Lando Norris highlights major unknown of daunting challenge

Lando Norris has pinpointed a considerable source of jeopardy at the start of the Mexico City Grand Prix, where he will start from pole.

The McLaren driver blitzed the opposition during qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, going almost three-tenths of a second quicker than Charles Leclerc, who will join him on the front row.

Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari will line up third for the 71-lap race, which is often defined by its mammoth run down to the first corner.

It is the longest run to Turn 1 on the F1 calendar, and the polesitter has not retained the lead through the opening corners for the past three seasons.

Over the past seven years, the driver on pole has secured victory in Mexico on just two occasions, underlining how formidable the challenge facing Norris will be.

When asked in front of media, including RacingNews365, how he can plan for the opening 10 seconds of the grand prix, the Briton replied: "That’s tonight.

"That’s with my engineers and my team around me to review things, see what’s best. Of course, you want a good start and go from there."

He also explained he does not know how the straight-line speed of his MCL39 stacks up against the Scuderia's SF-25, making the approach to Turn 1 a step into the unknown.

"But it’s a long run," the nine-time grand prix winner added. "I don’t know what our straight-line speed is like compared to the Ferrari. In general, I think we’ve been a touch down, so we’ll wait and see."

Tyre talk

Norris is sandwiched in an increasingly tense fight for the F1 drivers' championship between Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.

His team-mate is 14 points ahead in the standings, whilst the Red Bull driver is 26 points behind him. However, both endured difficult qualifying sessions in Mexico City.

The Australian will start from seventh, and the four-time F1 drivers' champion will line up fifth. It gives Norris a considerable advantage.

However, strategy will be another hurdle to overcome, with Pirelli having introduced a step between the hard and medium-compound tyre for the second round in succession.

Throughout practice, the red-walled softs looked to be the only option that the majority of the field looked comfortable on.

Although Norris has a fresh soft tyre to call upon, he does not appear fazed by the prospect of the other two compounds.

Obviously, with the hard being a step harder, that can change a few things," the 25-year-old said. "But the race last year was very nice, and we were very confident.

"Our race pace was very strong with the medium-hard last year. So yeah, I don’t think we’re too worried about anything.

"I think the pace has still been decent, even with missing FP1 and just kind of getting that high fuel stuff in FP2. But you never know.

"Many things can happen around here. It’s a long race. Easy to make mistakes. A lot of overtaking opportunities, that kind of thing — but the pace is there. So as long as I get my head down and focus, then I’ll be fine."