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in practice. Conversely, Lando Norris has had a strong morning, second only to his teammate

Oscar Piaestri in FP3. There is an intense energy in Mexico City, so who can harness

it in the second leg of a demanding triple header? Who can master this high altitude

low grip track? It's just under an hour to go until qualified for the Mexico City Grand

Prix. Hello and a very warm welcome to the stadium section where the grandstands are

filling up Danica Patrick Martin, running alongside me. And it just creates this cold

run of noise. I mean, what a place to go racing. Well, yeah, it's like a stadium,

of course. That's why we call it that seats going all the way around. And of course,

the loudest entertainment inside of a stadium that you could possibly get, these Formula

1 cars ripping around here. This is a really cool facility. And also, this is where the

celebration is at the end. The winner will stand up there on the podium. I mean, this

is such a cool scene. It rivals Monza for podiums, doesn't it? It's pretty impressive.

What about the track itself though? We're a very high altitude over 2,000 metres above

sea level. How tough is it on the drivers and the cars? It's a really good track. I

would want to sit in that seat on the top corner up there because you can actually see the

pit straight and the start from there as well. All of the stadium would be a wonderful place

to watch the Grand Prix from because it's a track with slow corners, medium corners,

fast corners and the fastest straight on the calendar of Formula 1. So it's got a little

bit of everything as you're on your right with the high altitude here. It's got some

special challenges with downforce and power and cooling especially. And the fastest cars

at the moment, it would seem the McLarens because Oscar Piaestri, when quickest in FP3

from his teammates, Lando Norris, Lando had been complaining about the car not feeling

great yesterday, Danica. But today it seemed to come to him. Just how much confidence will

they have going into qualifying? I have to imagine they're feeling pretty good and they're

feeling pretty good about their ability to take a car that has little issues and improve

on that through the weekend. That's not the easiest thing to do. They don't get a lot

of runs to be able to make all these changes and so you have to make the right ones. So

it's super impressive what McLarens been able to do each and every weekend from dominating

throughout the weekend to improving. So yes, between Bernie and I, we called Lando and Oscar

for the poll. I called Oscar. He was fastest in FP3 so we'll see. Let's see what happens

in contrast though. Red Bull struggling. It doesn't seem that their car is compliant.

Max obviously had those engine issues. Yes, it seems like he sorted those out taking another

one from the pool, but he's not happy about the grip levels either, is he? Absolutely

not. And by the way, it looks like it looked as if Ferrari were easily the team to beat,

didn't it through the free practice? But as soon as the new soft tyres went on, McLaren

came to the floor and we had Max on the radio saying, I've got no grip at the front. I've

got no grip at the rear. And then just down there at turn 12, Sergio went straight on

and I can't find grip on the front axle under braking. So Max said something like this doesn't

work as if they were trying something new that I'm sure they'll be taking off.

OK, well, now seems a good time to recap how things look in the standings. So the gap

between Max, the Stappen and Lando Norris is 57 points in the Dutchman's favour. There

are 146 points still on the table in the remaining five Grand Prix and two sprints, which means

that Lando Norris has to outscore Max to Stappen by 11.4 points at every race weekend until

the end of the season. If he is to take his maiden world title. Charlotte Lai is still

in the reckoning too mathematically at least. He would have to win every race though with

the fastest lap with Max coming fifth or lower in order to achieve it.

Argentinian sensation Franco Colopinto is impressed with five points from his first four

races, Neff 1 and 2 points to the Liam Lawson in Austin.

It's hotting up in the constructors, just 48 points separating the top three teams.

The sensational one two for Ferrari in Austin has really pulled them back into contention,

just eight points behind Red Bull. It is still McLaren out in front though on 544. It was

a big weekend for Haas in the state. They've overtaken RB for sixth and Williams have gone

ahead of Alpies for eight.

Now a huge point of contention from Austin, which impacted both the championships, was

this battle for position between Max and Lando Norris on lap 52. There have been some developments

overnight with McLaren's appeal being rejected. But here were the drivers' thoughts coming

into the weekend.

I think the fact of getting off your brakes to achieve just the rolling of being headed

apex, no matter how wide you run on the exit, is incorrect and I don't think that's how

racing should be. Of course that's the running at the minute and that's just what you've

got to deal with.

So I think there needs to be some tweaks, but at the same time, Max races harder, that's

inevitable, it's something I expect. I just don't think I was in the wrong last weekend.

The end of the day you cannot overtake outside of the white line. That's a very clear rule

and I've been done by it myself. So I don't understand why then suddenly now we need to

ask and scream for changes in the regulation. You know, when it's been like that forever,

I mean, I grew up go-karting F3, F1, you know that you cannot pass outside of the white

line. It's as simple as that.

Not that I should not go to penalty and he should. I just don't think any of us should

go to penalty. I've tried to overtake. I've done it in a way that probably isn't the best

way to do it. But he also didn't defend or attack, whichever one you want to say it is,

in the way that also plays by the rules, you know. So we were both in the wrong and therefore

I think that's racing.

I don't make the rules first of all. I just follow the rules as much as I can. Of course,

sometimes you get caught out with it. I mean, we've had that in the past. Yeah, I just

implement the rules and play with them.

With Max, it's always at the limit of the regulations. Sometimes it goes a little bit

over, but yeah, that's what makes Formula One exciting. Those fights makes it exciting.

I think if Max stays on the track, then yes, it's fair. But I think when both cars go

off the track, it's, you know, I think for me, you either need to give penalties to both

drivers or penalty to neither of them.

I think it is very tricky the way the rules are written nowadays to find someone to blame

in that scenario. The way it happened. And at the same time, there were a lot of penalties

that I think we need to sit down with the FIA to understand exactly how we ended up

going into those conclusions.

Max clearly breaks too late. He didn't make the corner. He went off and he probably should

have been penalized, but there isn't a line or anything of a regulation to do so other

than say in track limits. So I think there should be an extra line in there if you outbreak

yourself.

Some people are talking about it now because it's the same thing happened to me in 2021.

And if you take Brazil into account, for example, when a break in your head, but then the car

just comes off the brakes and doesn't make the corner and you have to go wide, then they

say you both went wide, but you had no choice because you had to avoid closure. I mean,

there definitely needs to be something done about it because it's happening a lot now.

If there was a gravel trap on the exit of that corner or grass or something, neither

the driver goes there and we're not having this discussion. And this has been the case

for many years now.

So Martin, we've heard from the drivers. We've got the 3D animation builder to try and

illustrate just how it unfolded. So on the rundown from the straight to words turn 12.

At this point, Lando Norris has got in front. We could see from the onboard and from the

3D animation. McLaren think now, effectively, Max Verstappen becomes the overtaker. What

do you reckon?

That was my point. I made that point in my column for Skyf1 on the Monday after the race.

He is substantially ahead. And I think that then makes Verstappen the overtaker. But we're

told that the overview is the entire event is just one. So it seems as if the Lando Norris

remained the overtaker through the whole process.

Yeah. So the stewards viewed that as being the case. And if we look at it from Max on

board, this is the point where he's come off the brake pedal really, hasn't he? He's

released the brake pressure because all he's trying to do is race to that apex point.

He knows if he gets to that apex first, then at that point, he's in the pound seat really.

And that's because of the way the regulations are written. And we'll use again the 3D just

to illustrate from up above. When we got down to that apex there, at that point, the

step in was the car in front of just draw a line just to illustrate that there. And

the reason was Martin, because the FIA use these guidelines or stewards use these guidelines

that have been created in collaboration has to be said with the GPDA, the Grand Prix

Drive Association. And it clearly states that the car overtaking must be fully alongside

the car front. And Max knew that. And that's why he was racing the apex, wasn't it?

And that's, you're tempted to do that all the time. First Orlando left him too much

space as he did, in fact, in the very first corner of the Grand Prix, a massive invitation.

Max will always take that invitation and did so on that occasion. It's not always easy

to define the apex of any given corner, especially a much longer, faster one. But on this occasion

at turn 12, you can and you're absolutely right. But critically, Max Verstappen did not

manage to keep his car under control and stay on the racetrack.

That's right. However, another flaw is nowhere does it say that the car being overtaken has

to stay within track limits. It says that the overtaking car must be able to make the

corner of the track limits, which was, in this case, Lando. And that was a key definition,

because they always classified Lando as the overtaker and not Max. The other point is,

under the guidelines for overtaking on the outside, it doesn't say anything about forcing

another car off the track. If I switch to the guidelines for an overtaking move on the inside,

it quite clearly says you cannot force your rival off the track. And I think that is where

it's gotten a bit tricky and the drivers would like this evaluated.

Well, it conflicts, doesn't it? You've got the International Sporting Code, the Sporting

Regulations, these guidelines, the race directors' final instructions, and just common sense

let them race motor racing, they don't work together as a unit.

And things were applied, not just for that incident we talked about there, but also George

Russell versus Fountree Borta. I was watching at home and I thought at the time, this was

a harsh penalty for Russell, because he's gone down the inside. At that point, you know,

he's clearly won the corner. Fountree is always going to end up behind him. But he's then

been given a penalty for forcing Borta off the track and got a five-second penalty.

What did you reckon? I thought it was too harsh and it doesn't work. If you win the corner,

you're on the inside, it's up to your rival who you're passing to yield. He's lost that

corner. And so therefore, there's massive inducement for the driver being overtaken,

just to hit the throttle, go around the outside and get your overtaker. A penalty,

doesn't make sense. No, and one thing though, we have to say, is Norris passing around the

outside off the track limits there. That was a slam dunk. To me, you can't do that, we

know that. And really, so he did deserve to get something for that. And questionably,

they should have given the position back because Verstappen went off the track, they thought

that was even Stevens. Two wrongs, don't make a right. And that was a slam dunk way off the

track, in fact, taking a lasting advantage as it's described. And finally, let's just go to the

start of the race because a lot of fans were asking about lap one, turn one as well. But the

stewards take a different view on the anything that happens on the opening lap, isn't it? They

do because they know that cars are going to be three or four wide, especially on a track like

this. There will be incidents. I think at least five cars were wide in the first corner. And

they treat it with more leniency all the way through the first lap from race control through

to the stewards. And that is why he didn't take a penalty there, as he didn't take a penalty in

Las Vegas in the first corner last year either. So we know, and we've heard other drivers saying

that if you put grass or gravel down there, a lot of these issues go away. But there are cost

reasons, there's reasons that are on motorbike racing that you can't do it. We know that's the

answer. But we've also got to improve the way we go racing when we don't have gravel, right?

Absolutely. The tracks are the problem. If it's easy to run off track and gain and

if you should always be penalized for going off track. And a little strip of gravel, as we saw

in Austria, works, but big gravel traps don't work. Cars get marooned. They're out of the

Grand Prix. We don't want that. Then you need vehicles and people to clear that away. So safety

cars, we don't want those either. It just doesn't work. There needs to be a better solution.

All right. Thank you very much. Natalie, back to you.

Thank you, gentlemen. Right. It was a sensational win for Charlotte Clare last weekend in Austin.

And earlier this week, Rachel Brooks sat down with a Ferrari star to discuss it.

And that's my boy, another win. Let's go.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I always say I'll believe in it until it's mathematically impossible. We've got quite a few races

where we should be, I hope, competitive. So I hope we can take advantage of that closer

gap to the McLaren and to overtake the Red Bull also.

The crowd are expected. This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold. It is high speed. It is high intensity.

Hamilton going deep to the inside, bites his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again, round goes Sonoda. Maxis Dabin wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Welcome back to the bustling pit lane here in Mexico City, where, yeah, it's going off with a Ferrari fans.

Still celebrating what was the sublime victory for Charlotte Clare last weekend in Austin.

And Rachel Brooks sat down with him earlier this week to hear how he did it.

He's the lone star at the second of the Americas this afternoon.

Charlotte Clare wins the US Grand Prix.

That's my boy, Hannah Nguyen.

I'm really happy with today. One, two for the team. We put a hard dream for her better.

Where did that win come from? What can you and the team put it down to?

You've kind of pinpointed only one thing. I think it's the result of quite a few months of hard work

and obviously bringing grades after grades. We didn't have, I mean, this year there was a very specific

part of the season where it was very difficult to assess our grades because we were going to very specific tracks,

like Baku, like Monza, like Singapore is and it was making it difficult for us to really see the progress.

However, we knew that Austin would be a real test.

We also know that we have been historically quite strong in Austin, so we can't get carried away too much

and it doesn't mean it would be the rest like this for the rest of the season.

So it comes from the hard work, great strategy, good start.

So how are the celebrations? Because if that's the culmination of all this hard work fine, then he's showing itself on the track.

What was it like for the team to celebrate that one too?

I mean, the celebration worked quite, we're not crazy. I mean, we had a good time on the track.

The evening we regrouped all together, but there wasn't any craziness whatsoever.

It's a triple header and it's quite a tiring one. Obviously we are getting to the end of the season.

But very quickly I moved on to this race already in order to be fully ready and hopefully have the same result.

How much has this invigorated your challenge for this driver's title? Because you're back in it.

You closed the gap by 12 points, you're 22 behind. It's between the three of you now, right?

I always say I'll believe in it until it's mathematically impossible.

But you've also got to be realistic and when you do a step back and obviously look at the standing,

I am fully aware that it will not only require us doing extremely well,

but it will only require some luck obviously and Max especially to have some problems.

I don't wish that on anybody, but obviously we've got to focus on ourselves,

tries to do the best job possible and if at the end of the year we surprisingly win the driver's championship.

It will be incredible, but to be completely honest, the title will be difficult.

The second place with Lando is possible, but I still believe that maybe they didn't put everything together in Austin,

but they still have an extremely strong car. So we'll see where we are consistently over the rest of the season.

The constructors is on the table for you guys though, isn't it? Because both of you are fighting up there together at the front

and the other teams have suffered for that. There have been a few places between their drivers.

Yes, the constructors are a lot more possible. Of course, still things need to go really right for us in order to win it,

but it's a much more achievable target compared to the driver's championship

and we'll do absolutely everything in order to do so.

It can swing one way or the other very very quickly. We've seen it either in Singapore, for McLaren or for us in Austin,

so we need to be on it. We've got quite a few races where we should be, I hope, competitive,

so I hope we can take advantage of that closer gap to the McLaren and to take the Red Bull also.

Have you seen the McLander incident? Have you seen the penalty for that or had any opinion on it?

Obviously everybody is trying to do their best and it's very difficult because there will never be one rule for every specific scenario,

but we've got to make sure that we are all in line with the way we can race,

and I felt like maybe the penalties were a bit on the other side last weekend and that they were given a little bit too easily.

We've got to look into it and try to improve that.

Just finally then, this weekend, this car looks like, if you look at the slow corners, the tracks we've got coming up,

it looks like this car is the one to be, pretty much from here to the end of the season, maybe with the exception of Qatar.

Is that fair to say? This car can challenge now.

The car to beat, I wouldn't go as far as that, but for sure if we are very strong this weekend again,

we could reconsider that and expect that, but if you look over the course of the last races,

I will say McLaren is the car to beat, maybe Red Bull is second best, but they are a bit more inconsistent lately,

and we are in Austin, we were the car to beat on Sunday.

However, for the rest of the other races, we weren't really a little bit behind.

But when we do everything perfect, everything is possible.

As you said, I think we've got quite a few races, here and maybe Las Vegas, where we think that we could be in the game to win it.

So if that's the case, that would be great. That would help us in order to try and win that contract submission.

Have a great weekend. Thank you very much.

So the driver's title is something of a stretch, but certainly the constructors is within their reach.

And when you look at Charles' performances throughout the year, really impressive to win his home Grand Prix, his team's home Grand Prix,

and then Austin had a dominant victory there too. How encouraged will they be by that?

Because he talked himself about it being a litmus test for those upgrades.

Usually in correlation, and I think he personally has had a very good year.

In the past week, we go back in 2022, when he was a title contender, and we used to see the odd error,

do me mistakes in qualifying, mistakes in the race, strategic errors last year for the team as well.

I feel like this year they've kind of gone under the radar a little bit because they've not been fighting McLaren or Red Bull as consistently,

but they've ironed out a lot of those errors that we used to see in terms of operational, strategic and driver.

The performance in Austin was superlative, wasn't it? They had a lot of confidence coming to Sunday and delivered on it.

Perhaps being under the radar is not a bad thing because they've been able to iron out the issues.

It was a time management. We always used to talk about Ferrari struggling with that.

As you were talking, Karuna was just thinking a good point. That is how few mistakes we've seen.

He also had some failures too, so the team has done a better job of cleaning up issues, but they were qualifying so well last year.

They had so much speed, but the cars were not so easy to drive in the race.

