Carlos Sainz scorched to pole for the Mexican Grand Prix with a 0.225-second advantage over Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen.

Sainz was in imperious form throughout the session and found two times good enough for pole – opening his Q3 run with a 1m16.055s and improving on his final run to a 1m15.946s to line up at the front of Sunday’s grid.

Verstappen rescued a front-row start after losing his first Q3 lap to track limits having cut both parts of the Turn 2/3 chicane, and set a 1m16.171s on his final attempt to qualify ahead of championship rival Lando Norris.

Norris’ first lap was comparatively poor and was only fifth at the end of the opening runs, but found improvement on his final tour to head the second row alongside Charles Leclerc.

The Monegasque saved a snap through the high-speed corners and managed to collect fourth, albeit three tenths down on his team-mate.

The two Mercedes drivers occupied the third row, as George Russell outqualified Lewis Hamilton as the younger Briton improved more on the final tour. They were ahead of an impressive Kevin Magnussen, who parked his car seventh on the grid over Pierre Gasly.

Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg were ninth and 10th, the German having overcooked it on the exit of Turn 12 on his last lap to lose a chance at moving further up the grid.

Yuki Tsunoda was the master of his own Q2 elimination after putting his RB in the wall ahead the Foro Sol section while on a flying lap, causing a red flag with a crash at Turn 12.

This also denied his team-mate Liam Lawson the chance to progress, as the two looked set to improve and challenge Gasly’s 10th-fastest lap.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were both starting their final flying laps before the session was stopped and were subsequently eliminated, while Valtteri Bottas was also denied the chance to break out of Q2 in the wake of the incident.

Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez were the big scalps taken in Q1; the Australian failed to reclaim his FP3-topping form and also failed to progress into the second phase of qualifying – making his life more difficult by losing a lap for track limits. H

He reckoned that had he not gone beyond the Turn 12 kerb and lost a second in the process, he would have made it through.

Perez was dumped out at the first hurdle of qualifying for his home grand prix having struggled with braking in the low-speed corners throughout the session. The Mexican only got up to 15th on his final lap of the opening stage but was shuffled down the order by Charles Leclerc’s escape from the drop zone.

Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu propped up the order, as Ocon’s late effort to overturn the on-the-cusp Lance Stroll crumbled in the final sector.

After every F1 qualifying session, Motorsport.com publishes each team’s qualifying record in terms of team-mate duels.

This record is based exclusively on qualifying results so that grid penalties don’t alter the statistics.

When a driver can’t put in a representative lap time due to a technical issue or an incident, this will be mentioned in the table.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen	23-1 (19-1 without sprints)	Sergio PErez
1	Bahrain	5 (+0.358s in Q3)
1	Saudi Arabia	3 (+0.335s in Q3)
1	Australia	3 (+0.359s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Japan	2 (+0.066s in Q3)
4	China (sprint)	6 (+0.347s in Q3 – rain)
1	China	2 (+0.322s in Q3)
1	Miami (sprint)	3 (+0.235s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Miami	4 (+0.219s in Q3)
1	Imola	11 (+0.530s in Q2)
6	Monaco	18 (+0.349s in Q1)
2	Canada	16 (+0.966s in Q1) Advertisement
2	Spain	8 (+0.658s in Q3)
1	Austria (sprint)	7 (+1.322s in Q3)
1	Austria	8 (+0.888s in Q3)
4	Great Britain	19 (+6.006s in Q1 – went off) Advertisement
3	Hungary	16 (+0.799s in Q1 – crashed out)
1	Belgium	3 (+0.606s in Q3 – rain)
2	Netherlands	5 (+0.387s in Q3)
7	Italy	8 (+0.040s in Q3) Advertisement
6 (+0.210s in Q3)	Azerbaijan	4
2	Singapore	13 (+0.899s in Q2) Advertisement
1	United States (sprint)	11 (+0.954s  in Q2)
2	United States	10 (no lap time – track limits) Advertisement
2	Mexico	18 (+0.808s in Q1)

