Max Verstappen held up by penalty, only P5: “Really nice of Norris”

Qualifying for the historic Mexican Grand Prix was a real thriller, with numerous drivers looking at various points as potential contenders for the fastest time, including Red Bull Racing star Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman squandered his chance of setting the fastest time with a mistake in the stadium section of the tricky circuit; the 73-time Grand Prix winner never had a chance of securing pole position anyway – as, following his duel with Liam Lawson in free practice, he has been handed a one-place grid penalty for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Having set the fourth-fastest time, Max will therefore have to start from P5, behind Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc and Antonelli.

Verstappen found himself held up by Lando Norris at the crucial moment. After over-braking in the stadium section, the Dutchman growled over the radio: “Really nice of Norris, the way he positioned his car there.”

Max was annoyed by Norris driving on the right and believes that Lando could easily have left a bit more space there.

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“On the final lap, I already had a car right next to me in Turn 12, so I lost time in the slipstream. Then, heading into the stadium section, there was a driver who stayed on the right-hand side – precisely where you’re supposed to pull out for the following left-hand bend. If you want to make way for another driver at that point, you do it on the left, not the right.”

“Because of that, I didn’t have a good run-up to that left-hander, and I also lost my reference point on the right for braking. It’s a pretty tricky corner anyway, and that made it virtually impossible to take it perfectly. That ruined my lap.”

“But what pleases me is this: we had real difficulties in practice, but we got the set-up under control to such an extent that we had a good chance of taking pole position.”

“So now I’ll be starting from P5. I hope we’ll have good race pace and make up some places.”