The tires would go off very quickly compared to other teams.

This year, qualifying is not so good. We saw last weekend they missed it on the Reds just a little bit and crossed them a couple of tents.

Then, in the race, they really showed what they could do.

So, it makes it a lot easier as a driver to have a car that's consistent and underneath you for those long races.

That's what you never forget. I would trade a little bit of speed and qualifying to have a car that was really good in the race inconsistent.

They were also performing incredibly well in the pit stops, which makes a massive difference in the race.

How much of this Carun is down to the Fred effect?

He runs the show, but he's one person at the top.

I think on the whole, they're building up nicely.

Lewis could have once again timed his team swap to perfection, because they're definitely on the up.

They've been ahead of Mercedes in recent times.

You can see just behind me, I noticed, by the way, they've not been super competitive this weekend against McLaren.

They're still doing a lot of setup changes in this break between FB3 and now they're re-scanning the car as well.

So, a lot of work's gone on there because, yes, they've come off the back of the high of Austin, but they were half a second off

earlier today in free practice compared to McLarens.

And at a circuit that they believe they're going to do well out, here in Vegas are the two sweet spots they believe.

Well, there was a lot of deterioration at Vegas as well, so if they have a car that's consistent, that makes sense.

The cars, when they push it out there, you see tires locking up and, you know, red bull for sure,

and it's easy to make a mistake here, so in this race it's attrition and making no mistakes and having a consistent car will pay off.

So, that's probably what some of the confidence is coming in here.

Absolutely.

Okay, now if you missed it, last weekend in Austin,

Argentine sensation Franco Colopinto gave Martin Brandel the cold shoulder. Take a look.

Hello, my name is Martin Brandel Skye, we haven't met. Quick chat.

Oh, well.

No, I think it's the answer to that.

Franco, good to meet you. Sorry about what happened in Austin. It was my fault.

I should have come and met you before.

No, it wasn't. It wasn't. I didn't introduce myself.

No, Martin, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure to be talking to you.

I am very sorry for what happened. Of course, you know, we are just before the race starts.

I'm never used to speaking. Like, actually, before the race starts in F2, we are still sitting in the car.

And then suddenly hearing if one of you got 30 minutes, we jumped out of the car, everyone's to interview you, and I am a bit in a bubble, you know, still, and it's only my fourth race, and it's already tricky.

But, yeah, I am sorry for that.

When you got your race head on, just put your hand up, or I won't bother you, no problem at all.

I'm glad you brought your blood to talk to me. Much more importantly, you have four races in. You've already scored five points, twice in the points.

It's going incredibly well for you.

It's going well. It's going well. Of course, I think we are still building up, and I think I still have a big deal, you know.

There is still a lot to learn, and I'm still doing both steps forward, race after race.

And I think that's great to see. I have an amazing team behind that.

They are racking me and supporting me so, so much.

So supportive, since I jumped into a Formula One car to try and make my path and my way much easier, you know.

Because we knew it was really tough, and they have been very, very helpful.

So, yeah, just happy to be here and enjoy the opportunity.

Because you had to jump in and suffer Singapore, one of the toughest, grown prey of all time.

Yeah, I think I was really tough.

It was tough, because I didn't have those four or five weeks before the race to do the hit prep.

I went straight into the race and have done almost no hit preparation.

And it was really really tough, the humidity and all that.

So, there are a lot, there are almost four kilos.

So, it was tough, but I still finished the race.

They are very close to check-out, close to Holcomb, so it was a good race as well.

But it just felt like I wasn't strong enough to be able to fight for a position late in the race.

Big history of Argentinian drivers in Formula One from some time ago.

Of course, with Fangio Gonzalez, Roy Timun, I mean, and the Grand Prix we had in Argentina.

Is there a lot of support for you in your home country?

It's massive. The support is insane.

And, you know, it's been difficult for Argentina.

I think they really needed an Argentinian driver in Formula One.

We are big fans of motorsport, but it is great to see how the fans went wild.

They are so happy to have me here. They are very supportive.

I think they are one of the fans that they are showing the most support for a driver so far.

The amount of passion, how much, you know, they want me here.

It's insane. And I am really proud of that.

I am very happy to be able to share with them my emotions and to see that they are so happy when they see that I get a good result,

when they are enjoying race after race.

Because this is, you know, not going to last forever, it's only for five more races

that they are enjoying this opportunity because we never know when you come back.

Well, on that subject, obviously Williams is full for 2025, but our team is talking to you.

Are they sharing interest after your early performances?

Look, I'm not really into it. Of course, my managers are doing an amazing job, and I really trust them.

My job is wearing a car quick enough and turn the wheel under.

Job is to find me a seat. So they are doing a great job on that.

I'm not really focused on what's happening.

I don't want to put too much energy on it. I know that there is no seats left at the moment,

and there is no space for me to go. But look, I'm trying just to show that this area is sitting from the one,

and that I discern my place here that I came to say and not to be only a couple of races.

So I hope to be in that impression and look, I'm sure I'm going to be back in the future 26-27.

I'm sure I'm going to be back. So I'm going to work hard for that.

Of course, still a couple of races left in this year to show what I can do.

So that's good news. But look, if you would have told me a few two months ago,

I would be here, I wouldn't believe you. So I'm just enjoying this opportunity.

The chance that Williams gave me is something from an aeroplane, and I am just giving my all to give the team what they deserve.

Is it just me? Does he remind you of a young Aet and Senna?

It's something in his eyes, right? Like I feel like his eyes sort of make him look like a little bit like him in his hair,

just a little bit that long or messy hair.

Hurry?

You're not fortunate. You're just not looking at him like that, Karu.

How impressed have you been with him? I mean, there is a rumour. It is only a rumour at this stage, obviously,

that he could go to RB with him and also be promoted to Red Bull.

In theory, what do you think of that as a plan?

Well, he wouldn't have to walk very thoroughly. It's only about six steps across to that car.

Listen, he's done a great job. You have to say he's come into him and proved that he probably deserves to stay in.

It's a shame. There isn't a seat for him here at Williams. I think the team are quite keen to help him stay in F1.

But they want to keep him on a bungee cord. They wouldn't just want to let him go, because otherwise,

Williams have basically invested in training him up, developing him for someone else to get the benefit.

The only way would be if Williams can have him on a lease or on a large-time house.

I had no deal.

But then, if you're RB, are you keen on that? Red Bull has certainly not been keen on just boarding a driver.

They want to own that contract. I don't think it's a simple process to get him a seat, but maybe a towel.

I mean, the response to him has been extraordinary, particularly in his home country there.

He actually made it onto the front cover of Forbes magazine. Have a look at that.

Dumbling up as a sort of disheveled businessman there. Doesn't he like the financier or something?

Maybe not Forbes money yet, personally. Maybe he does. I don't exactly know.

But definitely Forbes F1 driver. Got that Senna look, you know?

And obviously being in Mexico close, it's definitely feeding into the fan base.

But I tell you what, whether we're in Austin or whether we're here, he walks around the paddock with a gaggle of people,

just all over him. Cameras, microphones, recorders, pictures.

He's a very popular driver, and it's not surprising. He has a fantastic personality.

When you listen to him talk, maybe you guys thought the same thing.

He just has a level of maturity, and he's open, but he's also, then he catches himself with humility,

and he's also a humble person. So I'd love to see him in the series. He'd be great.

Yeah, he kept apologizing to Martin for not recognising him, or initially not.

You know, yes, new territory for him, isn't it? But as Anika says, he's hit the ground running.

He seems to take it all in his stride. Emotionally, it seems very mature.

You know, to get those points on the board so early on in his F1 career is super impressive.

And, you know, he's been very close to Albon. He's outqualified Albon a couple of times when you look at the sprints and stuff.

And that hasn't happened to Alex, right? If you look at the last two teammates, you comprehensively beat them.

And so all of a sudden, Williams have actually got two drivers now pushing the team forward, which is a respect for the team.

It certainly is. Okay. After the break, we'll be hearing from home hero Sergio Perez, can he delight his army of fans here in Mexico City?

We'll find out after the break. How he's feeling about racing here at the outer Dromo, Ermanos, Rodriguez, his home race.

Welcome back to Mexico City, where there is no mistaking who the crowd is supporting, because it is, of course, the home of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, and he is with Rachel and Karun.

Checo, you have an incredible welcome here every time you come. It gets bigger every time. What's it been like so far this weekend here at the track?

It's been amazing every year. You tend to forget a little bit during the year. The amount of support that I get at home because we race all over it, so many races all over the world.

And when you get back here, I realize how much support and how much energy these people give.

But you seem to feel the energy in a positive way. I guess, you don't, you know, maybe because you've done it so many times, it doesn't feel like pressure anymore. It feels like a positive feel.

I think it has had the fact that I've done it so many times. And I know that the main focus is on track and the best way to make them happy on Sunday after the race is by giving them a great race.

And that is where my focus lies and if there's a weekend that I want to add a well, it's obviously this one.

You were quite blunt and hard on yourself when you said you've had a bad year so far here. How do you harness everything into a good race this weekend and a good qualifying?

Because last year at the start, it looked as though you wanted it so badly that it was maybe pushing too much. Is that the case and how do you harness that this time around?

Yeah, I mean, it's just important, you know, to focus on track, try to make the right calls and go from there, you know.

The most I can do is just to give my oil and I will try to do that this time.

Can you explain just a little bit about what's been the struggle this year? You know, we know the car's been more difficult to drive, both you and Max have shared that.

Is that something that you guys have understood because it looked in Austin like Max was more competitive but again a little bit difficult for you?

Where's the issue in terms of the car for you to give you what you need?

I think we've, after Moncha, we understood a lot of our issues. The thing that I've been reporting for the last year and a half, a lack of interest ability.

We said team couldn't spot where it was but then after Moncha, everything became a little bit more clearer.

We definitely made some good progress for Baku. The car was feeling a lot better and Singapore was a struggle.

I think we understand where the issue is. We can see it on the data now. So I think the next six months or so will be very important for us to make sure we are able to come on top of all those issues because the car has become very very picky.

That's one of the reasons.

I think we follow up because in, you know, you talk about Baku, you could have won that race. You were in the fight for the victory there.

And I guess for all of us watching, that's a bit confusing how we can go from you being in the fight to winning one week and then not there.

Why is the inconsistencies?

I think it's just that you come to the track and we are exploring so many ways, you know, and you can't hit the street spot in one event and then everything looks really competitive.

It wasn't like with Max. Max was in Baku quite far. And it's because if you are a little bit of the street spot, it can be quite large that is advantage.

So what's the target this weekend? What are the team's set? What do you want to achieve?

I'm maximizing the potential of my car. Yesterday it's a little bit confusing. We looked a little bit far, but we'll go out there today and just make sure that I maximize every single opportunity I get.

Well, the stadium will go mad if you get on the podium. I really hope you make it because the atmosphere will be amazing to say. Good luck.

Go well, Chek. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Well, myself, Danica and Bernie Collins are down in the pit lane outside his garage. Impressive squad of bodyguards there, Bernie.

I mean, every time we went to a wider shot, it reveals another bodyguard. He certainly needs it around here though.

I mean, the fans of the board is just insane. Now, you've worked with him for good six years. You know him incredibly well.

Can he save his season? Can he turn things around?

You're always one race away from saving it or losing it, I guess, in many, many ways. I think he needs a few good results to end the year.

He had a very positive start to the year that he's had a dip through sort of the middle section, showing some sparks in there that maybe how him fall out can prove back who he can stand out when I guess.

And he made a good result here, really built his emotion going into the final few races. The fans are really behind him.

And he needs to show the red ball and red ball team need to work together to show that they can get over those inconsistencies, difficulties with the car and make that combination work.

Because if it's not working now, they've had a long time to work for it.

It talks about maximizing the potential of this car, because you really, that means finishing near his teammate, Max the stappard.

Hasn't got the car to shine, do you believe?

I don't, I would think so. I would think so.

I mean, this is a track he ran well last year as it was pointed out. He went into turn one long, fast run down into turn one.

And just, you know, it just, he just got too aggressive and he had an accident and didn't get to see that through.

He should have taken the podium. That would have been the wise decision.

So I think that should be the attitude here this weekend. But, you know, I was just thinking to myself, it should be said to the Red Bulls had a lot of changes this year.

So, you know, last year, okay, maybe that wasn't the scenario.

But although teams were catching up this year, the loss of Adrian Nui, other team personnel, the upheaval that had been happening throughout the year, even Max had a dip in his performance.

So it's a less of a believable year that it would be all him. There's other things going on in the team.

So I think it would be a pretty, I think it would be a significant turnaround probably energetically for the team and especially him.

If he could, you know, as you said, Bernie, have a couple of good races here in these last handful.

I mean, the problem is, Bernie, when you've got the weight of a nation on your shoulders, there is always the risk that you're going to try too hard as he did last year.

I mean, you're just so desperate to get a great result in front of the moment.

You can just imagine what this place would do if he could put it on the podium.

I remember his dad doing laps of the stadium when he managed that before.

The home race effect brings a massive pressure for every driver.

I think it's magnified here.

Whenever we were here, like, as you've seen there, trying to get from hospitality to garbage was a struggle, not only for Paris, for the team personnel.

We had security guards at each side. He went into the engineering office, which was in hospitality.

It was like a party, you know, like a Mexican party happening in there.

So there's a lot of pressure and that desire, as well as the normal pressure he's under to achieve.

There's this added Mexican element to it, of course.

But they're mentally strong. He's a mentally strong driver.

He's got a park that when he gets into the car in Sunday morning,

until this afternoon, for qualifying, and get the best out of that car.

And if he can do that, then he's on for a good result.

But Red Bull are not the favourites here, so that podium is going to be struggled for either of them.

It's said you were right. Let's head down to Caroon. Who's at the Skyport?

Just 4.3 kilometres here at the circuit.

It's a tight and twisty track for a lot of it.

The first break is on. Super tricky there.

Here at Gaslo, we've seen both in FP2 and in FP3 struggling.

And that's because they're running bigger breakouts for more cooling in the race.

But it means that when they get to the first corner, sometimes it breaks and not the right temperature.

Now, George Russell, the middle sector, the lap here, made a mistake by going over the curb

and got on that green curve just on the inside.

Go back there. A little bit to show you.

There at that point. And when he did that, the bottom of the car hit the curb.

That's spat him sideways and into the wall for a hefty impact.

They had to change the chassis on the Mercedes.

Now, when you've done that middle sector of the lap, you come to us as a stadium.

And Franco Caulopinto is going to illustrate just how tricky it is into turn 12.

A lot of drivers here having a snap of oversteer.

And going beyond that curb, that's going to be a big issue to watch out for.

And then the traffic is going to be a problem riding on board here with Max versus the driver.

And then the

driver is going to be a challenge for them to try and start off their clean lap.

So watch out for that, especially in Q1.

Really difficult day yesterday for George Russell.

Difficult weekend for him and the team in Austin.

So what about their chances here today in qualifying, Bernie?

Well, yeah, it was a very difficult day.

I think they had no promise in Austin than they really showed, I think, as we spoke with Toto earlier.

Today, or FP3 did look like more of a struggle.

Very different conditions as Danica mentioned at the time as well.

But their coverage looks quite calm.

It looks like there's not a lot of changes going on there.

Like, they're finding that more is about clarin to garbage as down.

Looks pretty hectic.

That sometimes tells me a lot going into the race we'd expect it to be the other way around.

You expect the clarin to become a Mercedes to be busy.

Yeah, because McLaren were top of the time sheets in FP3 looking really confident coming in.

So what about the other dark horses that we could potentially look out for today?

I'll be looking pretty tasty.

Yuki had a great FP3, a lot of speed, and Haas has been pretty strong lately.

A great run last weekend in Austin, top 10.

So I think those are definitely the ones to watch.

So what is the key, Bernie, to nailing the perfect lap round here at altitude?

Very little grip.

A lot of it is going to be that out-lapse preparation.

Getting those tires exactly as you want them for that first lap

and getting missing the traffic in the important sections, the stadium

and that sort of final high-speed section.

That's going to be very, very crucial to these teams.

And when I look at FP3, people who got the three fastest sectors together

and have done a lot better, Paul Kumburg being one example,

what do we mean, P7 if he put his three sectors together

so more time on the board for everyone out there?

Are you sticking with your predictions then, Avoska?

Are you Lando, Bernie?

I am, I am definitely.

I have to go different to Donnega, so I've got to go for Nora.

Oh, but you're just flitting the garage.

You're just flirting with Lauren.

We're both going home.

Well, on the way next, we have got qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Don't go anywhere.

The crowd are expecting.

This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold.

It is high-speed. It is high intensity.

Hamilton going deep to the inside, bites his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again, round-coast Sonoda.