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton	6-18 (5-15 without sprints)	George Russell
9 Advertisement (+0.225s in Q3)	Bahrain	3
8 (+0.144s in Q3)	Saudi Arabia	7
11 (+0.059s in Q2)	Australia	7
7	Japan	9 (+0.242s in Q3) Advertisement
2	China (sprint)	11 (+0.058s in Q2)
18 (+0.489s in Q1) Advertisement	China	8
12 (+0.028s in Q2)	Miami (sprint)	11
8 (+0.040s in Q3) Advertisement	Miami	7
8 (+0.270s in Q3)	Imola	6
7 (+0.078s in Q3) Advertisement	Monaco	5
7 (+0.280s in Q3)	Canada	1
3	Spain	4 (+0.002s in Q3) Advertisement
6 (+0.216s in Q3)	Austria (sprint)	4
5 (+0.063s in Q3) Advertisement	Austria	3
2 (+0.171s in Q3)	Great Britain	1
5	Hungary	17 (+0.881s in Q1) Advertisement
4	Belgium	7 (+0.349s in Q3 – rain)
12 (+0.396s in Q2) Advertisement	Netherlands	4
6 (+0.073s in Q3)	Italy	3
7 (+0.415s in Q3) Advertisement	Azerbaijan	5
3	Singapore	4 (+0.026s in Q3)
7 (+0.533s in Q3) Advertisement	United States (sprint)	2
19 (+0.618s in Q1)	United States	6
6 (+0.295s in Q3) Advertisement	Mexico	5

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc	14-9 (12-7 without sprints)	Carlos Sainz
2	Bahrain	4 (+0.100s in Q3)
5 (+0.250s in Q3) Advertisement	Australia	2
8 (+0.104s in Q3)	Japan	4
7 (+0.352s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement	China (sprint)	5
6	China	7 (+0.008s in Q3)
2	Miami (sprint)	5 (+0.354s in Q3) Advertisement
2	Miami	3 (+0.073s in Q3)
4	Imola	5 (+0.263s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Monaco	3 (+0.248s in Q3)
11	Canada	12 (+0.037s in Q2) Advertisement
5	Spain	6 (+0.005s in Q3)
10 (no lap time in Q – technical issue) Advertisement	Austria (sprint)	5
6 (+0.193s in Q3)	Austria	4
11 (+0.254s in Q2) Advertisement	Great Britain	7
6 (+0.209s in Q3)	Hungary	4
2	Belgium	8 (+0.723s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
6	Netherlands	11 (+0.225s in Q2)
4	Italy	5 (+0.006s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Azerbaijan	3 (+0.440s in Q3)
9 (no lap time in Q3 – track limits) Advertisement	Singapore	10 (no lap time in Q3 – crashed out)
3	United States (sprint)	5 (+0.030s in Q3)
4 Advertisement (+0.088s in Q3)	United States	3
4 (+0.319s in Q3)	Mexico	1

Charles Leclerc	1-0	Oliver Bearman
2	Saudi Arabia	11 (+0.530s in Q2) Advertisement

McLaren

Lando Norris	19-5 (16-4 without sprints)	Oscar Piastri
7	Bahrain	8 (+0.069s in Q3)
6 (+0.043s in Q3) Advertisement	Saudi Arabia	5
4	Australia	6 (+0.257s in Q3)
3	Japan	6 (+0.271s in Q3) Advertisement
1	China (sprint)	8 (+3.050s in Q3 – rain)
4	China	5 (+0.108s in Q3)
9 Advertisement (+0.311s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	6
5	Miami	6 (+0.081s in Q3)
3 (+0.017s in Q3) Advertisement	Imola	2
4 (+0.118s in Q3)	Monaco	2
3	Canada	4 (+0.082s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Spain	10 (no lap time in Q3 – went off)
2	Austria (sprint)	3 (+0.208s in Q3) Advertisement
2	Austria	7 (+0.330s in Q3)
3	Great Britain	5 (+0.207s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Hungary	2 (+0.022s in Q3)
5	Belgium	6 (+0.046s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
1	Netherlands	3 (+0.499s in Q3)
1	Italy	2 (+0.109s in Q3) Advertisement
16 (+0.576s in Q1)	Azerbaijan	2
1	Singapore	5 (+0.428s in Q1) Advertisement
4	United States (sprint)	16 (+0.962s in Q1 – time deleted)
1	United States	5 (+0.620s in Q3) Advertisement
3	Mexico	17 (+1.092s in Q1)

