Mexican Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying

And so we come to the annual tradition of me trying to remember what impact the higher altitude and thinner atmosphere of Mexico has on the race… (Less air, less slipstream effect, so overtaking’s harder).

As before, this is up early due to the late FP3/qualifying times being inconvenient for me.



Quick note for FP1: there were nine young (mostly) drivers taking regulars’ places and neither Verstappen nor Norris were driving.

Anyway, Leclerc was quickest, ahead of Antonelli by a tenth. Two-tenths later came Hulkenberg, who was narrowly ahead of Piastri. Bortoleto followed, making this rather good for Sauber, with Lindblad (Red Bull), Ocon, Tsunoda, Colapinto, and Albon following.

Verstappen topped second practice, a tenth and a half ahead of Leclerc, who was again followed closely by Antonelli. Norris was next, then came Hamilton, with Russell, Tsunoda, Alonso, Sainz, and Stroll completing the top 10. Piastri was 12th, six-tenths off Norris.



I would be tempted by the 9 on Leclerc for pole if it were available each way… but it isn’t, so I’m not. If you’ve got a free bet then backing him at 11 each way for the win may be the way to go.

Looking rough for Piastri at the moment, but Antonelli’s looking pretty good. I think Verstappen’s the man to beat in both qualifying and the race.



Morris Dancer

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