Maxis Daben wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Don Rehaso, everyone on their A-game.

Cut.

Welcome from the ultra-drama Hermanus Rodriguez.

The battle is coming.

It's the one we've been waiting for.

Maxis Daben got the fastest time by quite a margin.

This record is normally quite chaotic.

The only thing that's going to be in that place is your one-click one.

Should be a pretty exciting weekend, I think.

Jack takes a lot of getting used to.

It's a challenge to Red Bull, and things are going to be tough around here.

Tricky Trak, it's very difficult for the lap together.

It's going to be incredibly competitive.

He's not giving up this title without a fight.

I think I'm racing against the best in the world.

I'm trying to beat Max.

We do have more chances now to at least be in that fight.

Game on!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

The battle is coming!

Welcome one and all from Mexico City, where we have reached Round 20.

Of the Formula One season in 2024, it is the 24th World Championship Grand Prix

to take place in the capital of Mexico population somewhere in the region of 22 million people.

And those are the packed into the track here very much in the mood for a celebration.

Let's go set the grid shall we?

For tomorrow's Grand Prix, with 2.2 kilometres above sea level,

you can get us high up the grid as they possibly can over the next hour.

226 miles an hour, top speed, 17 turns, 3 DRS zones,

and a track that has not offered a huge amount of grip so far this weekend.

For those on it, C5 Soft Tire, C4 the medium, and C3 is the hard tire.

Quite a few teams have saved five sets of the new Soft Compound Tire,

but not those that you would expect to be going for pole by the time we get down to Q3.

And that is the scene as we hover above this circuit.

The sun is out, the track temperature, around about 45 degrees,

air temperature 22 degrees.

It is a hot day in this part of the world, and it was hot, hot pace from McLaren.

And final practice, Martin Brundell.

Yeah, McLaren looked very good as soon as they put the Soft tires on the new tires.

Until that point, you have to say Ferrari looked like the team to be.

They've been going extremely well around here,

Red Bull struggling for grip all around, particularly at the front for both drivers.

Time to dial that in though the track, 44 degrees.

It is hot down there, very hot indeed.

But 784 millibars, it just tells you, with 2,250 metres up in the air,

which an international standard that was at the 2013 millibars.

So you can work that out well over 20% less air, means less downforce,

less power from the internal combustion engine, partly compensated by the turbo,

less cooling for the brakes and the engine, and a very specific challenge.

The drivers will always find this circuit feeling a little bit slippery,

with less downforce, because you get less drag as well,

making it the fastest straight in the calendar of Formula One,

and lots of slow corners, medium speed corners,

and a couple of fast ones as well, through the snake out the back,

towards the end of the lap.

It's a challenge, but bumpy here and there too.

Yeah, you've sat these cars, Martin.

Most of the time down the straight, they'll be doing 210 miles an hour.

So now, to the rear notice, another 15 mile an hour or so, does it focus the mind that much more?

I think it does when you get to the braking zone.

I mean, however much power you've got, and however fast you're going,

you're not going fast enough.

You're getting used to it. It just becomes the norm, you know,

where we used to do, sort of 240 miles an hour down the straight,

at Le Mans, night or day, and your foot's still buried to the spot of the throttle,

because you want to go faster, and that's how these drivers will be.

But you need to make a bit of an allowance when you hit the braking zone,

because you will have less downforce.

Here's the man defending his world championship,

and defending it quite well at the moment,

57.0 leave over Lando.

Norris Red Bull defending their constructed championship,

and not defending it as well.

They're in the middle of Ferrari, and of McLaren,

and here's the man that took, oh, Austin, by force last Sunday,

and produced an epic victory for himself,

and a 1-2 finish as well for Ferrari.

And this man is taking part in his 400th Grand Prix weekend,

Fernando Alonso's last on pole in Germany 2012,

and 4,480 days ago, tomorrow.

And if he gets anywhere near pole today,

it might just be the greatest pole of his career.

It's incredible, isn't it?

I can't get my head round about many attendances at a Grand Prix.

I know he hasn't quite made 400 starts, per se,

but, Fandjo, 51 starts five world championships.

The great Jim Clark, sadly, only 72 starts and two world championships.

So, Jackie Stewart, 99 races and three world championships.

And now, we've got several drivers in the 300.

Fernando Alonso's got two more years yet to go on his Aston Martin contract.

He will hit God willing, 450 races plus. Incredible.

It's his desire and his motivation that I find most impressive as well.

Greenlight is on. We have started qualifying.

No one's coming out of the garages at this moment in time,

but you can't really do.

If you want to ride on board with any of the drivers, you can do so.

Feel free to choose any one of the 20 drivers.

Listen to their team radio as well.

You need the Sky Sports app and you need your Sky Sports login as well.

But if you're watching our Sky Glass, Sky Cue, or Sky Stream, or even now,

you can press your button on your remote control, your interactive button.

Someone's pressed the button on three cars, at least because we finally got some action here.

And ahead of the Alpens and the Aston Martin,

also heading out onto the track for a Salba team that have made rather a habit

of being a bit slow in qualifying recently.

But both of their cars started in the top 10 here last year,

and it was one of their better qualifying performances.

Let's hope that at least one of them can get out of Cue 1 today.

Karun Chandox down on ground level, around about 10 metres lower than Martin himself.

Not that that makes any difference. What's the conditions like in the pit lane, mate?

Hot crop teeth. Much hotter than it was earlier today as we can hear the roar of the fans here.

The Ferrari heading out on a set of medium tyres.

We saw them run an extra set of softs, didn't we, in the final pre-practice session?

But here comes the whole mirror of Sergio Perez on a brand new set of soft.

He was down in 13th in the final practice session.

The team have done a bit of work to change the setup on his car in between,

and we'll see if he can deliver.

But track temperatures off the over 10 degrees hotter than it was at the end of FP3.

I was going to talk about setup with the Red Bull, Martin.

I think they've been forced to do something at Red Bull because both Sergio and Max

really struggling for grip in that final practice.

Especially under-breaking across the front axle, as we say.

And a great shot there from his helmet cam, wasn't it?

And just to remind you of how far they're buried inside the pit,

and all of the stuff around them, the headrest and the halo and all of the stuff

you like kept him involved in those things.

Doesn't matter how far buried you are in the cockpit,

I think Sergio can hear every bit of the cheers.

This is Dan and his grandkids share a little moment for themselves at the back of the garage.

It's amazing.

Yes, they're not always keen to be kissed only.

He's ever the politicians.

He's ever the politicians.

Sergio, you're right.

Sergio, just Dan.

But he will hear these rules.

He will feel the presence of the crowd.

The question we're all asking ourselves this weekend, is he up to the challenge of delivering

something that will be acceptable and celebratory for the home fans that have come along?

He really desperately needs a result.

Whether it's Mexico or, I don't know, in a Mongolia.

It doesn't matter where he's racing this weekend.

He needs a result of Sergio Perez.

Once we have the Ulon battle,

Broad Prix, Sergio will be on pole now.

Trust me, it'll be fine.

And this is the bit where the rules really do reach a crescendo.

They didn't vouchly botass past because he's on a hot lap.

One of Checo's biggest fans there.

Tell you what, Martin, we've got 2.6 miles coming up.

Let's take a lap with Sergio around Mexico City.

About 900 metres down the straight.

Once they cross the finish line, he's got a lovely slipstream there from the Salba botass.

That's down to 185.

It gives a rear wing wide open, of course.

You can use the DRS in the three places in qualifying at all times.

Quite make the apex in the first corner.

We have a hop, skip and jump over the next two curbs and helping not to run wide.

Ease it to the right-hand side.

Breaking a straight line because the track just nips a little bit right.

And then this left-hander at four is more left than you think.

Very tight, just 45 miles an hour here.

A little squeeze of throttle.

Miss the first apex.

Hit the second one.

And now you really let the car go.

Seven, you have to be careful through there.

And it just gets faster and faster.

And the drivers really have to pay attention to it.

They have to drive every metre because they're leaning on the grip.

They're leaning on the side wall of the tyre.

And all of the downforce they can generate.

And a short straight then.

Down to turn 12.

Into the stadium area.

We're going to run at a time through here.

Turn 12.

Coming nice and late.

Pick up the throttle.

Ride the curve.

Bump the curve on the left.

Get the car ready.

It's tight on the way into 12.

Into the final corner, rather.

And then it opens up.

Absolutely flat out.

The line comes up quickly.

And, well, what did he do there?

A 1-18-5.

Oh, dear.

That is not particularly flat.

It's not down in Q1 four times this season Sergio Perez.

That is not a time that is going to set him through to Q2 this afternoon.

Out in front of the two Ferraris, as Karun said, on the medium tyre.

Science and the Clare with the fastest times.

This medium tyre is a very good tyre.

Not just for racing, but maybe for qualifying at these stages as well.

Lando Norris.

I know it says soft on the graphic.

It's not.

That's the medium tyre that he's on.

And he goes fastest with a 1-17-2.

That is clearly a yellow stripe on that McLaren.

Yes, and if they can clear Q1 on the medium compound, that's really good news, isn't it for them?

Anybody else, including Ferrari?

It says it on our tyre graphic as well.

But I'm not seeing things.

I'm not going colourblind.

That definitely was a yellow stripe.

Norris cites the Clare and now George Russell, also on the mediums.

And Oscar Piazzari running the medium tyre too.

Soft compound runners at the moment is Fernando Alonso, who sits in the corner.

Alonso, who sits six fastest.

That is the quickest on the softs.

This track temperature might be causing this C5 tyre just a little bit of pain and anguish out there.

This is not a particularly quick lap though from Oscar Piazzari on the mediums.

As for Stappen, now starts his first flying lap and will get a better handle on the performance of the Rebel by the time he crosses the line.

They were struggling.

In final practice, had those struggles continued here as Piazzari only goes eighth fastest.

That won't be enough for him either.

No, that's a bit of a shocker.

It was fast as it was in the FP3 on the soft tyre.

Has he had a problem somewhere?

Well, it's heading down to turn four.

There's the little right near Po's telling you about.

And he locks up the inside.

That puts him then out of position for five.

You'll lose time all the way through there.

So an unforced erasure, we call that, a little bit too deep on the brakes into turn four.

It's cost him.

Lewis Hamilton, who surely must have a better qualifying here today than he did in Austin seven days ago, when he was the second slowest qualifier on pure pace alone.

For only the second time in his career.

But he's already slotted into fifth fastest and the two Williams on the soft tyres, Albon and Colopinto.

Very keen times from there, one 17-five, Ramon and about three tenths further back for his team-mate Franco Colopinto.

The stapper though on the soft tyre has gone purple and then purple.

Fastest in sector one, fastest in sector two, little bit of skittish coming out of the final corner, but goes quickest by two tenths of a second.

And the gap between Verstappen with a 1-69 and Sergio Perez in the same car is about 1.6 seconds.

Yeah, soft tyres are caused there.

Again, not as we know was on mediums as showing soft.

But a lot of understeer in Verstappen's car there, front sliding across the track so they can dial that out.

You can whilst they're now in park for make conditions, you can dial that out with front wing and differential settings, but Max was definitely waiting for the front tyre to grip up.

I didn't wonder if Oscar Piaxton was fuel to go for another lap on those medium tyres, but he has come back into the pits.

Lando Norris too, also pitting.

Fernando Alonso currently night fast to start at his next run for an Aston Martin team that the belly trouble the top ten.

So far this weekend, the upgrade that came to Austin didn't really work well there.

Fernando Sainte-Race was just a test session for him really, rather than an actual race.

Well, the struggles to find a set up at work, a balance at work.

Seemie Lincoln, continuing here this weekend.

Yeah, Aston Martin got a very peaky aero set up.

It works well in certain corners, like 6, 7 and 8 in Austin last weekend, but then doesn't work in the slow corners.

So it's really hard to drive a car that's peaky with the grip because you then have to just slow down and drive to a lower mean average.

And they're being threatened not just by the likes of Al Pien and RB, but also by Haas, who have really come into the fall in that midfield battle at the moment, overtaking RB and the championship and moving into 6th place in Kevin Magnussen, who made Q3 for the first time this season.

Last week, he's already set a pretty decent first sector time on his first flying run in this session.

Through then, the stadium section we go with Fernando Alonso, new roof on the stadium, shielding people from the hot sun here this afternoon.

Alonso crosses the line and improves to go third fastest, so three tenths of Max Verstappen.

So the couple goes to do it, but he's getting a little bit closer now to the late 1-16s and here's Kevin Magnussen around the final corner.

He goes only seven fastest, lost a heap of time during the middle sector.

The track is speeding up a lot. We have had some support races out there since free practice three, and they need to recondition it with some parelli Formula 1 rubber.

Yeah, which Leclerc, it's just trying to do, but only seven fastest for him and Carlos.

Scientist teammate now moves into P3 with a couple of all-round best sector times.

Now, Yuki Sonoda, in an RB that at times has looked competitive, goes third fastest himself, very good last sector for Yuki Sonoda.

So, at the same time as the Ferrari's on track, goes faster.

Yeah, getting a good one, no stupid.

Breaking has been a major issue in that Red Bull weekend, along Holkenberg, goes second fastest.

As you said, Martin, the track is really ramping up here. Who's safe?

It is, and this is going to, this is definitely going to challenge a few people, a few established frontrunners to have to get out there.

Just looking, Oscar Piaestri has just come out onto the track.

I think he's still running near the median tyre, according to our tyre graphic in the commentary box.

Well, let's see on that one. Do they think that with the track wrapping up the mediums can still do it?

Gasly, who is what's slowest, I think, in the FP3, goes second fastest.

Now, 10th and a half off Max Mustap and is George Russell.

They were a big crash yesterday, winded himself quite badly, crashed at about 130 miles an hour,

and it necessitated a chassis change on his Mercedes car.

He starts his latest run, Gasly keeps out the way, and while that happens,

Esteban Ocon completes a lap, can't get out of the bottom five, where George Russell finds himself at the moment 16th.

Yeah, George just made the tech pro baris, isn't he?

A bit of crash a few metres earlier, it had been straight in a concrete wall.

It was a big one, it looked painful, and it had to completely rebuild the car.

Let's hope it's giving him a good feeling out there.

So, a first set of a George Russell, matched by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, 27-4,

fractionally off the pace. The two Mercedes, but it's a decent first set of time.

It's the middle though, where you can lose a heap of time.

If you just don't find, as you were saying, Martin, that rhythm and flow through that S's section.

Yeah, if you get the first part wrong, you'll never pick up speed through the rest of it,

but the cars are moving around a lot with Esteban accelerating up and shifting up through the gears,

whilst sort of hanging onto it.

And then he got this really technical twisty, looking out there at the end in front of 26,000 people.

Yeah, it's great for viewing, but it's not necessarily the high-speed section we all like to see.

Russell goes for fastest, with a 1-7-tee, that's one.

Here comes Lewis Hamilton, round what is now, or used to be called the Peril Tada,

it's now the Nigel Mansfield curve, and Hamilton goes 8 fastest.

So the spread here on a short track, Martin, there's not much margin between Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, 8th and 9th,

and Max Verstappel at the pole at the moment.

That means it's a really good one.

Q2, very interesting, but it might make Q1 interesting yet.

It's going to be the last drivers over the line, I would say.

I get that feeling, Piaestri, on the soft tyre.

So the graphics have updated themselves, and McLaren, who went out on the mediums to start with, now on the soft.

Bernie Collins isn't qualifying control for his last afternoon.

Qualifying control, I like that.

Just a bit of information picking up from what you said.

Expecting track improvement to be around 6 times, based on the storing numbers here.

We've seen Russell there again, E at 10, so big track improvement.

I think that leaves the time needed to be safe, around 17-2.

So that's why people like Matharen are going again on that soft tyre,

because it is going to come right down to this final lap, like you said.

Yes, you've got to leave a margin of at least to 10th and a second,

and that might put Russell and Holkenberg and Gazzly into that margin as well.

Piaestri crosses the line, that is not a good lap from Oscar Piaestri.

Oh, dear, oh, dear.

Not what he wants in at all.

Seamus being deleted.

So his misery continues.

Norris crosses the line.

116-5 goes fastest.

Negative.

Negative.

Yeah, well, he's 6-1,000th of a second under the 117-2 margin,

and that's why he's not completely safe.

Yeah, and Piaestri dropped back down to 19th and said that 117-6 was deleted for track limits.

Piaestri under big pressure here.

The man, who was brilliantly fastest, just two or three hours ago.

Yeah, he was the fastest in FP3.

Now, if you can get back to the pitch, they can put a new set of tyres on,

but that's a set of tyres they did not want to burn up in this first part of qualifying,

and he could probably get out to do that lap and be one of the last over the line.