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso	16-8 (15-5 without sprints)	Lance Stroll
6	Bahrain	12 (+0.399s in Q2) Advertisement
4	Saudi Arabia	10 (+0.726s in Q3)
10 (+0.480s in Q3)	Australia	9
5 Advertisement	Japan	16 (+0.770s in Q1)
3	China (sprint)	15 (+0.558s in Q2)
3 Advertisement	China	11 (+0.186s in Q2)
8 (+0.044s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	7
15 Advertisement (+0.205s in Q2)	Miami	11
19 (+0.459s in Q1 – went off)	Imola	13
16 Advertisement (+0.291s in Q1)	Monaco	14
6	Canada	9 (+0.473s in Q3)
11 Advertisement	Spain	14 (+0.244s in Q2)
13 (+0.031s in Q2)	Austria (sprint)	12
15 Advertisement	Austria	17 (+0.163s in Q1)
10 (+0.332s in Q3)	Great Britain	8
7 Advertisement	Hungary	8 (+0.201s in Q3)
9	Belgium	15 (+1.458s in Q2 – rain)
7 Advertisement	Netherlands	9 (+0.224s in Q3)
11	Italy	17 (+0.396s in Q1)
8 Advertisement	Azerbaijan	14 (+0.978s in Q2)
7	Singapore	17 (+0.410s in Q1)
14 Advertisement (no lap time – track limits)	United States (sprint)	13 (no lap time – track limits)
8	United States	14 (+0.330s in Q2) Advertisement
13	Mexico	14 (+0.126s in Q2)

Alpine

Pierre Gasly	10-14 (8-12 without sprints)	Esteban Ocon
20 Advertisement (+0.155s in Q1)	Bahrain	19
18 (+0.004s in Q1)	Saudi Arabia	17
17 (+0.365s in Q1)	Australia	15
17 (+0.308s in Q1) Advertisement	Japan	15
16	China (sprint)	17 (+0.088s in Q1)
15 (+0.240s in Q2)	China	13
16 Advertisement (+0.312s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	13
12	Miami	13 (+0.047s in Q2)
15 Advertisement (+0.475s in Q2)	Imola	12
10	Monaco	11 (+0.389s in Q2)
15 Advertisement	Canada	18 (+0.146s in Q1)
7	Spain	9 (+0.268s in Q3)
9 Advertisement (+0.523s in Q3)	Austria (sprint)	8
13 (+0.085s in Q2)	Austria	10
20 Advertisement (+5.247s in Q1 – rain)	Great Britain	18
20 (+0.117s in Q1)	Hungary	19
12 Advertisement (+0.175s in Q2 – rain)	Belgium	10
10	Netherlands	17 (+0.277s in Q1)
14 Advertisement	Italy	15 (+0.028s in Q2)
DSQ (fuel flow)	Azerbaijan	19
18 (+0.354s in Q1) Advertisement	Singapore	15
12	United States (sprint)	17 (+0.052s in Q1)
7	United States	13 (+0.435s in Q2) Advertisement
8	Mexico	19 (+0.468s in Q1)

Williams

Alexander Albon	14-2 (13-0 without sprints)	Logan Sargeant
13	Bahrain	18 (+0.373s in Q1) Advertisement
12	Saudi Arabia	19 (+0.419s in Q1)
12	Australia	DNS
14	Japan	19 (+0.176s in Q1)
18	China (sprint)	20 (+0.111s in Q1)
14	China	20 (+0.974s in Q1 – spin) Advertisement
20 (+0.307s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	19
14	Miami	17 (+0.144s in Q1) Advertisement
14	Imola	– (no lap time – track limits)
9	Monaco	17 (+0.397s in Q1) Advertisement
10	Canada	13 (+0.251s in Q2)
19	Spain	20 (+0.356s in Q1) Advertisement
19 (+0.236s in Q1)	Austria (sprint)	15
16	Austria	19 (+0.120s in Q1) Advertisement
9	Great Britain	12 (+0.242s in Q2)
13	Hungary	14 (+0.114s in Q2) Advertisement
11	Belgium	19 (+1.508s in Q1 – rain)
DSQ (technical infringement)	Netherlands	– (no lap time – crash in FP3) Advertisement

ALEXANDER ALBON	4-2 (4-1 without sprints)	FRANCO COLAPINTO
9	Italy	18 (+0.519s in Q1)
10 Advertisement (+0.329s in Q2 – pitlane incident)	Azerbaijan	9
11	Singapore	12 (+0.007s in Q2)
18 Advertisement (+0.448s in Q1)	United States (sprint)	10
16	United States	17 (+0.011s in Q1)
9 Advertisement	Mexico	16 (+0.369s in Q1)

