McLaren had a scare before qualifying, Verstappen was upset and Sainz was still very strong

Just after ‘Classic’, It will be the turn for another highlight of Saturday: the classification of F1 Mexican GP. Starting at 11:00 pm (DAZN), the pilots of ‘Great Circus’ They will be looking to maximize their result before the starting grid this Sunday. And in that battle, McLaren will come as the clear favorite to take the first line.

This weekend the orange team installed a new floor to complete the great package of improvements shown last week Austin. And maybe that’s decisive. The ‘papaya’ cars took a giant step in Free Practice 3 with one lap and swept, with Piastri leads FP3 with 1’16″492, beating Lando Norris by 59 thousandths.

He’s just around the corner Carlos Sainzwhich remained at 0″340, while Charles Leclerc He didn’t make a good turn in his last attempt and was 7 tenths out of sixth place. He finished in fourth place Verstappen in half a second (at 0″511) and hamilton He was 5th at 0″568.

McLaren It seems like a great contender because of its good speed in slow corners and how well it can attack curbs, light years away from a Red Bull of Verstappen who had to make an alliance again in the hands of Max, who always has the ability to rise from a difficult situation and get a turn in Q3 to reduce losses. But things are not looking good for the current leader of F1, with a 57-point margin against Norris who should take advantage of this Grand Prix to deal a great blow to Maxno matter how hard it is to achieve the title with 5 appointments left.

You only have to see the fury with which Verstappen finished FP3. “It doesn’t work. No grip, neither front nor back”said the Dutch. Although this is not the first time that Red Bull has come out of a worse situation at a crucial moment in qualifying.

Norris against Piastri, with Sainz 3rd

For now, Norris has to contend with his teammate Piastri. And at the back, Sainz is running as a good candidate for the third place or at least to achieve the second rank which will give him a good chance to win. The red car this year was worse in qualifying and greatly raised its level in the race with better tire wear than its rivals. That’s why Ferrari will be the car to follow in Austin, with a red double on a day where Sainz didn’t win because of how hurt he was by Max’s aggressive start. He wants to continue chasing success in Mexico, but to do so, the Spaniard needs to get to that second line. Starting from afar will complicate things for him.

Highest parity in the Top-10

However, nothing can be taken for granted in the face of a classification that seems so close. The times speak for themselves. From Verstappen, 4th, to Magnussen, 9th with Haas promising Mexico, there were only 4 tenths, and Haas didn’t have a good last lap.

Haas, RB and Williams against Alonso

In the fight for Q3 there could be many cars, with Haas and RB as good contenders to lead the central zone and a Williams with which Albon and Colapinto would like to fight. Currently, the Thai is 11th, 17 thousandths away from the Top-10 and the Argentine is 13th, two tenths away.

‘Checo’ Pérez could only be 14th, with a bad last attempt, and Fernando Alonso, with his Aston Martin, was 15th at 1.306, As the Asturian said on Friday, the weekend was must be “difficult” for him in his 400th Grand Prix. . He will have to go out to qualify for another one of his miracles.