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Charles Bradley

F1 qualifying results: Max Verstappen takes Mexican GP pole

Verstappen will start ahead of the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout in Q3.

Mexican Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from Russell

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'17.775   199.220
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'18.079 0.304 198.445
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'18.084 0.309 198.432
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'18.128 0.353 198.320
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'18.351 0.576 197.756
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'18.401 0.626 197.630
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'18.555 0.780 197.242
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'18.721 0.946 196.826
9 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'18.939 1.164 196.283
10 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'19.010 1.235 196.106
11 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'19.325 1.550 195.328
12 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'19.476 1.701 194.956
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'19.589 1.814 194.680
14 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'19.672 1.897 194.477
15 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'20.419 2.644 192.670
16 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'20.419 2.644 192.670
17 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 1'20.859 3.084 191.622
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'21.167 3.392 190.895
19 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'19.833 2.058 194.085
20 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'20.520 2.745 192.429

What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q1?

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the early pace at 1m19.505s before Verstappen beat him by 0.283s with 1m19.222s. Valtteri Bottas was next up for Alfa Romeo, 0.004s ahead of Hamilton.

Hamilton ran again and improved the quickest time to 1m19.169s, 0.053s faster than Verstappen.

Falling at the first hurdle were Mick Schumacher (Haas, who lost a top-six laptime due to exceeding track limits by chopping the apex kerb at Turn 2), the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll (who has a three-place grid drop), and the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

Mexican Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'19.169     195.712
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'19.222 0.053 0.053 195.582
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'19.505 0.336 0.283 194.885
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'19.523 0.354 0.018 194.841
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'19.566 0.397 0.043 194.736
6 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'19.583 0.414 0.017 194.694
7 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'19.706 0.537 0.123 194.394
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'19.857 0.688 0.151 194.026
9 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'19.907 0.738 0.050 193.905
10 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'19.945 0.776 0.038 193.813
11 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'20.006 0.837 0.061 193.665
12 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'20.256 1.087 0.250 193.062
13 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'20.279 1.110 0.023 193.006
14 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'20.283 1.114 0.004 192.997
15 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'20.293 1.124 0.010 192.973
16 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'20.419 1.250 0.126 192.670
17 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'20.419 1.250 0.000 192.670
18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'20.520 1.351 0.101 192.429
19 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 1'20.859 1.690 0.339 191.622
20 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'21.167 1.998 0.308 190.895

What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q2?

Hamilton set the bar at 1m18.552s, with Russell just 0.013s behind as Mercedes went for it on new softs from the start of the session.

In the final runs, Sainz jumped to P2, 0.008s off Hamilton, with Verstappen behind Russell in fourth – the top quartet covered by just 0.014s.

Knocked out at this point were Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), the AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and Kevin Magnussen (Haas, who has a five-place grid penalty).

Mexican Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Sainz

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'18.552     197.250
2 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'18.560 0.008 0.008 197.230
3 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'18.565 0.013 0.005 197.217
4 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'18.566 0.014 0.001 197.215
5 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'18.615 0.063 0.049 197.092
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'18.762 0.210 0.147 196.724
7 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'19.081 0.529 0.319 195.930
8 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'19.109 0.557 0.028 195.861
9 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'19.119 0.567 0.010 195.836
10 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'19.272 0.720 0.153 195.458
11 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'19.325 0.773 0.053 195.328
12 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'19.476 0.924 0.151 194.956
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'19.589 1.037 0.113 194.680
14 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'19.672 1.120 0.083 194.477
15 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'19.833 1.281 0.161 194.085

What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Red Bull's Sergio Perez set the benchmark at 1m18.153s that was smashed by Verstappen on 1m17.947s, with Russell taking second, 0.132s in arrears, ahead of Hamilton – the latter then losing his lap time for exceeding track limits at the apex of Turn 3. Perez was two tenths down in fourth, with both Ferrari drivers having moments on their opening runs.

On the final runs, Verstappen went even faster with 1m17.775s to underline his pole position, three tenths clear of Russell – who went wide on the entrance to the Foro Sol. Hamilton salvaged third with a 1m18-flat, just 0.005s off the front row, while Perez improved but could only manage fourth.

Sainz will start fifth, ahead of Bottas, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lando Norris (McLaren) and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

Mexican Grand Prix Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'17.775     199.220
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'18.079 0.304 0.304 198.445
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'18.084 0.309 0.005 198.432
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'18.128 0.353 0.044 198.320
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'18.351 0.576 0.223 197.756
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'18.401 0.626 0.050 197.630
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'18.555 0.780 0.154 197.242
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'18.721 0.946 0.166 196.826
9 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'18.939 1.164 0.218 196.283
10 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'19.010 1.235 0.071 196.106
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