RB

Yuki Tsunoda	13-8 (12-6 without sprints)	Daniel Ricciardo
11	Bahrain	14 (+0.149s in Q2)
9	Saudi Arabia	14 (+0.461s in Q2) Advertisement
8	Australia	18 (+1.297s in Q1)
10	Japan	11 (+0.055s in Q2)
19 (+0.571s in Q1) Advertisement	China (sprint)	14
19 (+0.303s in Q1)	China	12
15 (no lap time – track limits)	Miami (sprint)	4
10	Miami	18 (+0.293s in Q1)
7 Advertisement	Imola	9 (+0.209s in Q3)
8	Monaco	13 (+0.376s in Q2)
8 Advertisement (+0.236s in Q3)	Canada	5
17	Spain	18 (+0.090s in Q1)
14 Advertisement	Austria (sprint)	16 (+0.024s in Q1)
14 (+0.123s in Q2)	Austria	11
13 Advertisement	Great Britain	15 (+0.680s in Q2)
10 (+0.030s in Q3 – crashed out)	Hungary	9
18 Advertisement (+1.142s in Q1 – rain)	Belgium	13
13	Netherlands	16 (+0.340s in Q1)
16 Advertisement (+0.044s in Q1)	Italy	12
12	Azerbaijan	15 (+0.210s in Q1)
8 Advertisement	Singapore	16 (+0.369s in Q1)

YUKI TSUNODA	3-0 (2-0 without sprints)	LIAM LAWSON
9	United States (sprint)	15 (no lap time – track limits) Advertisement
11	United States	15 (no lap time – grid penalty)
11	Mexico	12 (+0.033s in Q2)

Sauber

Valtteri Bottas	22-2 (19-1 without sprints)	Zhou Guanyu
16	Bahrain	17 (+0.001s in Q1) Advertisement
16	Saudi Arabia	– (no lap time – crash in FP3)
13	Australia	20 (+0.848s in Q1)
13	Japan	20 (+0.541s in Q1)
9	China (sprint)	10 (+2.493s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
10	China	16 (+0.336s in Q1)
18 (+0.093s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	17
16 Advertisement	Miami	20 (+0.361s in Q1)
16	Imola	17 (+0.208s in Q1)
19 Advertisement	Monaco	20 (+0.516s in Q1)
17	Canada	20 (+0.926s in Q1)
12 Advertisement	Spain	15 (+0.511 in Q2)
18	Austria (sprint)	20 (+0.472s in Q1)
18 Advertisement	Austria	20 (+0.214s in Q1)
16 (+1.241s in Q1 – rain)	Great Britain	14
12 Advertisement	Hungary	18 (+0.550s in Q1)
14	Belgium	20 (+2.244s in Q1 – rain)
18 Advertisement	Netherlands	19 (+1.093s in Q1)
19	Italy	20 (+0.344s in Q1)
17 Advertisement	Azerbaijan	18 (+0.628s in Q1)
19	Singapore	20 (+0.482s in Q1)
19 Advertisement	United States (sprint)	20 (+1.324s in Q1 – time deleted)
18	United States	20 (+0.076s in Q1)
15 Advertisement	Mexico	20 (+0.679s in Q1)

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg	16-7 (14-5 withOut sprints)	Kevin Magnussen
10	Bahrain	15 (+0.678s in Q2)
15 Advertisement (no lap time – technical issue)	Saudi Arabia	13
16 (+0.267s in Q1)	Australia	14
12 Advertisement	Japan	18 (+0.310s in Q1)
13 (+0.005s in Q2)	China (sprint)	12
9 Advertisement	China	17 (+0.448s in Q1)
10	Miami (sprint)	14 (+0.284s in Q2)
9 Advertisement	Miami	19 (+0.236s in Q1)
10	Imola	18 (+1.013s in Q1 – impeded)
12 Advertisement	Monaco	15 (+0.285s in Q2)
19 (+0.761s in Q1)	Canada	14
13 Advertisement	Spain	16 (+0.229s in Q1)
17 (+0.196s in Q1)	Austria (sprint)	11
9 Advertisement	Austria	12 (+0.085s in Q2)
6	Great Britain	17 (+0.976s in Q1 – rain)
11 Advertisement	Hungary	15 (+0.231s in Q2)
16	Belgium	17 (+0.192s in Q1 – rain)
14 Advertisement	Netherlands	15 (+0.080s in Q2)
10	Italy	13 (+0.287s in Q2)
6 Advertisement	Singapore	14 (+0.503s in Q2)
6	United States (sprint)	8 (+0.215s in Q3)
12 Advertisement (+0.070s in Q2)	United States	9
10 (+0.479s in Q3)	Mexico	7

