Ferrari in dynamic mood, but Mexico pole is unexpected, claims Fred Vasseur

F1 Grand Prix, GP Mexico, Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez

After Carlos Sainz secured pole position in the qualifying session at the Mexico City Grand Prix in dominant fashion, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has revealed that the Scuderia did not expect to be in contention for the first starting spot.

On the back of their sensational double victory in Texas, Ferrari displayed another impressive performance in yesterday's qualifying session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz dominating the all-important closing stages of Q3 to take his first pole position of the season.

It was not surprising to see many drivers struggle to get to grips with the tricky track as the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez poses a unique set of challenges due its its altitude.

While McLaren's Lando Norris excelled in the opening stages of qualifying, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz caused a surprise in Q3, displaying impressive speed in the all-important last qualifying segment. The Spaniard completed two flying runs in Q3 and both of them would have been good enough to grab pole.

Sainz started from pole for the last time back in Singapore in 2023 which means that his achievement in yesterday's qualifying was his first pole position this year.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur claims that while the Scuderia is in a "dynamic mood", the Italian team did not expect to fight for pole position after the practice sessions.

"The whole team is in a dynamic mood, feeling plenty of energy after Austin and here we were much more focussed on tomorrow as we did not expect to get pole, so this is a nice and unexpected surprise.

"Carlos did a very good job with his two laps being good enough for pole and even though Charles was not very happy with his lap, he is just a couple of thousandths behind Lando (Norris).He also has done a good job, especially considering he didn’t try the Softs before this morning’s FP3.

"It's very important that we are in the fight tomorrow with both cars: it’s a very long run down to Turn 1 after the start and it’s not a given that you keep your grid position, so here in Mexico anything can happen and having both cars fighting at the front offers us more opportunities.

"It will be a very long race and the most important thing will be to have good pace on the long stint, run a good strategy and execute the race perfectly," concluded Vasseur.