Lando Norris set a blistering pace in final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix to send out a message to his title rivals.
The British driver ended the final running before qualifying 0.345 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri was almost six tenths adrift in fifth while resurgent title hopeful Max Verstappen was over six tenths back in sixth.
Verstappen has arrived in Mexico City as the man in form, having roared back into championship contention by winning three of the last four races, and is favourite to rack up another victory in Mexico City, where he has won five times before.
He trails leader Oscar Piastri by 40 points — down from 104 five races ago — and is 26 behind second-placed Norris with 141 points still to fight for.
Verstappen has beaten the McLaren duo in each of the last four races and qualifying sessions and was fastest in practice on Friday.
But Norris surged to the fore on the soft-tyre run on Saturday to deliver a lap of 1.16.633 that nobody could come close to matching.
George Russell was third for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth to hint at a four-team battle for the front rows of the grid.
Piastri struggled in Austin last weekend, trudging home in fifth, and has been off the pace throughout practice in Mexico.
He ended Friday’s running down in 12th and could not deliver the pace of his teammate in Saturday’s final practice before qualifying.
No driver has won the Mexican Grand Prix when qualifying outside the top three since Alain Prost (13th) in 1990.
Qualifying for Sunday’s race gets under way at 3 pm. local time (10 p.m. BST/5 p.m. ET).
