Here's the thing about Saturday qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez: speed can vanish in a heartbeat. Oscar Piastri will line up a disappointing P13 on the grid for the Mexico City Grand Prix after a shock elimination in Q2. It was a wild swing in form for the McLaren driver, especially after looking comfortably quick by taking fourth fastest in the opening phase of the session.
Yet the second knockout phase proved to be an entirely different beast. Piastri found himself on the sidelines early after aborting a late effort and failing to improve on his subsequent run, managing only the 13th quickest time overall. To make matters worse in the McLaren garage, team mate Lando Norris topped Q2, with the reigning World Champion ultimately set to start from P6 for Sunday's race.
Now just try and make up as many spots as I can and try and get into the points, that's the biggest thing,
Over the radio, Piastri immediately complained about a complete lack of rear grip on his tyres, and he was still entirely at a loss when speaking to reporters after the session.
"No idea. The new set of tyres we put on in Q2 just had no grip," said Piastri. "Not sure what happened there but the balance was completely different somehow. I don't really know what happened, I'm sure we'll have a look but just very bizarre."
This latest setback compounds a difficult stretch for the Australian, who has struggled to repeat his form from last season under the new-for-2026 regulations. He has failed to win a race for more than a year and has been without a podium since Miami back in May. Meanwhile, McLaren sit tied for P3 in the Teams' Championship standings alongside Red Bull, putting extra pressure on every single race weekend.
Looking ahead to Sunday, Piastri's ambitions are purely about damage limitation as he tries to salvage something from the weekend.
"Now just try and make up as many spots as I can and try and get into the points, that's the biggest thing," said Piastri. "Just try and understand what happened first."
F1
F1
F1
