27/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris: "I'm pretty happy with third. I feel like I got to the limit of the car quite quickly, but I struggled to get a lot more out of it in the final two laps. It's tough to know what to expect tomorrow. None of us have done proper long runs on the tyres that we're going to be on, so there's question marks for everyone. It's going to be tough but we're in a good position and I'm looking forward to it."
Oscar Piastri: "A painful and disappointing afternoon. My first lap on the Soft was looking good and would have been enough to progress to Q2 until I lost a lot of time going over the curb and had the lap deleted as a result. I then didn't have enough grip on the second push lap to be able to put it all together.
"We're in a similar starting position to Lando at this event last year, and he still had a good race, so we'll look to push forward and make up as many places as we can. The car is in a good spot so we'll be aiming for the points tomorrow."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "We had a competitive car heading into the Qualifying session, but conditions were tricky. It was difficult to put together clean laps.
"With Lando, P3 is a pretty good grid position. Up until Q3, his performance was very strong, finishing P1 in both Q1 and Q2. His first attempt in Q3 wasn't quite there and it was important that he put together a strong lap to get onto the first two rows with a decent second attempt. It's a long way to Turn One and sometimes at this circuit, pole position isn't the place to be.
"On Oscar's side, we got a lap deletion, which meant there was quite a bit of pressure on the second run. With compromised grip levels we didn't put together a fast enough lap to progress in what has proved recently to be very competitive Qualifying sessions. This weekend, Oscar is also still running the previous specification of floor and front wing. While that alone doesn't explain today's result, it is important to note.
"Oscar starts P17 and, being optimistic, that's where Lando started last year before finishing P5. The pace is strong, he can make up places. The mission tomorrow is clear: to move forward with both cars."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Mexico City here.