Daniel Ricciardo’s Joe Namath moment

It may not be on par with Joe Namath boldly predicting a New York Jets’ upset win ahead of Super Bowl III, but Daniel Ricciardo followed up a big statement about his pace on Friday with a stunning performance in qualifying Saturday for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

After a strong performance in Friday’s second practice session saw the AlphaTauri driver finish sixth on the time sheets — just three-tenths of a second behind pace-setter Max Verstappen — Ricciardo declared in the team’s post-practice report that he had a “top ten” car.

He proved it Saturday, pushing his AT04 into Q3 and onto the second row, where he will start fourth.

Alongside Verstappen, his former teammate at Red Bull.

“I’m very pleased. P4 is a little higher than we expected within the top 10, but the pace has been there from the start of the weekend. After Austin, knowing we had a normal weekend in Mexico to try things with our setup, we started with a slightly different car and definitely more toward what I was after. I was happy to hit the ground running yesterday. The confidence in the car was there, and we were always a solid P10 car, with some purple sectors sometimes,” said Ricciardo in the team’s post-qualifying report.

“Before qualifying, it wasn’t about whether we could make it into Q3 but how far up the grid we could qualify. Yuki was great and gave me a slipstream in Q1 and 2, so that definitely gave us the extra tenth or two to get in, and then Q3 was just our pace. From that point of view, we had the pace to do it,” added Ricciardo. “The lap I was visualising in my head was maybe P7, or P6 at best, but P4 is wild. As a team, we have to enjoy it because it’s a big moment. It’s not often that we get this far into the top 10, so there’s a part of me that will be enjoying it for the next hour.”

As noted, Ricciardo did get a big boost from teammate Yuki Tsunoda. With Tsunoda forced to start at the back of the field due to an engine penalty, he played the role of wingman for Ricciardo, giving him multiple tows during qualifying to aid Ricciardo’s effort.

That also helped Ricciardo maximize his tyres during the three qualifying sessions.

“With Yuki starting from the back of the grid, he showed how much of a team player he is by giving Daniel tows throughout Qualifying,” said AlphaTauri Chief Race Engineer Jonathan Eddolls. “This was key to the success today because it allowed Daniel to save a tyre set in Q1, leaving two new sets of the soft compound for Q3.”

While the job is not done yet for Ricciardo, he knows he has a good chance to finish in the points in the Grand Prix, and bring home some big points for the team.

“Points are awarded tomorrow though, and I believe we have a chance to score a lot. Half the job is done but it’s a long run to Turn 1, so I’ll keep calm, pick a good line, and race hard.”

Winners: Ferrari

At the United States Grand Prix, Ferrari inched closer to Mercedes in the battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship. That, of course, was due in large part to the disqualifications handed down to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, a DQ that erased Hamilton’s strong second-place performance.

Only 22 points currently separate the teams, but thanks to Saturday’s massive effort from Ferrari, they have a chance to really reduce that deficit on Sunday.

Leclerc captured pole for the fourth time in a Grand Prix this season, and for the second-straight race. Starting alongside him on the front row? Teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.

“After FP3 I was convinced we could do well, but maybe not this well! Performance this afternoon was mainly driven by the tyres because there was the risk that if you pushed too hard at the start of the lap, you would have killed the tyres at the front or the rear towards the end of the lap,” said Team Principal Frederic Vasseur in the team’s post-qualifying report. “We managed things very well during Q1 and Q2 and we had the advantage of having two new sets of Softs for Q3 for both Charles and Carlos and the first flying laps proved to be the best.”

Still, as everyone noted following qualifying, there is a long way towards Turn 1 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and a lot can happen on that opening straight. Vasseur pointed to that fact as well.

“Of course we will enjoy today’s result but we must not get carried away and we are already focused on how we can convert this performance to the best possible result tomorrow as we saw the field is very tight,” added Vasseur. “It’s a very long run to turn 1 and the slipstream here is an important factor, but we still prefer to start from the front row. Having both drivers there separated by six hundredths shows the team is doing a good job.”

With the Mercedes due of Hamilton and George Russell set to start sixth and eighth, respectively, Ferrari is in a very good position heading into the race.

