Damon Hill drops 4-word reaction to Lando Norris' sensational pole position in the F1 Mexican GP qualifying

1996 F1 champion Damon Hill shared a concise verdict on Lando Norris' claiming the pole position for the Mexican GP. The Briton stormed to pole position with an advantage of over a quarter of a second to his nearest rival, showcasing McLaren's strength around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is known for providing drivers ample chances to overtake their rivals. But, qualifying largely sets up the precedent of what's to come, except for the top spot, as it usually changes in the run-down to turn one.

Despite this, securing the front spot on the grid remains drivers sole target on Saturday (during qualifying), which the 25-year-old was easily able to achieve. Moreover, the gap to the second-place qualifier, Charles Leclerc, was over a quarter of a second, while his championship rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri are slated to start fifth and seventh, respectively.

Subsequently, sharing his thoughts on Norris' pole position, Damon Hill captioned his Instagram story:

"Quite a good pole 👏🏻"

Damon Hill reacting to Lando Norris scoring the pole position for the 2025 Mexican GP | Source: Instagram/@96f1champ

This was Lando Norris' first pole position since the Belgian GP, which took place before the summer break.

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Lando Norris was surprised after clinching pole position for the Mexican GP

McLaren's Lando Norris after scoring the pole position for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico - Source: Getty

Lando Norris had a massive advantage over his rivals in the timing charts after the conclusion of qualifying for the Mexican GP. This had left the paddock stunned with the pace that the Briton was able to extract from the McLaren MCL39.

On the other hand, even Norris was left surprised after scoring the pole position for the race. In his post-qualifying radio chatter, the McLaren driver asserted that he didn't know he had such pace underneath him.

This sentiment continued into the post-qualifying interview, where Norris told former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe on the F1TV broadcast:

"I'm happy to be back on pole. It's actually been a really long time. So, good feeling. The lap, I don't know. It was one of those laps, you don't know what happened. It felt decent, but when I crossed the line and saw a 1:15.5, I was very pleasantly surprised."

"I've been feeling good all weekend, especially from today. Like FP3, Q1, Q2, Q3. I got a little bit nervous with the Ferrari in Q3 at the end, but I pulled it out when it mattered and I'm happy because of that."

Meanwhile, if the championship rivals finish in the same position as their qualifying results, then Norris would regain the championship lead, while Piastri would suffer a huge points loss to both his teammate and Verstappen.