But all the pressure is on this young man from Melbourne now,

and this is the result of it.

This is the track limits at turn 12.

That lap is deleted for track limits at turn 12.

Yeah, he won't be surprised to get that message.

So, the trouble is, you can only refuel by backing the car into the garage.

You can't refuel in the pit lane, so how much fuel does Piaestri got on board?

Can he go again?

Well, Bernie Collins, if you were a strategy engineer down at McLaren, what would you say?

I think it's going to be tight, but they can't go again.

So these guys in the garage practice turn around in this car.

It's something like 60-70 seconds, so you can do a qualifying turn around really pretty quickly,

just put in enough fuel for that one try and lap,

but it will be back against the wall, like you said.

So as long as he can get out and mark him with about a minute and a half to go,

he should be OK to reach the line.

But he's going again anyway.

He's just done a battery charge, called down lap,

and now he's going for it, and he's got to get a tidy lap in.

This is critical from McLaren and Piaestri.

And a lot of the max for Stappen, Oscar Piaestri,

the only driver to reach Q3 at every Grand Prix in 2024.

And that is very much at threat here,

because he's already a couple of tenths off the pace through that first sector.

Sergio Perez, personal best for him, but that's not inside the time.

He needs to get out of the bottom five.

So for Perez and Piaestri, this could be two big names going out here in Q1,

along with Joe, Ocon, and Magnus, and that is the bottom five.

Charles de Clair is right down there for Ferrari as well.

Liam Lawson certainly isn't safe in 11th,

Lewis Hamilton won't be safe in ninth Hamilton with a 1-17-3,

the projected cut-off time on 1-17-2.

Piaestri is giving it everything here, but has he got the tired grip to get a lap

to get out of the bottom five and be safe?

This is not a cracking lap, 29-9 middle sector is not spectacular at all.

Can he do anything through the final few corners to move him up?

Only just.

It's a 1-17-5.

That might not be enough for Oscar Piaestri.

Sergio Perez gets out of the bottom five, but that might only be temporarily as well,

because Charles de Clair is on a flier here.

He's in the bottom five. He is about to go third fastest that does.

Sergio Perez is back in the bottom five again.

And Magnuson will overtake him as well, I think,

Sunoda goes fifth.

Magnus is on a decent lap out there.

Piaestri, at Riz, might he just...

No, Piaestri is out as well.

Kevin Magnuson goes fourth.

Kevin Magnuson, wow, what a lap from him.

Oscar Piaestri is down in the bottom five.

McLaren are looking at a Q1 exit here for the second year running.

Sergio Perez is looking at a Q1 exit for the fifth time this season.

I'm going to call it now.

They are both out of qualifying because Sergio Perez, for his first sector is under 35-5,

there's no way he's getting to the line in time to start a fast lap.

And he won't have the tyres to do it.

And Piaestri will be in the same boat.

That is a massive upset on both counts.

What on earth is that all about?

It's not getting the peak of the tyre grip with errors or track limits.

And Stroll goes 15, pushes Colin Pinto out as well, who's in the pit.

So that's bad news for him.

And I think that's it, isn't it?

Yeah, that's it for Franco Colin Pinto.

So as you say, he's in the pit.

Esteban Ocon said personal best in the first sector, so he can actually push Lance Stroll out here.

Because he's behind him.

Valti Bottas might get through the queue too.

Let's focus down on Esteban Ocon, who's on the fringes of making it insecure too here.

But he's going to have to push like crazy in his alpine to try and lift himself out of that bottom five.

Joe Guanyu is out, Perez is out, Piaestri is out, Colin Pinto is out,

can't last Stroll survive here.

And with Esteban Ocon going to kick him out of qualifying, no, he's not.

Stroll survives, gets through to Q2, and that's this track.

It's actually quite a relief for him out in Q1 of the last five grand preys in Mexico.

He's made it out into Q2 by the skin of his teeth.

Ah.

Indeed.

You've got to feel for Sergio Perez, who is just one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to share some time with.

And whatever is happening in that cockpit, Martin, it is just not working for him at the moment.

Nice, and he was stoggling too.

Oscar, we've been knocked out of the program, we've been knocked out.

And it must be said, the 17-6 that was deleted, wouldn't have got him in either.

For the second year running, McLaren will have a car starting P17 here in Mexico City.

It was land known, Norris, last year, it's Oscar Piaestri this year.

His first visit to Mexico in Formula One, C's Franco, Colin Pinto out, Esteban Ocon is out, Joe Guanyo is out, and after big knocked out the first corner of the Grand Prix last year here, Perez out in Q1 this year.

The crowd are expecting.

This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold.

It is high speed, it is high intensity.

Hamilton going deep to the inside, fights his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again, round goes Sonoda.

Maxas Daban wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Contact once again, round goes Sonoda.

Maxas Daban wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

That was a massive groan from the Czecho Perez fans, standing right behind the Skypad here.

Let's look at the last segment of his last lap.

And it just, I think it's symptomatic of the field.

Watch his hands.

He's not able to fully commit.

There's lots of little turns and micro corrections.

And this is something Perez was saying.

Remember, pre-qualified to Rachel and me.

Look again here, the left hander, even the slow speed.

He's just knocked on any confidence to attack the entry of any of these corners in a range of speeds.

And, you know, to me, this is clearly a driver who hasn't got the belief that the rear of the car is going to stick with him.

You know, if you've got confidence, you turn the wheel, the car sticks with you, you get in the corner and you get on the throttle.

He's having to just really play with it.

And this is something we've seen and really a fortune for him down in 18.

Oscar Piazza, what a nightmare for him.

The first run on the medium tires up at turn four.

He got on the brakes and then just had a lock up off the left run.

That sent him sailing past the apex and makes a mess off turn five.

So that ruined that run.

Then, towards the end, obviously, his first lap that he tried to on the soft side, because he had to switch, went wide at turn 12 over the curb.

And we remember before qualifying, I was showing you this with Franco Colopinto.

The entry into that is tricky because you've got a little bit of wind behind you as you turn into it and it's pushing the car wide.

And unfortunately for him, that was the first lap.

So then he had to go again.

And on the last lap, he just didn't have the grip to improve.

He had a massive disappointment for both of those drivers today.

And for the first time this season, Oscar Piazza fails to make it through to Q3.

And for the fifth time this season, the first time ever in Mexico City Sergio Perez is knocked out in Q1.

Now Franco Colopinto was also knocked out in Q1.

His teammate Alex Albon safely through James Vals is the team boss at Williams and his withers this weekend.

And James, that looked tricky out there as the track was really ramping up towards the end of the session.

It actually wasn't ramping up a terrible amount.

It was ramping in the first 10 minutes or so.

But the biggest problem, I mean, there's a close feel about that.

You can see that with the fact that there's a few teams behind us.

Probably shouldn't be there.

And the gaps between all of us is a 10.

With Franco, it was just a tiny, I think I heard, heard it coming to on before.

But it was turned 4.

It was a little bit of a lock up into there for Franco.

But it lost 2 10.

It was the last round.

Yeah, just 2 10 says you say behind Alex.

Wasn't he actually a little bit more than that?

That's done the damage.

So focusing on one car now, where do you think Alex can end up here this afternoon?

I think that has been really impressive since the update.

But top 10 still still on the cards.

But to do so, we've basically got either of the octet there or other cars.

I think just about three people.

And the fact that Piaestri and Perez are now both out as well,

that gives you a little bit more breathing space maybe in the battle for the top 10.

Yeah, definitely helps a little bit.

You can see how there is awfully, awfully tight.

And there's a number of teams in the top 10 you would normally expect to see there.

So I think great for competition.

Just makes their life through.

Good luck.

We'll speak to you in a bit.

Thanks ever so much, James.

Yeah, Gadsley, six fastest, Sonoda, seven fastest, Holkenberg,

eight fastest in that session as well.

Be prepared for surprises.

We have to talk about the Haas team, you know, fifth and eighth in that.

It's a team of 300 people.

It's incredible.

Every time they bring an update, it's been going faster.

You know, the bigger teams have not been able to do that.

A much wealthier team.

You know, anyone numerous in their staff have not been able to do that.

It's an extraordinary achievement by the Haas team.

Compare them with Aston Martin, you know, massive budget, not as big a budget.

You know, who's on current form at the moment?

Four races in a row, including terms of Grand Prix, including the Austin sprint,

has scored points.

So Q2 is underway.

Quick reminder once again, if you want to ride on board with any of the drivers,

you can do so.

You just can't sports that.

It's going to sports log in.

Or you can press your interactive button if you're watching on Sky Stream, Sky Q Sky class.

Or now as well.

So if you're at the uniform, you'll see the tyres have got a dull scene on the side.

They've got a dull scene on them.

These have been used once instead of the shiny fresh out of the mold look about them.

And it's basically a heat circle.

You cure the rubber a little bit more, the tread on the tyre.

No grooves in the tyre because you only need those to clear water,

just like your road car.

They're a clear water rather than to give grip.

So you want as much rubber on the track as possible.

And that's why we run slick tyres when it's dry.

And even when it's drizzling a little bit.

And there is a 10% chance of rain today.

There's a bit of cloud coming over the track at the moment.

We'll keep you updated on that.

There is James Fowls on the pit.

All of you were talking to a few moments ago.

You're going to tell me it's 90% chance of being dry.

No, I'm just going to say, but on your road tyres at home,

when they look slick like that, you're in trouble.

You've got your problem.

It's not a good thing on the road.

While we watch Alex Albon making his first bid for the top ten,

there's only 15 drivers left.

And one of them out in Q1 is Oscar Piastris with Rachel Brooks now.

Oscar, what happened?

There's probably the simplest question for you right now.

It just went off in turn 12.

Got beached on the curb there.

That was it.

So my lap was easily going to be enough.

So it's very frustrating to have made that mistake.

The one that was deleted wouldn't have got you through had it not been deleted.

But you mean if you hadn't made that mistake and stayed on, you would have been OK.

Yeah, I lost about a second.

So painful.

It looks so promising in FP3 today.

So was it? Was it just it's very difficult to string a lap together here to get it perfect once you get into that stadium section?

I mean, where is it? Where is it that it's so tricky?

I mean, it's just a tricky circuit, but I don't think today was down to it being tricky.

It was just I made a very poor mistake.

And that was it.

In the race, the pace you've got, or can you hope for tomorrow? Can you ever take care?

Yeah, I mean, we had a similar kind of position for Lando last year.

So I'll make sure I do my homework on how he went through the field and try and do the same.

Thank you. But let's move.

Exactly the same position for Lando last year.

And he went through the field to finish fifth.

And I think that's all Oscar Piaestri needs to do tomorrow in terms of McLaren's requirements.

Four tenths of a second difference between the staphon and albano improved by intent and the staphon and improved by two tenths,

based on their best times in the first part of qualifying.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz and Charlotte Clare on track that we're on board with Charlotte Clare now, going along.

Pretty nicely, the Clare in the first sector, but a big difference between the staphon and the Clare in the middle part of this lap,

as it crosses the line, well, by the end of it, there's a one second difference between the staphon and the Clare.

Is that just new and new tyres?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, the staphon showing new on the computer, so it's certainly clear in science,

but we clearly saw them coming out of the garage, didn't we?

And for our reason, we don't put heat cycles in soft tyres.

So I think what you're seeing there is not comparing apples with apples.

I think he's definitely new tyres for Maxis staphon.

That's a bit of a statement.

You've got to...

When I was out there yesterday, I was doing an FP2, the drivers are really jockeying their cars through this hugely fast section.

They like to dip a tyre over that curb of the can.

It's like a railway line. Just pull.

Rear tyres were a bit tricky. A sector key.

What does that mean, Max?

It's a long grip.

Yeah, so he hooked the inside wheels like a railway line on the inside of the curb,

but as George Russell found out yesterday, that's a bit perilous.

So the year is, Charles de Clare has had his lap time deleted,

and I think we're going about to see why.

That's the first snap that he had, but at some stage in his lap, turn two actually.

Yeah, turn two. He went over the white line and told it's a loose.

Yeah, you know, he's done.

He's cut the inside of turn two too much.

He's literally straight-lined the chicane a little bit, and we saw that last year, didn't we?

They get a little bit too right.

Is it there? Yeah, right there.

So here's Kevin Magnussen that has never reached Q3 here in Mexico.

Six times he's had a chance.

Only points finish here.

Eight in 2017, Daresay, this might be one of his better chances at reaching Q3,

especially off the back of an impressive weekend.

And Austin Maroza said he managed to get to the top ten for the first time this season.

That's looks pretty well hooked up.

So those S's section, what's it like under braking?

They both went wide here in FP3, didn't they?

In three practice three, but no such problem there.

Staying within the track limits, and then there's a sequence of slow, slow corners.

Around about 70 miles an hour to 50 miles an hour before you can get on the throttle again.

Make the short dash to the line.

Ends up half a second to drift.

Slowest of the times that we've had so far, and not improving on his best time in Q1.

Meanwhile, Hulkenberg, his teammate next across the line can't improve

on his time from the first part of qualifying.

Valtteri Bottas crosses the line.

Never failed to reach Q3 here in Mexico, by the way.

Eight previous business. He's always made the top ten.

The London Irish has had a lovely slipstream down the pit straight behind Nico Hulkenberg

to give him a fast start to the lap.

Saloda puts himself ahead of both of the houses in the Salba of Valtteri Bottas,

but once again Pierre Ghazli pops up with an impressive time,

and he's able to get that LP with six on the grid in Austin last week.

That slipstream you were talking about, Philando Norris,

well that's evidence on the timing chart there Martin.

Yeah, they helped him down the long straight, and he's now coming in too.

Well, they get paid their money, I reckon, on this track is hustling a Formula One car through here.

And there's the release of Turley 11.

They're absolutely flat out and shifting up through the gears,

and they open the rear wing. Now they've got to get it slowed down for 12.

And a nice late apex here, so you're out, break yourself,

ride that curb, use the curb on the left, contain the car,

slowest parts on the way into that, in Ultimate Corner,

and then you want to stay slightly right for the shortest run to the line.

And he's two tenths up on his quickest Q1 time.

And importantly there, three tenths up on Max Verstappen II.

George Russell also into the 1-16s, crosses the line.

He too has improved and Carlos Science slots in just behind him as Ferrari pace disappeared a little bit,

or as some of it disappeared.

Well, they were just doing such great long runs weren't they?

And just generally they've looked at the team to be, I would say,

through the early stages of free practice.

Russell and Hamilton on identical times virtually,

1-16-9. And that sort of starts to suggest to you that you're getting near the limit of the car.

Let's have a look at Charles Leclerc again. This is turn two,

where you reckon he's been a bit cheeky, Martin.

He's going to go hard left here, isn't it? Well, yeah.

Right there. Yep.

Absolutely bang to right, officer.

Meanwhile, patrolling the pit lane, Karin Chandock.

Yeah, thanks, Trofti. You know how I was saying the four hours, fully getting really hot here?

Well, the clouds have come over, and remember last year, Trofti in Q3,

that cloud cover was what was crucial for Ferrari uncovering some pace

and not locking out the front row in Q2. In fact, Mercedes looked quick.

And then that little bit of cloud cover just changed the pecking order.

We'll see. They've only run the use ties. I think you guys were saying the four.

So we'll see when they put a new set on.

But the track temperatures already dropped four degrees in this last 15 minutes.

And that no notice will take no satisfaction at all from Piastra's teammate being weighed back.

Sometimes you would have here in the season, but he needs him up there.

He needs him trying to take points off the stappin, if he can.

In fact, if either of them can come to that, but it's not like he'd be like,

Hey, I'm definitely the team leader this weekend now.

He needs Piastra in there.

Four poles in the last five races for Lando Norris.

Max, for Stappen, has been on the front row for the last two races,

and is currently second fastest here.

Piastra, as we've heard from out in Q1, also out in Q1 Sergio Perez.

Here he is with Rachel Brooks.

Think about re-user this time.

Sergio, you can hear the crowd in the stadium from here.

Just tell us what problems, what issues you had in this.

Very difficult one. Very difficult one.

I was in the first half of the car.

I just couldn't get on top of it.

I couldn't stop the car soon enough.

I was just putting too much energy into the tires, breaking.

That was the main issue for me.

Was it anything similar to FP3 at all, or had you tried to change the car?

It's been very similar to the rest of the weekend.

I stopped the car and I'm throwing a lot with that part of the face

going into the low speed.

It's a little bit similar to Austin, where I just cannot attack the corners

into the breaking, and here you have a lot of that.

How do you pick yourself up for tomorrow?

Well, I think tomorrow is just very important to try and maximize the day.

