His next effort was deleted due to track limits, dropping him down to P19 in the drop zone, and while he initially looked to have just scraped through by improving to P14, the fact that others bettered their times saw Piastri pushed down to P17 and out of the session.
When quizzed on what had happened – and how much pressure he had been under on his final lap – Piastri explained: “Yeah, I mean the medium [tyre] I just didn’t have much confidence on, and the first soft [tyre] lap I was doing was very positive, and then I just went wide at Turn 12 and that was that.
HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from qualifying in Mexico as Sainz storms to pole after shock Q1 exits for Perez and Piastri
“Then we tried to go again but I just had zero grip, the tyres were too hot. Disappointing.”
