2026 Mexican Grand Prix - Saturday

Allan McNish, Racing Director: “After a very difficult Friday and Saturday morning, the team recovered extremely well, with Nico qualifying P11 and Gabi P14. For Gabi to go straight into qualifying with so little track time and produce that performance was exceptional. Great credit also goes to his mechanics, supported by the crew from Nico’s car, for ensuring his car was ready and giving him the opportunity to deliver. Nico extracted everything we had in the car today, finishing just three hundredths shy and tantalisingly close to a place in Q3. It was a tremendous effort across the team, and those starting positions give us plenty to race for tomorrow.”

Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27):
FP3: 11th / 1:18.560 (32 laps)
Q1: 1:17.868 (10 laps)
Q2: 11th / 1:17.306 (9 laps)

"It was a pretty good qualifying session overall. We made steady progress throughout, the laps were clean and I don't think there was much more left on the table. Of course, missing out on Q3 by just three hundredths is a bit of a shame, but that's how tight things are in the midfield. P11 isn't a bad place to start from, and we've also got a fresh set of soft tyres available, which could come in handy tomorrow.

"The race here is always a tough one, particularly when it comes to managing temperatures and cooling the power unit. We'll look at our strategy options tonight and see what we can make of it tomorrow."

Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5):
FP3: 21st / No time set
Q1: 1:17.727(10 laps)
Q2: 14th / 1:17.680 (9 laps)

“It was a shame not to be able to take part in FP3 earlier today, but the mechanics have done an incredible job getting the car back together and ready for Qualifying, so I want to say a big thank you to the whole team for their efforts. At least, I have now had some more laps under my belt before going into the race tomorrow, which is a positive considering everything that has happened so far this weekend.

“Q1 felt really good, and I even felt we had the potential to make it into Q3. However, with the track evolving and our balance changing, it became a bit more challenging to adapt, especially given the lack of practice and fine-tuning. It is difficult to predict how tomorrow will pan out for us, but we will try to keep it clean and make the most of our opportunities.”