Lando Norris left title rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri trailing in his wake as he stormed to pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Norris ended his six-race run without pole position, his last coming in Belgium in July, by dominating the field and beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.262 seconds.
It was a significant boost to Norris’ title hopes as rivals Verstappen and Piastri struggled to fifth and eighth respectively.
Piastri will start seventh due to a grid penalty for Williams’ Carlos Sainz but the championship leader has been well off the pace all weekend and was almost six tenths adrift.
Lewis Hamilton claimed third on another impressive day for Ferrari and he will be hopeful of landing his first podium for the Scuderia on Sunday.
Verstappen arrived in Mexico City as the man in form, having roared back into championship contention by winning three of the last four races, and was favourite to rack up another victory in Mexico City – where he has won five times before.
He trails leader Piastri by 40 points – down from 104 five races ago – and is 26 behind second-placed Norris with 141 points still to fight for.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez boasts the longest run from pole to the turn one braking point on the F1 calendar, and Norris will be braced for a testing 830m dash when the lights go out on Sunday.
The Mexico City circuit is one of the trickiest of the season, with the low air density at altitude making it difficult to generate downforce.
Verstappen was one of the drivers struggling for balance in the opening session of qualifying and was only ninth-fastest, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar leading the way and Norris fourth.
Piastri was eliminated in Q1 here 12 months ago. He narrowly squeezed through to Q3 by less than a tenth, with relief etched on the face of team principal Andrea Stella, but was no threat to pole and has major work to do on Sunday to prevent significant damage to his title lead.
Leclerc surged to provisional pole in the first runs in Q3 but Norris found the answer with his run, a scintillating 1.15.586 second lap which could prove pivotal in his title bid.
