looking back on the final pole shootout. “I think just the lap I did was pretty phenomenal in the car that we have. I think it shows also with where Oscar is and the struggles, we've been having how difficult it is to put just a lap together in this car, so I'm pretty happy with a P6, honestly.”
Indeed, team mate Oscar Piastri had a brutal afternoon, dumped out in Q2 and left down in 13th on the grid to underline just how knife-edged the McLaren's handling really is. Norris explained the razor-thin margins of his machine with startling honesty, noting how a sudden headwind in Turn 12 gained him a vital one and a half tenths on his hero lap, only for the rear to snap away the very next time he tried the exact same entry speed.
“It's too difficult, especially when I just look at the onboards from others, it baffles me how we can be quick sometimes,” he added, perfectly capturing the unpredictable beast he has to drive. When pressed on where the stopwatch keeps bleeding away from them against their rivals, the answer was brutal and comprehensive.
“Every corner,” Norris said. “I mean, just look at the GPS. You'll see how bad we are in Sector 1, Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3. It's like two-tenths every single lap. If we're two-tenths off in the first three corners, it's impossible that you think we can even be close to the rest of the lap. I think the only corner I'm good at is Turn 7. That's it.”
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