If we are able to score some good points, it will be a tremendous effort,

but it's going to be very difficult from the position we're in.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, no, just start with 8K here last season.

Finish 12th.

Just to emphasize the difficulty in working your way through the field.

Alex Albon, half a second down, but putting in a personal best for the middle sector.

Deally, love on Schulte, trying to improve that 117-0 for as fast as lap.

By at least a couple of tenths of a second by the time he crosses the line,

he tries to make the short run to it, and does a 116-9, so he does improve

by a couple of tenths of a second, and slots into 5th place.

Bernie Collins, to you.

Yeah, and I think we're still seeing improvement through this session, Prof. D.

I think that it's going to be around 16-7, 16-8 might be the cut-offs.

I'm not sure that that's the mild ones.

Actually enough, but let's see, I was too aggressive in the last session,

but I think that's why teams are going to have to run at second use-off.

And a very final little point, Prof. D.

Some run in earlier to get that lap done.

We've seen that lap deleted for Ferrari,

but our system's struggling to show us which tires people have been on

and how many laps have been doing, and that'll be exactly the CM on the pit wall.

So when they're trying to work out their qualifying cut-off predictions,

it will be more difficult to say who was used, who was new,

because they work on the CM system that we do.

So it's going to be a bit more of a struggle, lots more like we're doing,

rewinding through the video to see what it looks like leaving the garage.

Yeah, the app at the moment says they're all on brand new tires,

having done zero laps on them.

So as Bernie says, we can't, it's worth it exactly.

And let's me see them coming down the pit lane to Golden Track

and neither can anybody else.

It seems we've got about 30 people at Mission Control back at base.

We've just got Bernie Collins in a spreadsheet.

Now this is what we're up against here.

Fortunately for us, Bernie's spreadsheet is the most extensive thing you will ever see on a tour.

Shell declare, just getting on with it here,

dropped a couple attempts to land on Irish due in the middle sector.

This is his run for Q2 and a 116 six, which should be OK to make his way through into the final part of qualifying.

This teammate, Carlos, science crosses the line and produces roughly the same time.

And of course, that's the time Piaestri thought he would, he said he lost a second when he did his 117 six.

When he got the track limits thing, he had been a 16 six, which would have made sense,

actually, compared to where Norris is.

Great shame for him.

But that's old news now.

So it's McLaren from Red Bull, two Ferraris and two Mercedes.

Rebecca, Carlos, science his partner, watching on for the back of the garage.

She was watching on from the side of the T-box as he went to play golf in Austin the other day.

A lot of super fast round that was.

He overtook me a couple of times.

Well, I took a few more shots.

Leon Lawson, tenth fastest.

He's the driver at risk currently.

But he's yet to start his final flying lap.

They're all going to be queuing up here to go for it as late as possible.

Magnussen and Holkenberg, 27-3 through the first sector.

They're already on the pace and doing quite nicely.

But before that was a almost sent out on Magnussen a bit going through turn seven.

Kevin's used to handling that.

He's got a couple of Mercedes that should skamper out of the way as he gets the car.

He's got a couple of

cars in the way.

You have to place enormous trust in your fellow drivers at that moment.

I'm sure Kevin Magnussen did.

17-0.

Eight fastest.

He never reached Q3 in Mexico.

We've got a yellow flag in the final sector.

We've got a red flag.

That's why we're not.

Juki Tsunoda, into the barriers.

That's it.

Qualifying two is over.

Juki Tsunoda, going into the barriers as denied him a shot at getting out of Q2

and his teammate a shot at getting out of Q2.

It's cost for Lando Alonso, Landstroll and Valtteri Bottas.

and he's going to have a shot

and he's done a very good

middle sector.

He's got a good middle sector

under his belt and stops in

the third sector.

This stops his team-made as

well.

Those two were about to spoil

somebody's after the win actually

but RB and unfortunately

it's not going to happen.

He was just winding up for his

final flying lap.

He's got a good middle sector

and he's got a good middle sector

so before the check of flag

it timed it absolutely perfectly

but sadly he couldn't get

around the final corner in

tax headed off into the barriers

and that is the end of his

qualifying.

It sounds like you got greedy

on the curve on the way into

that turn 12 which then launched

him into the scene of the

accident.

He's got a good middle center

and that's the end of the

race.

Lawson start P12.

He scored points from P19 on

the grid in Austin.

Let's have a look at what happened

there.

Two ukis Sonoda.

He lost the back end on

downshift and turning and

breaking and he's lost it.

So what he did then, he got

a left front initially

And that was it.

Just carrying way too much speed at that point.

And the car will not stick.

So it's actually a left front lock that began the problem.

And then, you OK?

Yeah, sorry.

It's always going to be OK on that one.

It's a little tiny pump these days.

But yeah, as soon as a wheel stops rotating,

you lose a massive retardation from that.

So three wheels on his wagon effectively at that point.

And then he's way past the point of no return very quickly indeed.

As it's called points since Hungary, where he finished 9th,

Yuki Sonoda.

So he's out of qualifying along with Liam Lawson,

his teammate at RB, Fernando Alonso,

and his 400th Grand Prix weekend, and his teammate at Lance Stroll

and Valtteri Bottasci for the first time ever,

has not made Q3 here in Mexico City.

City Grand Prix, the crowd are expecting.

This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold.

It is high speed. It is high intensity.

Hamilton going deep to the inside, bites his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again, round goes Sonoda.

Max has now been wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Let's take a look at that Yuki Sonoda crash once again.

So look at the front left tyre, there,

a bit of under rotation, then the lock up.

And that's just slightly put in wide off the apex.

He's just ended up a bit too quick, a bit too wide,

and it's so dusty off-line.

I think that's why the rear of the car has come around.

And then he's had no chance to save it and send him into the powder there.

So really unlucky if you were saying before, turn 12 is challenging.

Now, Charles Leclerc's lap time deleted at turn two of the apex

is an interesting one for me because this is something that the drivers are all been trying to do more and more

over the weekend.

It's just be brave with cutting that apex.

Now they have to fully commit because if they stay a little bit further out

and use that trajectory, then that orange curve, if the center of the car goes there,

it'll bottom out, which is why he's having to go as close to that as possible.

However, obviously the lap got deleted, so they're going to have to really play that balance

between committing that curve, not letting the bottom of the car hit that curve,

but also staying within track limits.

So that's something to watch out for when they start pushing the laps in Q3.

Now, obviously Sonoda's now brought out the red flag or the crash part of the red flag,

and that affected his teammate, Liam Lawson, and I think we can hear from him now.

Thank you for all the work the last two days to get me up to speed again.

Thank you.

A very grateful Liam Lawson to his RB team, sadly, for him.

It's bid for the top ten.

It came to a halt when we had the red flag.

It is an accident involving his teammate.

The start of the final part of qualifying will be delayed,

whilst the marshals make sure the barriers are all okay.

Lando Norris with the fastest time then overall in Q2.

Lando Norris needs one more pole to tie the most by a McLaren driver in a single season

during this 21st century, and that was Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and 2012.

He took seven poles.

He's going for Q3.

Max Verstappen's going for Q3.

Two Ferraris in Q3.

George Russell in Lewis Hamilton, two Mercedes in Q3, and then Martin Brundel,

and Williams of Alex Albon, two houses of Holkenberg and Magnussen,

and for the second weekend running in Q3, and Alpied have appeared Ghazli.

And that's what they have to do.

They've been gifted an opportunity with Piaestri and Perez out.

Sunoda and Lawson, the RB stepped on their own tail with Sunoda in the wall there.

That's put them, as you're putting out, Albon, Hunkerberg, Manchin Ghazli,

in with a great shot, but they still have to do a lap time worthy of that,

so well done to them.

Yeah, it's going to be a fascinating qualifying this.

There'll be a battle for pole, and then there'll be a battle for six, seventh,

eighth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth on this one.

And those points could be absolutely precious.

Has, for instance, being above RB at the table, sixth at the table.

Probably worth an extra $15 million for Has.

And we often notice that Alex Albon all but match the two Mercedes with the same power unit,

and James on the pit wall, James Bell, I imagine you're pretty satisfied with that.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, not satisfied.

We have Franco out of Q1, but happy with Alex's lap.

Very, very good. And it's going to be a close Q3.

It's going to be a very close Q3, because there's not an awful lot of time.

Well, there's not an awful lot of a spread from maybe six down to tenth.

What's your instructions to Alex for this lap?

How do you drive it?

How do you approach his out lap, and how do you approach the flying lap that he's going to do?

I mean, if I told him anything about driving, he'd go slower.

I can assure you about that.

The main thing is this. I'm sure you can sort of see it,

but the sun's gone in now. The track temperature is dropping.

So it's actually all about trying to get the out lap spot on,

because the tyres were a little bit on my coach.

Oh, James, we're not getting particularly updated information.

Do you know who's got two new sets and one new set available for this Q3?

We've only got one, and as I speak to you, I don't have a complete distance on me.

So good question. I haven't really followed up on that.

Does that matter to you guys?

Or you'll go whenever you go, and that will probably be later on in the session, yeah?

No, I think you'll see a lot of cars do two runs anyway.

You've seen Scrup do a good new two times this session.

I think it's more because our focus is on the cars around us on the same program.

So it's the same as it has.

Thanks ever so much, James. Good luck. Go well.

Track is clear, and this session will start in three minutes and ten seconds time.

So it's a bit of a scramble now to get the right tyres on.

Carlos Sites his car.

Are we looking realistically at a Norris Verstappen battle,

or can we put the two Ferraris into that one for the pole as well?

I think Ferrari have the pace there if they can deliver it up.

But they've just been hanging on to it so far, but they're far from out of it.

And as ever, Verstappen is doing a great job of making the best of a bad job,

because I don't think his car is handling particularly well.

He's sort of standing up in the seat and just driving it and seeing how far he can get.

And that, I think, is what Max has clearly had a car that's been totally dominant

when he disappeared onto the distance.

Now he's having to really make the difference and keep the car in play.

And this is where we see the true excellence of Max Verstappen.

His car isn't quite there for him.

Are Bernie Collins?

Yes, just to comment a little bit on that coffee,

and it is difficult with what tires that we have available,

but I think, I think at this stage, that Verstappen, on contrary to normal,

has one set left, less than Norris the Ferraris and the Mercedes.

So he has one set of new.

Verstappen has one set of new, and I think Norris the Ferraris and the Mercedes have two sets of new.

The others, Albon Hulkenberg, Magus and Ghazli have one set of new.

So I think that's the mix of tires that are out there.

I think there are five drivers, the Ferraris and the Mercedes and Norris,

but two new sets for this session.

Now has GMs mentioned there, you know, many teams with that have only one new set,

what do they do going into this session?

We had a prime example last week for anyone that was watching Qualifying in Austin.

Do you do a used run first, then a new run, as many and most generally do,

or like Alonso did last week, do you do one new run in the middle of the session

that guarantees you a nice, clear track and means that you miss those yellow or red flags

at the end of the session that may bring Qualifying to a primer to your halt.

So that's the risk of playing with, as well as that with this track temperature.

If you want to do two runs, do you bank your new run first?

That goes slightly against how the track improvement would go,

but it means you've got that good lap on the board when others may miss out at the end of the track.

And is that all to do with the cloud cover?

If you think that's going away, the track's going to get warmer, you get the new ones on straight away.

Yeah, that would be one reason for doing it.

The main reason for doing it is to avoid those yellow or red flags at the end of the session

where you potentially lose that lap because your new run, for those five drivers that only have one new set,

your new one is the one that's going to really, really make a difference here.

Yeah, I mean, they can still make errors in the early part of the Q3,

but they tend to be later on when they're throwing caution to the wind on a fresh set of tires.

But I'm sorry we haven't got more information for you than that.

We're just keeping on them as they leave the garage, hopefully, as to who's got the shiny new ones.

And I suppose if your Williams Alpine or Hask, you do what your opponents do and match when they go out,

because at least then you've not made a decision that could cost you, dear, because you're out at the same time as they are.

Yeah, as a driver, I would always want to get my eye in on the used ones and then throw the new ones at it.

And it's a casino as to whether you're going to get yellows or reds or indeed, fly off the track yourself.

Look at that, the two houses are going to go straight out and try and dial themselves in the touch.

In fact, they're all coming out right now.

And the reason why Max Verstappen is making up a gap there is so he doesn't have to do it through the stadium section on the track.

He'll stagger his departure time for the bit lane to make sure that he's got a nice gap ahead that he doesn't upset.

They're brand new for Verstappen, so he might have, well, is he running them first as we were talking about?

Keep an eye on that. We'll find out. That's what we are. That's why we love LiveSport.

Absolutely. This could be the relevant lap for Max Verstappen in Q3.

This could be the one that gets him, maybe on the front row, for the third time in a row, maybe even gets him on pole

for the first time in a Grand Prix since Imola.

Do all those poles he took at the start of the season?

Eight poles he's got this year.

Hasn't had one in a Grand Prix since Imola.

Or is this going to be a day where Ferrari take advantage once again where Lando Norris extends his runner poles in 2024?

Traffic less of an issue now, of course, because we've dumped half the field and turned them into spectators,

but they still somehow managed to trip over each other from time to time as they wait for some nice clear air.

If you can steal a slipstream off of somebody else who's just finishing a lap, that's the golden ticket.

Well, that may be why Ferrari are coming out just a little bit later than others.

If anyone's going to steal a slipstream here, it would be the Ferraris of Leclerc or Sainte,

or even that Russell and Hamilton who haven't appeared from the garage in their Mercedes as-yes.

And this once again, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris can't use a slipstream from their teammate here,

but both of their teammates are out in Q1.

Still big cheers for Verstappen, and that full red ball from the fans through that stadium.

So when you're starting a lap, you go to the outside, you want to be all the way down the outside anyway,

because it's a right-hander, and you want to minimise the angle of that corner when you get there.

You don't have to stay away from any walks, and nothing to concern you about, drag.

Pick your breaking point, and not too much curve in any part of this.

That was very close to four wheels off the track for Max Verstappen, but it goes past in such a flash.

You could never judge it like that, but he was really, really pushing track limits there through,

turns two and three, and he's on his way with a 27-2 first sector.

That is very good indeed.

The one we want to match him against is Lando Norris, the 27-5 for Lando Norris through the first sector.

We match these two together because they're both on new soft compound tyres.

Hulkenberg and Magnussen match Norris, and we think they are on a use set of soft compound tyres.

Magnussen with a 1-18-1 crosses the line, and Schalder-Clay gets a lovely slipstream to start his lap behind Kevin Magnussen.

That's going to help him down the main straight, and Schalder gets a really lovely slipstream behind Hulkenberg.

They timed it beautifully, the two Ferrari drivers.

Verstappen with a 29-3 through the middle sector, that was pretty decent too.

It's a 1-16-3, the time that they've all got a beat, Verstappen on provisional pole, and here comes Lando Norris now, who won this...

No Norris at any point in that lap.

That's a stunner from Verstappen, but it's still slower than Norris did in Q2.

Albon crosses the line, goes third fastest ahead of Hulkenberg and Magnussen.

That slips through, the science and the claire, it goes, science the best first sector time and the claire, only a fraction of a second outside it.

And Schalder-Clay is very much in contention here with Max Verstappen as he enters the stadium section.

I hear the APEC is lovely there in 13.

This is the penultimate corner, Gassley's gone third for now.

The Ferrari wagging its tail, short run to the line, and he goes up onto the front row for now.

Second fastest for Schalder-Clay by a matter of four-one hundredths of a second.

Max Verstappen's had his lap time to lead it for Traglimitz's Carla sight, goes onto provisional pole for Ferrari.

What a swing around and what a turn around here for Stappen, excellent lap, but it's not going to count, and has he got another set of new tyres to try and get back up there.

Russell goes third fastest, high drama, hearing qualifying as Lewis Hamilton goes fourth fastest, and Lando Norris is the first player.

And Lando Norris currently fifth.

Oh, damn, I'm afraid I called that, and he was really pushing his lap through two and three, and they've obviously looked back at it, and they didn't like it.

Verstappen loses that incredible lap time.

Here we go, and you'll see that he cuts hard across the curb here.

Yeah.

I think he did it in three, as well, to be honest.

So we'll see it from another angle.

This is the one I was looking at. It's such a flash as they go across that.

It's really hard at full speed to judge it, but I think he cut two and three, actually, which is how it looks at high speed, but that's indisputable, I'm afraid.

Oh, dear, for Max Verstappen, the good news is that he has got another set of new soft tyres, rebel confirming to us, and thank you for him to do that.

There is another set of new tyres, so he's going to have to go out there and replicate it once again.

But even if it is, he would be on pole.

