Verstappen takes lightning pole in Mexico City but faces investigation; Leclerc P2 & Vettel P3 for Ferrari, Hamilton P4 but P6 Bottas crashes heavily for Mercedes
Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen avenged last year’s disappointment when he was mere hundredths of second shy of pole position in Mexico City to outclass all other competitors and grab the top starting spot for tomorrow’s Mexican Grand Prix. However, Verstappen also set his fastest lap time as a yellow flag was being waved at the end of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s race after Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas crashed heavily while approaching the final turn. The Dutchman inexplicably failed to slow at all through the yellow zone despite already having a mega-fast banker lap that no one else could top. And so the stewards are investigating and Verstappen may face a penalty that once again denies him pole at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The pace of the Red Bull in Verstappen’s supremely skilled hands must have been a shock to Ferrari after dominating in all practices so far. But when it came time for the lap times to count and determine the grid rising star Charles Leclerc found himself about half a second behind the pole-sitting Red Bull despite absolutely throwing his Prancing Horse into corners and ostensibly starting alongside him in the front row at P2. Leclerc’s senior teammate Sebastian Vettel was third fastest while Mercedes seemed to struggle in the thin air of this high altitude venue and their ace Lewis Hamilton could do no better than P4. While Bottas was heavily winded by the harsh deceleration of his Silver Arrow’s impact head-on with a protruding Techpro barrier and was examined after sustaining such heavy G-forces he appeared unhurt. Such was not the case for his badly mauled Mercedes and while his initial time in Q3 before the shunt was good enough for a P6 start it’s possible the necessary rebuild might require enough parts replacements to push him to the back down the order or even force a start from the put lane come Sunday.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon again showed his promise to qualify P5, while the improving McLaren team had another strong outing in their bid to lay claim to being “the best of the rest” with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris taking P7 and P8 respectively. Daniil Kvyat was P9 and an ailing Pierre Gasly was P10 for Toro Rosso to round out the top 10 starters in Mexico.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:15.949 | 1:16.136 | 1:14.758 | 16 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:16.364 | 1:16.219 | 1:15.024 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:16.696 | 1:15.914 | 1:15.170 | 18 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:16.424 | 1:15.721 | 1:15.262 | 20 |
| 5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:16.175 | 1:16.574 | 1:15.336 | 18 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 1:17.062 | 1:15.852 | 1:15.338 | 18 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:17.044 | 1:16.267 | 1:16.014 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:17.092 | 1:16.447 | 1:16.322 | 20 |
| 9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA | 1:17.041 | 1:16.657 | 1:16.469 | 22 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA | 1:17.065 | 1:16.679 | 1:16.586 | 22 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race will be broadcast live on ABC starting at 2:30 PM Eastern here in the States. We’ll have to wait till then to find out whether Verstappen keeps his coveted number one grid spot or faces sanctions from the stewards for not slowing under yellow that push him further back in the field to start the race. Hope to see you then!