Mexican GP Starting Grid: Who Starts Where After Max Verstappen’s Penalty, Liam Lawson’s Disqualification

The Mexican GP will take place on Sunday, November 1, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Lewis Hamilton took pole on Saturday, his first for Ferrari, and will be joined by George Russell on the front row. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen will drop a place due to a grid penalty, and Liam Lawson will start at the back of the grid following his disqualification from qualifying.

Starting Grid For Sunday’s Mexican GP

#1 Lewis Hamilton – Scuderia Ferrari

#2 George Russell – Mercedes

#3 Charles Leclerc – Scuderia Ferrari

#4 Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes

#5 Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing

#6 Lando Norris – McLaren

#7 Isack Hadjar – Red Bull Racing

#8 Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls

#9 Pierre Gasly – Alpine

#10 Nico Hulkenberg – Audi

#11 Franco Colapinto – Alpine

#12 Oscar Piastri – McLaren

#13 Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi

#14 Oliver Bearman – Haas

#15 Carlos Sainz – Williams

#16 Alex Albon – Williams

#17 Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin

#18 Ryo Hirakawa – Haas

#19 Lance Stroll – Aston Martin

#20 Sergio Perez – Cadillac

#21 Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac

#22 Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls

After the session, pole-sitter Hamilton shared his delight after claiming what was his first pole position with Ferrari.

“Wow! That felt great, that feels good. So happy. Oh man, I’m lost for words. It’s been a really, really tough, challenging weekend,” Hamilton said after qualifying on Saturday.

“To have pole here, I mean, I don’t even know if I’ve had a pole here before. So it feels special to be in Mexico and get that. My first, I think this is my first pole with Ferrari,” he added.

Hamilton has actually claimed a pole position in Mexico before, which came back in 2016.

Why Liam Lawson Was Disqualified from the Mexican GP Qualifying

Lawson was disqualified from the Mexican GP qualifying and had his result removed as a result of a technical breach during Q2. The Kiwi driver failed to slow down at the specific rate required by the regulations following a fast lap during the session, which was apparently enough to warrant a disqualification by the FIA stewards.

“Evidence submitted, which was accepted by all parties present, showed that after the control line at the end of his fastest lap in Q2, the driver did not lift off the power immediately. This resulted in the rate of reduction of MGUK deployment required to achieve the regulated “step down” not being achieved,” read the stewards’ report.

Lawson did not immediately begin slowing down after he completed a quick lap, and then slowed down too aggressively, not adhering to the ‘rate of reduction of MGUK deployment’ as prescribed in the regulations. Now, the 24-year-old will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid as a result of being disqualified.

The stewards also noted that while Lawson did not gain any performance advantage with this move, and the fact that Racing Bulls self-reported this incident, did not constitute mitigating factors in this instance.

Meanwhile, Verstappen already had a one-place grid drop following his collision with Lawson in FP2 on Friday. Lawson also originally had a similar penalty, which has now been converted into a much more severe punishment.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Valtteri Bottas Drop Down the Starting Grid

Drivers toward the lower third of the grid are facing sanctions as well. Bortoleto has a 5-place grid penalty for taking his sixth electronics control unit for the season. As per the limit set by the FIA, a driver is allowed only three per season.

Bottas, however, is facing a much more severe punishment. The Finn has a 50-place grid penalty to his name for exceeding power unit element allocations. Those include the ICE, turbocharger, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics

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