Carlos Sites with a 116-0. That's a stunning lap, and they timed it beautifully to pick up the slipstream behind Holkenberg.

As you said, Martin, someone's going to get a slipstream there.

Yeah, if you can get a decent rundown there and get a free-head start.

Bernie, what have you got for us?

Two seconds, buddy.

Oh, God, definitely feels different, equally. It's a P3.

In a good way or a bad way, we get to find out.

Well, I think it's looking like a good way when you look at the lap times on the gaps, because I think for Mercedes, as Martin was explained earlier, that shiny surface wasn't present on the tyres they were leaving, but judging by that lap time, it does look like it was only a very lightly scrubbed soft, if anything, because very, very strong lap time for Mercedes.

And then, as you said, crafted to correct the information from earlier, for stopping with the second new set available, that will be very crucial for the end of this.

Last poll for Carlos Sites, Singapore, 2023, where, of course, he won.

Ferrari at the moment, locking out that front row. They've only got three front row lockouts in the 2020s.

And it's all with Charles LeGler on pole, Miami, and Monaco 2022, and here in Mexico last season.

I think for anybody to beat a 16 flat and get into the one minute 15, just going to need a perfect lap. You're going to have to throw caution to the wind and really, really put something special together.

Carlos Sites, around that final corner. You don't always say Martin, short dash to the line.

Yeah, he took that to the extreme, didn't he? And kept it quiet until it mattered.

Absolutely.

That's what it's all about.

Lando Norris. Lando Norris dropped six tenths of a second between his best time in Q2 and his only time so far in Q3.

Yeah, he got particularly wide in the penultimate corner up against the wall leading into the pit straight did, Lando, when we went on board with him.

But it wasn't his finest lap. That's the fact so far. It's his slowest lap in qualifying.

Yeah.

Pierre Gasly in P6, where of course he started last weekend, ahead of Alex Albon, apparently sits P7 for Williams.

It's 14th on the grid from last year and score points from that particular position. Here we go.

They're all coming out.

It's quite early, really, isn't it?

Yeah.

But they've all had the same idea.

And now they'll have to tickle it along the pit lane.

They do lose tyre temperature and therefore pressure at this point, which can be quite useful if you can get the tyre pressures down a little bit.

As long as you've got enough grip when you start the early part of the lap.

But yeah, this is hurry up and wait time.

And last of those, of course, is Lando Norris.

So he's going to keep everyone waiting to see if he can make it another pole position in 2000.

And 24 is Lando Norris.

Is that the right way to go?

You're running a risk of yellow flags and red flags, but the track might just ramp up that little bit more.

The temperature of the track might drop a little bit more, and that might give you a bit more grip as well.

Yeah, I think they're still putting Formula One rubber down and really dialing themselves in.

They've got a few tools inside the car that they can use to just change the balance here and there.

And it looks as if Mercedes then want to do the very, very late run.

Bernie has news.

Yeah, I was just going to say, as you mentioned, there are crafty, Lando Norris even in the car asking his engineers,

it's not going to be too tight on time.

He's been backed up on the pipeline, starting to panic a little bit about the time available for this outlab.

And the outlab is so, so crucial to the temperature in these tires.

You want to represent what you had before.

So it is, even that little off-put of thinking he has to couch up, is not a great way to win in this session.

Now, it will be reassured that the two Mercedes are still actually coming out the pit there.

So, yeah, you've got to condition those. It's voodoo, to be honest.

You need the right temperature in the brakes, the wheel rim, the carcass of the tire, and the tread of the tire.

You've got to get all that sorted out as you start the lap.

Kevin Magnusson with the 27.3 for the first sector.

That's his best first sector time. His teammate, Nico Holkenberg, has picked up a tow behind Lewis Hamilton.

He's just coming out of the pits. So, has been a fitting for Mattowen.

Holkenberg has matched his teammate there. They'll carry on their laps.

Let's have a look at Schauer the player, then. Winner, last time out.

Ian Austin, what can he do on this final lap today?

They will be touching just under 350 kilometres per hour, 216 miles an hour there.

As they go into the first breaking point, sweet around the curve in turn one.

He's giving the white lines a bit more of a wide berth after the deletion he had in Q1.

And now, neat and tidy. Down into the corner, he's not a four.

He's done a 27.0 first sector. It did look the inside.

Even he's carrying a lot of forward speed. And science has matched that as well.

For good measure, Ferrari's coming on song just at the right moment.

He's at the track where they had a front row lockout last season.

Very much in tune with each other here.

That was a bit of a wobble, wasn't it?

Just in trouble there.

Well, if it was, he got away with it in terms of didn't crash, but did he lose time as well?

29-4 for the middle sector. So, he's improving.

But is his teammate Carlos Science improving more? Yes, he is.

By 2-10s of a second. The Ferrari's still looking strong, and Science still looking the stronger off the two.

And he's still fighting the back of the car, going to the line.

And it's not fast enough. It's a quarter of a second shine. Science will go faster.

He was almost drifting round the final turn. Science cuts to the line, takes the shortest run, and goes into the 1-15s to take provisional pull.

What's not this?

Norris has got fasted to the middle sector. The step-on's only left puts him on the front row, and he separates the two Ferraris.

But can Lando Norris now, through the final few corners, deny Ferrari and Red Bull, the chance for a front row.

Here comes the McLaren, and his only third place on the grid. For Lando Norris, it was good, but it wasn't good enough.

George Russell, sorry.

Now about 3-10s down. Lewis Hamilton made it to the line only just, but he's 6-10s down. Mercedes are not going to threaten the front row here.

It's Simon Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc. Where's George Russell going to put his Mercedes? Still p-5 for him.

Hamilton meanwhile, out of the final corner, just behind him on the straight, takes the Chega flag, and it's an all-row three.

For the two, Mercedes-Carls Magnussen out-qualifies, Gasly, out-bond out-qualifies, Holkenberg.

What a lap from Carlos. Science delight for him.

Well, two great laps, both of which would have been pole position, a 16-flat, and he got into the 1-minute 15s.

The class of the field in that qualifying, somehow Verstappen.

Yes, Paul, you are lap 2-0, 2-0.

Who has motor there?

Exactly. Being p-3 here has been quite fortuitous, hasn't it?

You get a lovely slipstream as the front row are making a punching hole in the air for you.

Norris is p-3, but the science class of the field, Verstappen has pulled a lap out of the bag,

and not for the first time by a long margin.

To get up onto the front row, Norris and Leclerc, within 5-thousandths of a second, Russell best of the two Mercedes drivers,

and Kevin Magnussen in p-7, best of the rest.

768 metres from pole down to that first corner, and Lando Norris can pick up a decent slipstream,

but ahead of him, Verstappen, on the front row for the third consecutive race.

The Rebel might not be the best car out there. He is driving the wheels off that machine,

and Carlos signed very much in harmony with his machine.

It's a smooth couple of laps. He takes pole for the first time since Singapore in 2023, where he won from.

Well, Red Bull didn't keep him, Ferrari not keeping him, and Harry is with a brilliant pole position.

Funny old world, this Formula One.

Certainly is.

He'll be doing what he does best for Williams next season. Will Carlos sign?

I'm very pleased with his after this work.

I think we've got a terrific grid, and a right-old scrap going into that first corner tomorrow.

Signs for Stappen, Norris, I don't see any of them be yielding whatsoever in Leclerc.

Fourth for the second weekend in a row, went from fourth to first at turn one last weekend.

Absolutely. And this is the start that always makes me nervous.

I'm standing in the commentary box. It just makes me nervous when they all head set off on that long, long run down to turn one.

That could have been really nasty as well, for the house of Nico Holkenberg.

He'll be angry with that. He'll be very angry with that because he ended up putting 10th out of 10th.

This is the bit I saw.

Yes, I did. I saw that long distance, didn't I, with the Ferrari out of shape?

That's cost him a couple of positions.

There we go.

You lose time all the way through the next section as well.

Just as he came into view, you could see he was correcting it, and that's cost him a front row.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, with his struggles.

He's getting more out of shape to the penultimate corner on his lap, too.

Yes, there was a little bit trigger. Happy on the throttle there.

Oh, he did.

Well, to just plow on through that, didn't he?

Yeah.

So, so knows that that cost Lewis Hamilton.

Did it cost him three tenths? Would it be improved on P6?

I'm not sure about that one. Certainly, Charles de Clerc.

Could easily have had, could have been part of a Ferrari front row lock up without that.

Yeah, without that wobble. But I love the way that.

And we're joined here by Lando Norris.

It's going to land up third on the grid tomorrow. Lando, first, talk us through your run a little bit.

You've had an incredible amount of pace so far through the weekend, but did you leave a little bit on the table?

Did you get everything you needed out of it in Q3?

It's always tough to say, but I'm pretty happy with third, honestly.

I feel like I got to the limit of the car quite quickly, which made us look good.

But I struggle to get a little more out of it in the final two laps.

So Carlos Maxita did good laps. They've been, especially Carlos, it's been very quick all weekend.

So, yeah, I'm happy with it.

With the race pace that you guys have shown lately, and especially the fact that historically, starting third here isn't a terrible thing.

Does that give you a lot of confidence for tomorrow?

It's tough to say. You know, none of us have done proper long runs on the tyres that we're going to be on tomorrow.

So, there's question marks for all of us.

But for our, we've been very good in quality and long run pace over the last couple races.

So, it's going to be tough, but we're in a good position. So, looking forward to it.

Carlos, good over one lap and going to race, running third tomorrow. Enter Norris. Thank you.

Another front row start for Max Verstappen. He's won the last three-grump free here in Mexico City.

You're going to do it from the outside of the front row tomorrow.

But let's talk about Q3. That first run getting deleted.

How much pressure does that put on you to get that second one absolutely perfect with no mistakes?

Yeah, quite a lot. I mean, naturally, yesterday I barely didn't do any laps.

So, yeah, we're playing a lot of catch up. Fp3 was not very good.

So, I was already, I think, under a lot of pressure to have a good qualifying.

And then, of course, my lap time got taken away. So, added a little bit more pressure.

But, yeah, very happy to be on the front row. I honestly didn't expect that to be possible.

Max, qualifying in Formula One right now is so tricky at any track.

But when you come to a place where the downforce levels are so low, the track surface grip is so low,

you're seemingly being robbed of grip anywhere you can be.

How difficult is it for drivers to just really extract the maximum and qualify?

Yeah, I think it's probably one of the hardest tracks to get right.

I mean, Street Circus is so difficult. And this one as well, because, as you said,

low downforce is very easy to have a lock up or a slide.

And the tires are overheating me. So, it's one of the tricky ones on the calendar.

I'm going to go for Pete Teal, try to go for four in a row tomorrow. Congratulations.

Go for four in a row. Congratulations.

Carlos signed sixth career pole position here in Mexico City for Ferrari.

What a run you guys have been on. But first, let's just talk us through that lap.

Yeah, very happy and yeah, great couple of laps.

You know, a lot of times around Mexico, you always have the feeling like you cannot put a lap together

and it's extremely difficult with how much sliding there is.

But today, I honestly, my two laps of Q3 were pretty much identical, almost perfect.

Yeah, I just put two really solid laps in Q3, the Nafo pole.

And yeah, very happy because that's not normally the case around Mexico with how tricky this.

It really seems like the last couple of weeks you've just been so comfortable in your Ferrari

from the very first lap of first practice.

Is that how it feels from inside the car because the performance has been incredible?

Yes, definitely in Sostin. We've done a, seems like a, especially on my side, a step up also in qualifying,

trying to find something extra with the out lap and the tire preparation.

And yeah, it seems like we are going in the right direction.

Obviously, looking forward to finish the job tomorrow, but at least the pole position of today.

I'll take it because it shows progress and some really solid laps.

Now, how important is tomorrow for you guys as a team?

Ferrari, the only one in the Constructors battle with both cars starting inside the top 10.

How important is collecting a massive Holopoints tomorrow?

For sure, it's our number one priority.

You know, first of all, to bring both cars home, but especially if you win the race, those extra seven, eight points

that you get when you win is important for the team in the Constructors.

So yeah, I'll be just looking forward to give that P1 into turn one.

And from there, hopefully our race pace should be good enough to win it.

Well, Carlos, every time you've come to Mexico, you've qualified better than the year before.

Last year, you were second. You kept the script going by being pole for the race tomorrow.

Congratulations. Thank you very much. Good start.

Well, he said he wanted another win in a Ferrari race who didn't need.

Before he leaves for Williams, he may just get that tomorrow.

High drama at high altitude here in Mexico City.

Some early big name casualties, surprise exits in Q1 for Oscar Piaestri and the home hero Sergio Perez.

And then Carlos Sainz taking pole for the first time since Singapore 2023.

And Max, the staff and a very happy Max, the staff and alongside him on the front row.

That qualifies certainly came as a pleasant surprise for him.

And this is shaping up to be a very exciting race tomorrow.

Here's what we've got on the way.

Oh, God.

Come on.

All of our...

I think they're giving her the low power mode.

I actually can't stop. I can't stop.

I actually can't stop.

Yes!

Don't laugh.

Like that.

Oh, my God, because I have to be able to do it.

God, oh, my life. Sorry.

That was nearly traffic limits, sir, not late.

I just wanted to be like everyone else.

I was questioning, you know, why me?

Why have I been given this disability and how...

Did I do something wrong to deserve this condition?

And that's where I was, eight years old.

So it was a really, really difficult period of time.

And because of the struggles I was having physically,

that's when I ended up in a wheelchair.

I was in a wheelchair five and a half years before I know it.

Yeah, really powerful chat there with Nicholas Hamilton.

Delighted to do that.

We have got all of that on the way from 6.30 tomorrow evening

with a race start of eight o'clock.

And it's a massive day in the Premier League tomorrow, too.

Super Sunday.

Welcome back to Mexico City, where Carlos Sainz has put it on pole for the Grand Prix.

And here is how he did it.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

We have a great day.

now

the

team.

Who has motor there?

That was fantastic.

He's determined to finish his

career on a high.

The only driver to get into the

115s.

It was a pain to point out two

decent laps in there from him.

Two laps good enough for Paul.

He's been on top form.

Both in Austin and here he was

going to be in the top four

seat next year.

The guy is delivering at the

top level of the stage.

It's been super impressive.

His commitment and his focus

to Ferrari to finish out this

season as he has.

I think he's been incredible

really all year.

He's been really solid.

He's been really solid.

He's been a great player.

He's been a great player.

He's been really solid all year.

I really hope he can get a win

for himself.

Of course in Ferrari it would be

great.

When you watch that lap his

hands are so steady.

He's able to take so much

curve.

The car looks really underneath

him.

Watching Charles Zincar it was

the same thing when I was

watching.

Maybe a tiny bit of understeer to

give him that ability to keep

him.

He's been really good at the

track.

It just looks kind of easy to

drive.

Do you think the same thing?

He's always been a very smooth

driver.

The car looks very good on the

curbs.

It's good compliance when he lands

off the curbs.

But he's thinking as well.

You could hear the short shifts.

When he's coming out of the corner

as you can sense a little bit of

slip and the wheel spin.

He's going up the next gear trying

to control it.

Always trying to accelerate in a

straight line.

Get the car going.

He's a very cerebral person as a

driver.

I thought that was a

brilliantly executed lap.

When I say easy to drive I don't

mean the job is easy.

It's just that as a driver when

the car is really good underneath

you the job does get easier.

It kind of looks natural.

But actually to Danica's point it

would have been easy for him to

let his head drop after knowing

he was going to lose his seat.

You know just quite disruptive to

not know where you're going.

From massive chunk of the season

he's ultimately plumped for

Williams which is a real coup for

them and they're excited to sign

him and they see what he's able

to do here at Ferrari.

I was starting to think back.

If you think of that equation of

a midfield team which is what

Williams is at the moment and

the driver they've managed to

attract from a top team it's very

rare.

I'm really looking back at the

history this was.

Very rare that a team in the

world is a very attractive driver

from one of the top four teams.

It's a massive coup.

James Vals and the team have done

a brilliant job to get him there.

But yeah it's a little bit of a

shame that we're not going to see

him in a red ball or a Mercedes

next year.

Did you think that Ferrari were

going to emulate their front row

lockout of last year?

Are you surprised that Charles is

only done people?

No.

I think that what we've seen

is that qualifying can surprise

us right now.

We don't always know what we're

going to get.

Which is fantastic.

It's so close.

The lap times aren't necessarily

so close.

I think that's just indicative of

this track being a track that's

very hard to push and it's easy

to make a mistake.

And obviously Carlos just had, he

was just on point, the car was

right and was able to get two

laps that were that good.

But no I think it's just that

competitive right now.

He's been three tenths away I

think.

He's been three tenths away.