NICO HULKENBERG	0-1	Oliver Bearman
13 Advertisement (+0.223s in Q2)	Azerbaijan	11

Conner Jones, 18 years old, was making his 22nd career start on Saturday when he reacted poorly to some aggressive racing from rival Matt Mills. While battling for 17th in the Homestead Truck race, Jones got into the back of Mills. The tuck snapped hard to the right and slammed the wall, quickly erupting into flames.

Mills emerged from the fiery wreck of his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet under his own power after it came to a stop in the grass, resting against a tire barrier. Per the team, Mills has since been transported to a local hospital for further observation.

Jones was immediately held two laps for reckless driving and went on to finish 25th. He declined to make comments to several members of the media after the race, but has since released the following statement:

“I have not yet had the chance to personally apologize to Matt for the incident that took place during today’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but I intend to do so. Matt and I have encountered several on-track incidents this season, and I let my frustration get the best of me.

“I underestimated the impact my actions would have on Matt, and I deeply regret the consequences that followed. I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Matt, Niece Motorsports, NASCAR, and my entire ThorSport Racing team for my unsportsmanlike behavior. My thoughts are with Matt, during this time after hearing that he has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation following the contact on the racetrack.”

Any future updates regarding Mills’ condition will be added to this story.

There was plenty of fanfare for Pato O’Ward ( Pato O’ ) in the buildup earlier in the week, including over 3,000 fans showing up for a recent sponsor appearance at the Plaza Reforma 222 shopping mall in downtown Mexico City.

However, the 25-year-old from Monterrey, who regularly drives for Arrow McLaren in the IndyCar Series, was strictly about business once he strapped into title contender Lando Norris’s McLaren MCL38 as part of F1’s rookie practice requirements.

The outing turned into an eventful hour session for O’Ward, dodging some of the carnage to log 21 laps and ending just over 0.3s from teammate Oscar Piastri’s best time (1m18.958s).

Fans show their support for Pato O’Ward, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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Overall, O’Ward was simply trying to provide the team with valuable feedback with recent upgrades, including a new floor.

“My job was to gather information for the team because there were obviously upgrades on my car and there was a big emphasis on being consistent and being able to gather that information,” O’Ward told Motorsport.com in an exclusive. 

“That was the main priority. Obviously, it was a pretty hectic FP1 session; a lot of red flags, a lot of time spent in the garage. But, that’s how it goes. You’ve got three or four flying laps on the hard (tire compound) and then one lap on the soft.

“I’m pretty pleased with how we were able to tackle all of that information and we were able to extract what we needed to from our run plan, because it was definitely not a very clean session in terms of other guys having accidents — and glad everyone’s all right — but definitely a session that threw curve balls at us.”

Pato O’Ward, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Quickly up to speed

When asked how close to the limit he was able to reach considering this was his first session of the year at a track — Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez — he’d not yet driven, O’Ward provided a candid comparison:

“I mean, put this in the scenario: put a Formula 1 driver in an IndyCar for practice one and I guarantee you they don’t get within a 1.5s of whoever the leader was,” O’Ward said. 

“That just doesn’t happen. You can’t really test these cars and at a track that you don’t really know, and in a car that you don’t know at all that you’ve never driven.

“The only way of extracting the most out of a car is you need to find its limit; by finding the limit, you need to go over the limit, but obviously, when you go over the limit, you play with risk and when you’re playing with risk, there’s a possibility that if it does go wrong, there’s going to be a lot of very unhappy people with you. And that is the first thing I did not want to do, so I was pleased with the job that I did and what I got to extract from the car.”

Oscar Piastri completed the final practice session ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix on top of the timesheets, 0.059 seconds clear of McLaren Formula 1 team-mate Lando Norris.

The two McLarens had sat about three tenths clear of the rest of the field led by early session headliner Carlos Sainz, as the Ferrari driver could not capitalise on his pace in the first half of the session.

