Norris explains shock early exit from Mexico qualifying

Lando Norris has explained the events the led to his early exit during qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver looked like he could have challenged for pole heading into the session, after getting close to Max Verstappen during practice on Friday.

But in a shock turn of events, the Briton was left down in P19 in the first qualifying segment after an earlier mistake threw his run plan out of the window in the MCL60.

“I locked up, I went off on my one lap. We had one problem on the first run, and then we had the yellow flag from Fernando [Alonso’s spin] on the final runs, so it was a shame," said Norris.

"But my one opportunity that I needed to put a lap in, I locked up and I went off.”

Norris aims for points

After taking podiums in four of the last five races, Norris is aiming to finish in the points and extend McLaren's lead over Aston Martin in the Constructors' Championship.

“I mean, it’s difficult to go backwards, I’ll be worried if I go backwards tomorrow,” he admitted.

“The pace is good, Oscar’s doing a good job. I probably should have gone P1 if I put my lap in before, but there’s a lot of ‘shoulda woulda coulda’ for me at the minute.

"Yeah, a shame, but points will be our target so we’ll see what we can do.”