He's been three tenths away.

He's been three tenths away.

He's been off to Carlos.

Carlos.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's see if we can show him

where he was in the bedroom

with Rachel.

Charles, did you feel almost like

you were chasing a lap throughout

that session once you had that

one deleted?

I was nowhere.

I was nowhere in F.P.2 when I

got into the car and knew that

I didn't have the feeling in F.P.3.

I was nowhere as well.

In quality I was nowhere as well.

So P4 is what we call

have done best.

The only thing that gives me a

bit of optimism is that I think

I'm the fastest considering the

race pace yesterday on race pace.

At least looking at yesterday.

However, starting on fourth I'm

making my life more difficult.

So the feeling was just not there.

I know that with my driving style

I've struggled a bit more on a very

low grip track, especially in

qualifying, like in Monza, like in

here.

In Monza it worked out well in the

race.

I'm pretty confident that the race

pace should be there tomorrow.

However, we need a really good

start in order to challenge for the

win.

Yeah, I mean this starts the longest

one of the season.

What do you do?

How do you plan for that start

tomorrow?

Because those front two, if you can

get a slipstream in behind them,

you two in third and fourth, can you

do something to get through?

Yeah, we need a good start and then

try and avoid wheelspin because

it's a long way until turn one.

Try and have a slipstream starting

from fourth.

That's a good thing because I have

one, but yeah, I think P3 was

probably the best place to start on

for tomorrow.

I couldn't have done that.

I couldn't have done better today.

I was again, I was struggling all

we can.

Thank you.

Thanks for the show.

We come to the table with Fred

Vassar.

Congratulations, Fred.

How impressed are you with the

way Carlos put that together today?

Yeah, it was a very good session

because the two laps of Q3 were

good enough to do the pole position.

It was not obvious before that we

were much more focused on the race

pace.

It's a very good news for us.

Honestly, we are not expecting to

do the pole position.

We were much more focused on tomorrow.

We heard Charles just saying the

race pace yesterday looked very,

very strong.

But can you just maybe add a little

bit on his qualifying pace because

he looked two, three, ten, behind

Carlos today, which was, you know,

normally we see them very close

together.

Yeah, yeah, but two, ten, it's not

a mega gap and he made a mistake in

his lap.

I think he was able to do a bit

better, but it's true also that

this format of the weekend is not

always easy.

We had a crash in FP1.

He did only the Pirelli test.

And FP2 was the prototype and he

started the weekend really this

morning.

But I think before it's a good one.

You know that it's a very long

stint until turn one.

It's not a new given to keep the

position when you are in Mexico, we

all know.

And let's see that the pace was

good on the long stint.

I think he has the same position

as Austin in the grid.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

You guys were so good in qualifying

last year and now you're so good in

the race this year with...

Next year will be good on both.

Which might be the case.

We will look forward to that.

What do you attribute that to?

You know that we are speaking about

very small delta because that at the

end the gap between the teams is

the goal to move from P1 to P3

before.

It's a matter of 10.

Sometimes it's the choices on the

project at the beginning of the

season when you want to go more in

the direction of the others.

Which ones were those?

And last year it was, as you said,

it was obvious that we were much

better in the Pirelli and I think

we did six or seven propositions.

And we won one race only.

It means that the conclusion was an

easy one at the end of the year that

we have to steer into this direction

and it's paying off today.

It's looking very good for the

Constructors' Championship battle for you, isn't it?

Because you have two cars on the top

of the course.

You won't be drawn on it, Karin.

You're trying to be done.

I thought someone you can try and drag

it in but you're only going to add

the points in Abu Dhabi then.

Yeah, I think we have the advantage

to be on the other radar.

The discussion is more about the fight

between Londo and Max between Zakh and

Christian between Mercedes and

I don't know who.

And for me it's perfect.

Let's stay like this.

Let's be under the radar and

just focus on what we are doing.

My guide.

The trouble is when you put

results in like that one too and

Austin, you can't stay under the radar,

you see.

Yeah, but all the discussion

the week after was about Max and

Londo and it was perfect for me.

Very convenient.

Yeah.

You haven't won here since 1990,

which really surprises me.

So what chance of converted that

to Maro Colos certainly seems

pretty confident of doing it.

I mean, can you cut and paste what

you did, Austin, and get a one too?

You can always when you are starting

from the front, but we know that it's very

open, that it's first that down one,

it's a tricky one.

And last year I think we had four

cars on the road on the same road

and down one that's mean that let's see

tomorrow, but the most important is to

have the pace to have a good strategy,

good pit stop and to do the job.

And we'll see you there.

All of which you'll be doing

incredibly well so far.

So good luck tomorrow.

Thank you.

Can we keep it table?

I quite like it.

I'm glad you're here.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you, Fred.

Thank you, Dario.

I'll take that from you.

Okay.

We'll dissect the rest of the

Qualified from here in Mexico City

after the break.

We'll see you soon.

To the Mexico City Grand Prix,

the crowd are expecting.

This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold.

It is high speed.

It is high intensity.

Hamilton going deep to the inside

bites his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again,

round goes Sonota.

Maxis Daben wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Traders Canada November 4th on CTV.

A couple of times a day of contrast

from McLaren because Oscar

Piaestri qualified down in P-17.

His teammate Lando Norris in P-3.

Karun caught up with the team boss,

Andrea Steller.

Andrea is just looking back at the

qualifying there.

It looked like Lando had great pace

in the early part, but you didn't

seem to make a big jump in Q3 in the way

we saw with science and the

Stappens lap time.

Why was that?

Overall, I would say the car during

this qualifying session was competitive,

was in condition to score the

position today, even though car loss

in the final session kind of raised the bar quite a bit.

But if we take the natural progression,

then with Lando we might have been there.

We have to say that the two laps in Q3

were not great.

Like in the first one there were a couple of

mistakes and these over-rated tires and then the

tires were going away from Lando.

In the second one again it wasn't very

clean, but it was important to make sure that

he was decent enough to be there in the

first or the second row.

So overall encouraging that the car was performing

well, but at the same time from an execution point

of view today we left a little bit of performance

behind, especially with Oscar in Q1,

where he had the lap time deleted and he means

that tomorrow we have quite a lot of work

ahead of us to get back in the points.

We saw last year that Lando had very strong

raised pace, he again had an error in Q1,

so out of the back came through.

Are you expecting Oscar will be able to do

something similar tomorrow?

That's the mission for tomorrow.

Replicate what we have been able to do last year with Lando,

score a good amount of points in the car in terms of

raised pace, as always being quite competitive

year based on what we saw yesterday in the long run.

Again, looks competitive, so we have the conditions

we need to do so, we need to get back in the points.

Just to follow up on that, do you think,

you say it looks competitive, what do you think

relative to Ferrari, because last weekend,

that pace was a big chunk ahead when it came to the race.

Do you suggest that basically what you seen yesterday,

you guys a bit closer?

I think looking back at Austin Ferrari was quite a bit

ahead in the sprint, a little bit less in the race,

I think in the race we couldn't really see Lando's

pace because we lost the positions at the start.

Overall, I would say our car looks closer to Ferrari

during this weekend, so hopefully we will be able to

contend for the victory and we don't have to forget

the Max is there as well.

So we look forward to another entertaining race.

Thank you very much, thank you.

Yes, we hope so too, now Bernie Collins rejoins us.

Bernie, what do you make of all that?

Let's start with Lando.

He said he got the limit of the car, he was actually

pretty happy with P3, and actually that is McLaren's best

car in Mexico since Ed and Seder in 1991.

Yeah, well it's just fantastic that he's happy with it,

but we were expecting, you know me and Dannick

definitely were expecting a bit more from McLaren

judging by what we'd seen in P3.

Now obviously they have more information in the

engineering office about what engine modes they're

running, about what fuel loads they think others are on,

but I suspect we'll be a little bit of disappointment

there, it's always better to be higher up here,

there is positions to begin at the start, and he will

know that.

Well P3 has won three of the last four races here,

so we thought about this.

We've been taken to account mistakes though, you know,

and then Oscar said that he had mistakes,

and Lando as well, so you know, I mean he felt happy

with this run, but I think Oscar had some mistakes,

so I think that they will come through,

they always have good race pace,

but you know I'm sure they're frustrated obviously

after the long break coming into this last stretch,

they were the ones to beat, and Ferrari's really

stepped it up.

It's strange isn't it, because we saw Lando go P17 up to

P5 last year, but this is a difficult track to overtake on,

so how do you see that playing out?

It is a difficult track to overtake, I think there was

a few things last year, and with the same compounds

we had this year, that's the first thing to say,

this year they have shortened the DRS zone in the main

street, so that will make it a little bit tricker,

I think it's 75 metres, so why did they do that?

Well they do it because they tweak overtaken based on what

they've seen in other years or seasons, I'm surprised

here to be honest, given that overtaken is difficult,

but they've obviously spotted something that we have not.

So that's been done anyway, the teams are fully aware of that,

that may make it a bit trickier, last year we had a red flag

in midway through the race as well, that sort of had a reset

of things, give guys another chance to start, and then this

final closed up the grade nicely at the end, so for everything

to fall into place like that, I think this is a difficult

track sometimes to make progress, and I just love the

conversations that we have now in the Saturday Night,

as all of a led strategy stood that out, so definitely

McLaren have a bit of their hands to try and make the most

of what's going to happen tomorrow.

It's all on the strategy.

Saturday Night it is, Saturday morning, nobody cares.

Okay, let's hear from Lando Doris now, he's in the pen

with Rachel.

Lando, are you happy with P3, is it a good result?

You've got everything out of that car today, you think?

Yeah, it's difficult to get everything out, we're just

probably the biggest thing today, so just found the limit very

quickly in Q1 and Q2, and obviously things were looking good,

but just found the limit, and struggled to get much more

out of the car in the final two laps, so I tried in Q3

around 1, clearly didn't work, so I just had to drive much more

under the limit in the second run, so I'm happy.

I think we just, we've not had the pace of the Ferrari all weekend,

and yeah, maybe he could have had Max, but he did a good lap,

mine was not as clean as maybe what I would have liked.

I just wanted to get a good-ish lap in, so I'm still pretty happy with.

P3 is one here, three of the last four races, so it's a good

position to start in, particularly when you look at the

Slick's dream at the start and the potential of that, have you got

the race pace to match the Ferraris, can you get past Max?

What's your thinking? What's the potential tomorrow?

It's tough. Ferraris is just very fast.

Even if we look at last weekend, they were quicker in qualifying

and quicker in the race.

Yeah, we don't have any evidence at the minute that's saying

we're going to be much quicker than the minute race, so I think

Turn 1, lap 1 will be our best opportunity.

But Ferrari is just doing things well at the minute, they're performing well,

Carlos obviously putting some very nice laps at the end, but no chance

I'm going three and a half times quicker like he did today.

I think we've accepted that they're probably a bit quicker than we are at the minute,

but definitely playing over the cars we can try to beat, so we need to beat.

Is it going to make it more difficult not having off-scour up there with you?

Yeah, probably.

Yeah, when it's a similar position with Max, really, it's me against him,

and then two Ferraris. I mean, two Mercedes as well.

We've been fairly good this weekend, so expecting an exciting race for him.

Great. Thanks.

It's interesting because he says he's pretty happy with P3, but ultimately

he really wanted to qualify ahead of his title rival Max, and that's kind of...

This was a big moment, really, wasn't it, in terms of the championship.

We know that in qualifying is his strength, we thought that he could get

the pole, full poles out of the last five.

Yeah, and I think that Austin took the edge off of this push to have to get absolutely

everything, pole beat, Max, every single time you're out in qualifying,

and in the race obviously didn't go like that in Austin, because we saw that frustration

in him when he wasn't up to speed at the beginning of the weekend,

and I mean, it's a stretch, right? It's still a stretch to beat him.

So I feel like this weekend it's a little bit more like just kind of in the zone,

in the race mode zone where you're not thinking so much about like,

you don't have to win this championship, it's always going to be hard.

There has to be a lot of things going his way, so I think it's a great attitude

to have to be able to still focus on what you're doing right now and say,

was that good or was that bad? Fourth place, he felt like he really did get

pretty much everything out of it. As he said, it's hard to squeeze the last

bits out of it around this track because it's so easy to make a mistake,

and he feels happy with that, and I think that's a good place to be.

You can't just be mad just because you didn't beat Max every time.

You have to see that you've made the most of your situation.

Well, tell me about that massive rundown to Turmo, just how significant is that?

I mean, it's the longest on the calendar.

It's the longest on the calendar. It's very, very high-fuel.

It's a very different situation today. We've had quite different track temperatures,

all of the sessions this weekend, really.

So you get a lot of big toe-dye know, they've not really had a chance to practice that

at high-fuel. You know, they missed the start at the end of P2,

which is generally pretty significant for that.

So you've got to get that break in zone absolutely right.

We've spoken so much about the lack of downforce at high altitude,

so the grip just won't be in the brakes and the tires,

like it normally is at that turn one position.

And often everything's quite cold at that point as well.

So a lot to play for in that turn one position.

We've seen, you know, last year for a check out it go very badly wrong.

And as much as we talk about overtaking being difficult,

you've got to get round turn one.

So yes, take the opportunities, but you've got to get round to one.

And you would be impressed how much these teams go through

what's likely to happen at turn one tonight with the drivers.

They'll go through the videos from previous years.

They'll look at which line they think is best inside or outside,

where all the break in zones have gone wrong.

So there'll be a lot going on with the drivers in the middle tonight.

Talking of check-out, it was a terrible day for him in front of his home fans.

P18, he qualified his teammate up in P2.

Let's see it from their team boss, Christian Horner now.

Christian Frontro for Max.

Obviously had the first lap deleted, but he got to improve anyway.

Do you think he had something in the tank just to get a time on the board?

Or was that the maximum there?

It's probably had half a hundredth at turn two because he built in a little bit of margin

for having that track line deleted, the limit deleted.

But I mean two laps for Paul from Carlos.

He's been a little competitive for a weekend, so congrats to him and Ferrari.

But very happy with Max's performance.

He dragged every bit of performance out of the car, particularly after having lost most of yesterday

to put it on the front row.

Martin was saying in commentary, it's a funny world, but in the moment,

the driver who rit yourselves Mercedes and Ferrari rejected have got himself on Paul position.

What race tomorrow? Because we saw their race pace in Austin look very strong.

What do you think about tomorrow for you guys?

Look Carlos is a quality driver and he's looked fast all weekend.

His long runs yesterday look very quick.

So it's a long run down to turn one, so it starts important.

And it's going to be fascinating.

I mean the margins are so small here with the balance.

One minute you're in the window, an X minute, you're out the window.

So I think the race could be really fascinating.

And I have to ask you about Checo.

I mean really really tough.

We came from in front of the home crowd, but what can you guys do from here?

You know it feels like back up there was a massive bump in performance,

but then it's sort of gone away from him again.

Yeah, look we need to log into it, but I mean the gap between the two cars is significant.

So obviously he's massively disappointing for him in front of his home crowd,

but I'm sure he'll give it everything he's got tomorrow, but a lot of work to do.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, there really is no escaping the fact that there is a massive gap between the two drivers.

We really wanted an obviously Sergio in all his Asian fans too to have a really strong weekend,

but he's going to have his work cut out tomorrow.

I mean Sergio said I need to get the most out of the car.

I don't think we know exactly what that is.

Is that what Max's level?

Is that exactly it?

Or is it something different because he's just not been able to be there?

But you know look there's going to be an energy that comes through Sunday.

The crowd everyone here.

There's already so many people here cheering for him.

I mean you can hear it.

We were qualifying started as we were walking back.

We heard the whole crowd saying check, go check, go.

And that'll make a difference for sure.

And you know I think if he can get up into you know if he can get seven-th or eight

I think that would be a great progress day.

And you just need to build on that and have a couple good races to finish out the season.

I mean it's tough though isn't it when they clearly haven't got a compliant car.

I mean he was lamenting the fact that he didn't trust the car today.

Yeah and I think that's it.

You know I've spoken at Ant quite a lot about this actually in the office.

You know different races and he says that that car is difficult to drive.

Max is able to hustle that car around and get the most out of it.

Despite it being quite uncertain maybe for other drivers what the car is going to do.

Jack was just not able to get that out of the car.

But you know that maybe makes a difference of a few tenths I don't know.

So the gap here at least today is much bigger than that.

And even if we look at over the season I think on average for stop runs qualifying P2.

On average Jack goes like P7, P8.

So there's a difference there that we have to sort of, or Red Bull have to look at see

how can they close out. It's going to be a difficult day tomorrow.

But he'll still have turn one last year maybe it is mine.

He needs to gain pieces. You know we've seen Lewis do it last week.