In response to FP2 being employed as a Pirelli tyre test, the drivers spent the early laps getting experience with the soft and medium tyres.

Max Verstappen set the first lap on soft tyres straight out of the gate as he sought to make up for limited running on Friday; the Dutchman’s power unit was changed to overcome the air leak that plagued him yesterday. He set the pace with a 1m18.397s, but this was swiftly beaten.

George Russell, another driver recovering from Friday’s woes after his FP2 necessitated a chassis switch, found a 1m18.284s – but Lewis Hamilton had this beaten by about a tenth and a half.

Sainz then broke below the 1m18s barrier to log a 1m17.825s lap, which team-mate Charles Leclerc got close to; Sainz then improved to a 1m17.447s to raise the bar, and improved again by a tenth to continue his presence at the top of the order.

Verstappen kicked off the bonafide qualifying simulations with a 1m17.003s but looked scruffy in the middle sector, and this left his lap open to Lando Norris’ subsequent effort. The Briton put together a 1m16.551s to put distance between himself and Verstappen, although Oscar Piastri found half a tenth over his team-mate to go quickest.

Sainz was third fastest with a 1m16.832s, ensuring that he also moved ahead of Verstappen – who struggled with front braking and failed to improve on his follow-up effort.

Although Hamilton felt that his own lap to go fifth fastest had been a good one, he was alarmed by the over-half-second pace deficit to the McLarens.

A late attempt by Charles Leclerc to rise higher than sixth looked to be on as he improved in the opening sector, but lost time in the middle part of the lap thanks to traffic on his lap at the death of the session.

Yuki Tsunoda was seventh fastest over Russell, while Kevin Magnussen and Liam Lawson (who suffered a brief spin in the Foro Sol in the opening half of the session) completed the top 10. Magnussen did not improve on his first effort with the softs having locked up at Turn 12, but a second attempt brought him into the top half of the field.

This was at Alex Albon’s expense, as the Anglo-Thai shook off his FP1 crash and the subsequent missing of FP2 to outpace team-mate Franco Colapinto by two tenths – the Williams split by Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.

It’s been a rocky few weeks for Denny Hamlin, who was open in discussing why he and the team aren’t on their ‘A-game’ during this critical stage of the 2024 playoffs.

Hamlin, the winningest driver in NASCAR Cup Series history without a title, currently sits fifth of eight, 27 points below the cut-line. At Vegas, a fuel gamble allowed him to snag a top-ten finish that helped to limit the impact, but it was still an off day for Hamlin.

He hasn’t won during the playoffs yet, and unless “one or two of the guys up front stub their toe,” there likely isn’t a path for him to advance on points. So what’s going on with the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team and is it time for a change on the pit crew roster?

“No, you ride with the group you got,” said Hamlin in a Saturday media availability. “They’re certainly in a slump, for sure. But, we got to ride it out and feel like that’s the best group we can put on pit road. And certainly, it’s not due to talent or anything like that. They have all the keys they need for that. They were the best pit crew for the first quarter of this year.

“But, certainly, it’s been a lot of different issues on pit road. Pretty much most times we come down (pit road), it’s been different things, so can’t really pinpoint one consistent problem we’ve had. So, just have to see where it goes.”

Lacking the speed

Compounding the issue is the fact that Hamlin isn’t as fast we’d expect him to be. The car seems slightly off, which makes rebounding from such mistakes a much bigger challenge.

“We’re not leading laps,” explained Hamlin, who has led just five laps through the first seven races of the playoffs. But that’s not the only factor, according to the veteran driver.

“That’s definitely an indicator of speed. We haven’t done that over the last several weeks, certainly. You know, I don’t know. Again, I think some of it is schedule. We’ve had three of these typical ovals we’ve had in the series – Bristol is one of them we’ve ran top-three all day. Kansas, every time we got right at the lead, we had a bad pit stop.  And then, (Las) Vegas, obviously, was just wheels came off on that one. And that’s been seven weeks’ worth. You have the road courses. I’m not going to lead a bunch of laps there. Not going to show a ton of speed there. And then the superspeedways. So, it just feels like forever.”

But it’s important to realize that despite all of these issues, Hamlin is still in contention. Half of the playoff field has been eliminated but the No. 11 remains, as Hamlin himself points out: “…We still have a chance, even this late in the game.”