Loser: Lando Norris

On the other end of the spectrum, it was a rather mixed day for McLaren. Their recent run of form pushed them into fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship following the United States Grand Prix, passing Aston Martin, and with Oscar Piastri starting seventh, they are in a good place to extend their current lead.

But Lando Norris finds himself at the back of the field, due to a bit of bad luck during Q1. He bailed out of his first two push laps, due to an issue with the car on the first run and then a mistake on his second. As he was fighting at the end of Q1 to post the lap he needed to advance, Fernando Alonso’s spin brought out the yellow flag, and the session ended with Norris still in the drop zone.

He ended up 19th, and he’ll start the Grand Prix in 18th after Tsunoda’s penalty.

“Today’s result is obviously not what we wanted. An issue with the car on the first run meant we didn’t set the banker lap we needed,” said Norris after qualifying. “I made a mistake on my second run, and didn’t get a chance to complete my third lap due to the yellow flag, but that’s the way it is sometimes. It’s frustrating as the car was good and the speed was there. I’ll bounce back tomorrow.”

Winners: Alfa Romeo

Saturday was a strong day for Alfa Romeo.

The team saw both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu advance into Q3 for just the second time this season, the first coming back at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Bottas is set to start the Grand Prix in ninth position, with Zhou alongside him in tenth.

“The result we have achieved today definitely represents a solid starting point for tomorrow’s race. We are delighted for both cars to have made it into Q3, and we must pay tribute to our drivers, to everyone trackside, as well as the team back home in Hinwil, and to our engine suppliers, Ferrari,” said Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. “We were able to properly maximise our package today, and I reckon we have a real chance to add points to our tally tomorrow. It wasn’t easy out there, but both Valtteri and Zhou did a solid job, having been able to extract the maximum from their cars and from their own performance.”

“It’s great to have both cars in Q3, especially considering where we were just a week ago. I am really proud of the team for the work done: everything ran smoothly today. The track definitely suits our car quite well, so it’s been good fun out there: I think I got the most out of our car today, despite a lock-up in the last sector on my final lap,” added Bottas in the team’s post-qualifying report. “Looking ahead to tomorrow, with the pace we’ve shown so far, as well as what we have learnt in practice, I reckon we have a concrete chance to bring home some good points, so I am looking forward to getting in the mix.”

“We kept improving with each session, feeling more comfortable with each lap,” added Zhou. “Now, with two cars in the top ten, we have a good chance to score points: we will still need a strong race tomorrow, but we’ve put ourselves in a good position to do so.”

Coming out of the summer shutdown, Alfa Romeo stated their clear goal of finishing seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of their competition for that spot, Williams and Haas. While Williams currently has a ten-point lead in that fight, Saturday’s effort from Alfa Romeo gives them a good chance at cutting into that lead.

Losers: Williams

Speaking of Williams …

This was not the Saturday Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant were hoping for. Coming off their first double-points finish of the year in the United States Grand Prix last week, both drivers endured deleted lap times, and as a result Saturday goes into the books as a day they would like to forget.

Albon posted a lap during Q2 that would have been good enough to advance into Q3, but that lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits. He’s set to start the Grand Prix in P14.

“I don’t think it was track limits, however, I might be wrong. Based on the external view of the shot, it looked to me that my rear tyres were still on the white line, however, it is what it is,” said Albon.

“It’s really frustrating but what’s more frustrating is the lack of pace in Qualifying; I was four or five-tenths slower than I was in FP3, losing a lot of grip, so I almost had to do tyre management to keep the tyres alive into sector 3.

“It was the same from FP1 to FP2 and now FP3 to Quali, so we really need to look into it. We’ll look to tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Things were even worse for Sargeant. First, he failed to advance out of Q1 after he could not post a time. Because he failed to post a time, the team had to request permission for him to even enter the race, despite failing to post a qualifying time within 107% of the fastest time in Q1. Thankfully, that was granted.

However, he got word late Saturday night that he was given a ten-place grid penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag, when Alonso spun near the end of Q1.

Remember, Sargeant has yet to lock down his spot for next season. Last week’s points certainly helped his cause, but Saturday seemed like a step in the wrong direction for the rookie driver.