He didn't place it but you know not to get any rest.

So car needs to go through the fresh lap plate.

Well Max was up in sorts P2 for the third consecutive time this season.

He sort of just tucked in behind will he believe that he has the race base to take on the Ferrari.

So I mean they're looking strong aren't they?

Well I'm excited to see what happens in turn one.

Obviously with this being a drama field turn one.

Lots of speed on the way down. He's so aggressive.

If he gets out front as we always see it's very difficult to beat him.

And this is a track that it's difficult to pass.

So you know I think more so in Formula One than many other motorsports series that the saying of you know you can't win in the first corner but you can lose it is not really as applicable in Formula One.

We saw that last weekend in Austin with Lando not defending enough.

Max getting inside. Max pushing him wide. It slowed them both down and then Charles got around them both led the rest of the way.

So you know turn one makes a big difference and I think you know if Max has a good start with his aggression will he come out in front?

Who knows?

And it is of course a track he's done so very well out.

Five time winner here. Let's hear from him now.

Hi Max. That's starting second for the third race in a row.

We hear on the radio the issues you're dealing with.

So is this car getting better or are you getting are you being able to drive around the problems that you find in solutions yourself because you have to?

It's a bit track dependent also.

We know that we are not the most competitive in low speed.

This track has only low speed corners really.

So it's always going to be tricky.

If you miss almost the whole of Friday then it makes it even harder.

So for me FV3 I think I had to play catch up but the track was also very green again so you didn't really get a good read in the beginning.

So basically golfing was still learning and luckily the changes that we made heading into golfing they worked really well but I never expected to be on the front row.

So are you driving better almost now than you were when you were just easily getting polls because it's that much harder to?

I have to say this season in general basically after the first five races has been very challenging and it probably requires even more attention to detail to get the best out of yourself.

But I like that. It's also a challenge.

Of course I like to be on poll and I like to dominate races but when that's not possible you still have to try and maximize every result.

Then when you miss a Friday as well it makes it even harder but I'm very happy about today.

What about the race then?

How do you win this tomorrow? Have you got the pace or will it take something else do you think?

Last year I would say no problem but this year I think we are not the most competitive in the race lately.

So this is something that we have to work on but I don't really have a lot of understanding on that because Friday is always the important day to understand that.

We didn't really have that at all so I think it will be a bit of a learning exercise in the first stint and then maybe hopefully we can adjust for the second and from there onwards.

Karun rejoins us. Karun they're lacking long run data so he doesn't really know how he's going to stack up against the Ferraris.

But a big difference that a day makes here because he was in an awful place yesterday and now we hear him starting on the front road tomorrow.

He is but I feel like he's sort of in that very philosophical phase of the moment where he realizes I'm not in the quickest car.

I'm not in the dominant position that I was last year so I've got to just make sure we keep bagging in those points and maximizing what I've got.

And he is excellent at that right. The reality is from you know say Miami onwards probably they haven't had the quickest car yet he's extended his lead over Lando Noyce at the World Championship and that is an amazing sign of a driver who's able to extract every ounce of performance out of a car.

It's true as he's a different type of Max the Stappen to the one we've known in previous years. He hasn't won since Spain but as Karun says he's managed to edge out that lead to 57 points and qualifying ahead of Lando will be a boost for him again today.

Tomorrow tomorrow is another day. How strong can this rebel be? I wonder if how fast they were for a couple of years feels like a distant memory at this point in time.

You know you're only as good as your last race as they say sometimes and I'm sure that's how that is how it feels as a driver.

But he really thrives in being able to sort of make the most of the weekend. You know you hear him in practice right.

He's kind of complaining on the radio. I can't drive the car or the brakes. He goes on and on and there are issues but he pushes them and he makes the car better.

He's continued to gain ground but he expects that out of the team. You know when I spoke to him earlier this year at Miami I think it was that he really thrives on perfection on the weekend.

So he pushes the team that hard to get it out of them so that he has that kind of a weekend and he's very good at it.

And even when he's struggled they've come through so that's impressive.

You must make it frustrating there where you don't have the car to deliver perfection or someone who did do that today was Karloff's signs because he will start on pole for the Mexico City Grand Prix tomorrow.

Ferrari are the first team to have both drivers qualify on pole position this year. More reaction on the way next.

This is Mexico City.

And the Grand Prix is gold. It is high speed. It is high intensity. Hamilton going deep to the inside, fights his way by.

The fans are so passionate.

Contact once again, round coast Sonoda. Maxis Dabin wins the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Welcome back to Mexico City where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualify fifth and sit respectively. Let's see it for both of them now starting with George.

I don't know what to make of your P5. I don't know if you're going to be pleased with that.

Whether the cars are good. Okay, good. How was the car failing then today?

Yeah, I mean the lap was really, really strong. After everything that happened yesterday in Austin has been a whirlwind for us for the last couple of weeks.

And now racing on a floor that was in, we brought in Miami. So I don't know, 14 races ago to be kind of right up there. Almost only a tenth behind P3 was really strong and pretty pleased with it.

We know where we are as a team otherwise.

So it's not even the Silverstone spec. You've had to go back as far as Miami for this.

Yeah, yeah, we're in Miami spec at the moment. So obviously all down to my own issues and incidents that I've had. So that's what I put a lot of pressure on the team.

They did a great job in Austin to sort the car. They did a really great job. Last night is put a lot of pressure on everyone at the factory.

So from that side I'm a bit disappointed with myself, but I'm pushing the limits and I'm trying to get more from this car.

Now maybe we just need to accept we are the fourth fastest team. We should be qualifying 7.8 today. We qualify for fifth and sixth. So that should be a good day.

I just asked if you've got the Miami spec floor and Lewis has got the latest update on the floor. Does that mean teams potentially not still got a grip on which direction to go?

If you've turned up quicker, so did you just do a sensational lap?

I mean it was really close with Lewis tonight. The whole the whole session to be honest. I don't know what happened with him at the end.

I mean my lap I was really really happy with. I think it was one of my best off the season. At the end of the day I was still half a second or so from from pole position.

But we know that from one session to the next. We take yesterday as an example. I was quickest in FP1 and then the two laps are in FP2.

So you know it's not just down to the the approach. Thank you.

Hi Lewis. From your team radio we heard you ask am I so slow or why am I so slow if it was clipped?

And also when they replied they gave you three turns where you could improve your time. Is it a surprise to you to hear that you're losing in say three corners on a lap?

It's not something we hear from you normally.

I'm losing all the time. That's why I've been so bad in qualifying all year. It's a normal thing. I'm used to it.

You managed to get to PP2 from Seq last year around here. Is it a car that gives you that potential tomorrow or is that going to be hard?

It doesn't feel like it. We've done everything we've worked so hard in the background like everyone does to get the car in a nice place.

It was feeling good in P3 and so we're like let's not touch anything. Let's not really do anything or we change with the rear wing.

It's just a drastic difference. Every time I get to qualify in the car it's completely different.

And can't pinpoint why but it is what it is. I hope that I can strike a balance tomorrow and of course there's so much to play for tomorrow so I'll try and do a good job.

He's been out qualified by his teammate 15-5 this season. He always seems to struggle in qualifying and he was sort of points out that it's like one hand tied behind his back.

What do you think? I think qualifying has been a struggle for Lewis in this season particularly.

George is doing better but then they're much more evenly matched in the race.

Maybe you'd expect a little bit at the stage that they're out in their career perhaps if we look at it that way.

I think George should have the quicker reactions which is more important than qualifying but Lewis is always there.

They're about to be in the race pace particularly so it is about converting on Sunday and it's sad to see him so disappointed there.

But really between the lines is he trying to tell us something about the way the team and he are going about qualifying?

I don't know if he is trying to say that but definitely there's been, we've seen it so much.

Every time we're in the penalty and between P3 and qualifying or regularly when you're in the penalty and between P3 and qualifying,

they're tearing Lewis's car apart to make some changes and George is pretty happy.

I don't know if that's an overreaction between Lewis and the engineers, whatever's happening P3 and George is just more settled.

We talk a lot about let the track come to you, let the grip change.

You don't need to turn the world around based on the P3 standards.

So maybe there's a little bit of that, such fine margins here, a little bit of tyre temperature, a little bit of brief temperature makes all the difference.

It's getting all of that together working.

I don't think there's any malice on behalf of anyone in that team that are working so hard to get it together.

They want a good year for Lewis.

The send-off that they're going to give him is going to be fantastic.

Look at the celebrations of the wins in Silverstone.

I don't think they're working against them. I think they're trying to get the best. It's just not all come together in quality.

There's no doubt when you see his car loss signs putting on poorly, but you can't wait to get over to Ferrari.

But that's an example of Carlos's leaving and they're still giving their best effort.

I agree with you. I don't think that there's anything going on there that they don't want to see Lewis get to victory lane.

In fact, they probably would want to see him win in these last few races even more so because that would be such a great send-off.

But yes, of course, watching Ferrari run really well, I'm sure does make Lewis feel well.

It's sort of the same old story this weekend where they're confused and the weekend kind of gets worse.

And Lewis after yesterday said the car feels pretty good and even in FP3 this morning, not too bad and then they didn't change anything.

So, you know, it's, you know, maybe hopefully soon they get a grip on it.

Well, Tour Trussell's team has certainly done a great job to get him up there in P5.

Really consider what he's come through this weekend. Okay, let's hear from our poll sitter now. He's at the Skypad with Coru.

Carlos, thank you for joining me at the Skypad. Two laps, good enough, Paul.

Let's look at the better one. The last one, the stunning job. Talk me through it.

Yeah, well, this lap is thanks to the first one. Obviously, the first one was such a good bunker that I knew I could take more risks.

I'd be the front wing to get up in more front in the car. And I knew I could take more risks.

No, and here in turn one, two, three, you will see me cutting the curb in turn two a lot more than in my first lap of Q.

Well, talk to me about because we saw, obviously, Charles and Max lost the lap for track limits.

How hard is it to judge that? Because you guys are very close to that poll on the inside.

Yeah, is this white line not that dictates the track limits? Yeah.

And we cut through it, but you don't see the rear part of the car. And here also you can cut a lot through it.

And definitely in the first run, I didn't cut as much because I wanted to get a good lap in.

Then I saw I was on Paul with a good Mario and said I'm going to cut.

But that's where I saw compared to Max. You gained. You know, when we look at it compared to him, your distance, we can show people here just looking at that curb.

You know, that's where you pull the margin on him as I first said.

Was that you think in effect just being a bit more risky like that?

Being committed, obviously, after a good lap and making sure that this time I take everything single risk because I know my other lap is good enough for Paul, so I'm just going for it.

Now, talk to me about this, actually, because it looks like it's like a walking speed. How tricky is it to make sure you're just in control and getting that apex right?

It's a tough double apex there because you arrive with the tire very hot from 4 and 5 and then the car moves around.

And here now arriving to sector 2 is where I know I give up a lot of time because we are not competitive in turn 710 like the McLarens and the Red Bulls are.

We're always weaker in the high speed. They're always stronger in the low speed.

What about this curb here? This is where we saw some driver struggling.

But your car seems very good on the curb compliance.

Yeah, we struggle a bit with high speed ride and downforce, but at this time around I put a bit more front in the car and I really try and send it.

You see my head shaking a lot more.

But you're very smooth with the hands. This is full smooth operator here because there's no micro corrections.

It really looks like a car that you're one with here.

In the end what I'm trying to do is to keep the sliding to the minimum.

It makes it crucial about sliding a lot with the car and you end up struggling a lot with overheating.

What about this here? You've really attacked that curb.

And that sets you up because I guess you're thinking a lot about the line around that one.

I always try to open up turn 14. I like doing that line and that driving style through there.

I feel like it's also better for the tires and here you will see me now fighting the rear.

But I know I'm at the end of the lap.

Give us a sense also because it looks super slow. You've got a big crowd around you.

What does it feel like in there? You just, it's so tricky to get the line I'm sure.

You're dancing with the curbs a lot and you're almost trying to nail curb to curb and straight line the circuit as much as possible.

Trying to do as short as distance possible.

This was like Carlos, I'm senior. I love that balancing on the throttle of the way out.

It's like your dad coming out of the corner there. But brilliant, brilliant exit up to the line.

Yeah, I'm just trying to minimize distance. You know, these simulator drivers nowadays and sim racing drivers.

I'm not going to do a very short distance. No one here in that corner normally we stay around the outside.

For me, one sign full throttle and I'm not having to fight the rear anymore. I just tried to do a short distance.

I saw Lando doing this in a few tracks and I said I'm going to do it in Mexico so I make sure I don't leave any lap time.

Listen, you were fantastic today. Good luck for the race tomorrow. I hope you can come back.

Thank you.

Yeah, he really was. Now, over the last nine qualifying sessions here at Mexico City, Carlos signs has gone 11th.

10th, 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 2nd, and now pole.

That's pretty cool. I think. What about his chances of a win though tomorrow? Actually, I don't know what I'm asking you to.

You predicted, Carlos, you said Oscar. You can leave right now. You said Lando, slightly better.

What about tomorrow again? Slightly better. It sounds better.

Yeah, well, you know.

Just judging by the race pace that we've seen in Austin for our area, I've got to feel pretty confident with both drivers.

And like we've discussed a little bit, both drivers very close together on the grade.

They will be fit to work together, learn a lot from each other.

They are as a constructor in the strongest position going into this race tomorrow and the constructor's championship is so, so tight.

So I think if Carlos can get off the line well, we've talked so much about the big round to turn one, that's going to be so crucial tomorrow.

I think there's a good chance for him. Yes, Bernie is right to remind you at home at 48 points separating the top three for just eight points behind Rebel McLaren still in the lead on 544.

Now, one thing that you did predict right was Haas getting into the top 10. Really impressive today from both of them.

They benefited from Yuki Sinoda's crash, which meant they neither he nor his team maker put in what was potentially a stronger lap.

But how well do you think House can do tomorrow?

I think they're going to have another good day. I really do. I think given just the nature of this track and the difficulty of passing, I think that I think that they, I think I'm going to call that they're going to they're going to stay up there.

Both in the points. It's their first Q3 appearance in Mexico ever.

Maybe one of them.

Right. Okay. Which one? Because Magnus is not going to be in the team next year.

But he starts a little further up. But you know, I'm going to say, and he's aggressive for sure.

He really is. A couple of other stand-up performance. Alex is Alex Albon in the top 10 as well.

I think Albon and Ghazli up there in the top 10 very strong performances for both of them. Albon will be relieved without, if anything, after the P1 that he had with that big accident.

So Williams looking pretty strong and consistent. I think they're a straight line speed. And normally their arrow efficiency is quite good.

So there's going to be a lot to play for. That midfield battle is really, really tight.

Every point making a massive difference to constructors positions.

So just to pick up on the Haas thing, I think I heard from someone, rumor in the pit lane that Haas are actually gone in for Haas in the Constructors Championship.

It's a big delta. It's 48 points. They are, but with five races left, they're confident that they can regularly get both cars in the points.

What's given them that confidence, do you think? I mean, I know momentum is one thing and they've overtaken RB.

Well, they've got a push forward. When you've just overtaken RB, you can't look back.

They'll be a little bit upset that Ghazli's in there in that mix. But Hulkinberg made a mistake in qualifying. He'll be upset with that as he did last week.

He thought he should have been ahead among us. And I think that's what their piece is. So, yeah, they're ones to watch. I agree with John again.

It's good to have goals. I mean, it's good to... Yeah, they can't look back.

I'm all about setting goals, setting dreams that are a little further than maybe what you think is possible.

If you fall short, it's going to be a good day. But I think it's going to be a fun, interesting day at the front, obviously Ferrari, with so much speed in race pace.

Max not having those laps in practice to really know what he's got in a long run. It's a good scenario.

Mexico City always brings a few surprises, doesn't it? There's always a little bit of drama. So what can we expect tomorrow, do you think?

This one's always got a lot to play for. I think the big thing will be with the running that we had on P2, has everyone got their race pace set up in the right window?

That's everything from controlling the tires to the cooling configurations, engine management. There's lots to play for here in Mexico.

We talk about the altitude, it's really, really going to play it apart. So he's got that mix. Perfect. It's going to make a big difference for a podium, I think.

Can't wait to find out. Thank you very much for your company, ladies. It's been good, hasn't it? We can't wait for the race tomorrow.

It will be Carlos Sainz, who starts on pole for the Mexico City Grand Prix with Max Verstappen in his Red Bull alongside him on the front row.

Lando Norris could only manage P3 today in Charlotte in fourth. It's shaping up to be another great race from here in Mexico City. We're on air at 6.30 with lights out at 8 o'clock. We'll see you then.