Mexico GP: Verstappen takes pole from Russell, Hamilton
Max Verstappen was dominant in F1 Mexico GP qualifying taking pole from Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Q1:
The first part in F1 qualifying in Mexico GP saw Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m19.162s) set the pace after doing another push lap towards the end as he toppled Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.053s with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ending up in third.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez needed another lap too after DRS didn’t work the first time as he ended up seventh on the same set of tyres. It was hectic in the bottom where Haas’ Mick Schumacher made it in the Top 10 with a sixth best time.
But it wasn’t for long as he used the kerbs a bit too much at Turn 2 which resulted in lap deletion. He had to another lap of 1m20.419s in 16th which was same for Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in 17th. The other Haas of Kevin Magnussen made it in.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 18th with a 1m20.520s as Williams pair of Alexander Albon (1m20.859s) and Nicholas Latifi (1m21.167s) ended up 19th and 20th where replays showed an off moment for the Thai racer on his quick lap.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Mexico GP qualifying saw the Red Bull pair complete their first run on the used tyre as the Mercedes pair set the pace early on. Everyone did another lap where the Top 5 were separated by just the 0.063s margin.
In fact, the Top 2 were separated by just the 0.008s margin as Hamilton led the way with a 1m18.522s lap with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in second and the other Mercedes of Russell in third from Verstappen and Perez in a close Top 5 where Charles Leclerc aborted his lap.
It was a close miss for McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m19.325s) in 11th after missing on the Top 10 by just the 0.053s margin. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu (1m19.476s) was 12th from AlphaTauri pair of Yuki Tsunoda (1m19.589s) and Pierre Gasly (1m19.672s) as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m19.833s) was 15th.
Q3:
The final part of F1 Mexico GP saw a tight run at the front where Red Bull’s Verstappen led the way from the Mercedes pair of Russell and Hamilton. But the latter lost his lap time after taking the apex at Turn 3 much like Schumacher did in Turn 2.
Red Bull’s Perez got third from Ferrari’s Sainz, who had a drift moment on the kerb. Teammate Leclerc had a moment in the early part of the lap too, to be only sixth, with Alpine’s Fernando Alons going out of turn in seventh with a moment of his own.
The final run saw Verstappen improve further with a 1m17.775s lap to secure F1 Mexico GP pole with a good margin over the Mercedes pair of Russell (1m18.079s) and Hamilton (1m18.084s). The former’s final lap was deleted due to an off at Turn 12 which left his angry.
Hamilton recovered well from lap deletion as Perez (1m18.128s) was fourth from Sainz (1m18.351s) with Bottas (1m18.401s) managing to beat Leclerc (1m18.555s) for sixth after the Monegasque did not have a good run. McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m18.721s) was eighth from Alpine pair of Fernando Alonso (1m18.939s) and Esteban Ocon (1m19.010s) in the Top 10.
