Mexico City GP qualifying set for Saturday at 3 p.m. local time
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 31, 2026
Mexico City qualifying
The session will decide the starting grid for Sunday’s 71-lap race. The final practice hour offered a tight preview of what could come next, with Lando Norris setting the pace on a 1:17.600 lap and Kimi Antonelli just 0.001 seconds back in second. Charles Leclerc followed in third, Oscar Piastri took fourth and Max Verstappen was fifth. Lewis Hamilton ended up sixth, George Russell seventh, and Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10 in that order. The spread at the front was small enough to point to a close fight for pole, and the field again looked compressed among Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. That made the final practice order more than a simple warmup. It gave a clear sign that qualifying could turn on small margins, a clean lap and track position.
Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc carried strong form into the weekend by topping both Friday practice sessions. His fastest run in FP2, a 1:17.827, put him 0.103 seconds ahead of Norris and 0.106 clear of Russell. Antonelli finished fourth in that session, which kept Mercedes in the mix near the front even before Saturday’s running. The Ferrari driver’s pace across both Friday sessions gave the clearest early signal that he could be a major factor when the drivers begin their final push for grid positions. Norris answered in final practice by going quickest overall, but Leclerc stayed in the fight with another front-running result after leading the previous day’s sessions. The lap times at the front were close enough to keep every run meaningful, and the order changed enough through the day to leave no obvious favorite for pole. Instead, the evidence points to a qualifying session where the smallest mistake can reshuffle the first several rows.
Grid penalties
The weekend also carries two one-place grid penalties, with Verstappen and Lawson both punished after their FP2 collision. That leaves both drivers with a small setback before qualifying even begins, and it could matter in a session where the top runners are already separated by fractions of a second. Haas also made a change for the rest of the weekend, replacing Esteban Ocon with reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa. That switch gives the team a different look heading into qualifying and the race. Antonelli also has a major championship target in play, because he can clinch the Formula 1 drivers’ title in Sunday’s race if he finishes ninth or better. That possibility adds another layer to a weekend already shaped by tight practice times, front-row pressure and a field that keeps shifting with penalties and lineup changes. The close margins in practice suggest the starting order could swing quickly once qualifying begins, and the penalties make that fight even more important for the drivers trying to maximize Saturday’s session and Sunday’s race.
