After three practice sessions it’s time to set the grid for the Mexican City GP. Will Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc score his second pole in the last two races, or will championship winner Max Verstappen impress with his speed once again?
Will Williams confirm their practice pace, which allowed Alex Albon to end two sessions so far in P2, or will home GP hero Sergio Perez return in the mix for the top spot?
Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to set a lap in Q1 in 1:19.730s, joined on track by Gasly and the Aston Martin drivers as the other contenders take their time to get on track.
Shortly after, Perez goes on top with a 1:18.553s and is highly praised by the fans on track, but it’s brief as Verstappen improves the benchmark by half a second.
With ten minutes to go, ten drivers are yet to sign a timed lap, as first Valtteri Bottas and then Daniel Ricciardo cycle into the second spot.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant, in his first race after becoming a points scorer in Formula 1 in Austin, signs a purple first sector, but his time was later cancelled for track limits at turn 12.
One of the very few drivers on mediums is Charles Leclerc, who slots in third only 0.302s off Verstappen’s time on softs. His teammate Carlos Sainz in P7 is on his same compound, just like the McLaren and Mercedes drivers.
Max Verstappen is noted for impeding alongside Fernando Alonso and George Russell for stopping at the exit of the pit lane.
Albon is provisionally in the elimination zone as he is struggling to adapt to the soft tyres after a first run on the mediums. After a first attempt on the softer compound, he vented on the radio: “The tyres are completely gone, it’s a completely different car.”
Lando Norris loses his only time for track limits, leaving him in P19 provisionally. With only 35 seconds to go, Fernando Alonso issued a yellow flag in the first sector by spinning on track out of turn 2, thus not allowing the drivers still on track to improve their position, as after the return to green flag racing the DRS was not allowed.
On the bubble is Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, 0.064s ahead of Ocon.
Out in Q1: Ocon, Magnussen, Stroll, Norris, Sargeant
Three drivers, Russell, Norris and Zhou, are investigated for failing to comply with the maximum delta time set for the outlap.
It will be a chaotic post-session for the stewards as even more drivers get on the naughty list. Hamilton was noted for not slowing down under the yellow flag, as well as Sargeant. The young American driver is also noted for overtaking Tsunoda under the yellow flag regime.
Verstappen and Perez are the first out on track in Q2 on new soft tyres, followed by the Ferraris on used rubber. Verstappen sets the first benchmark of the segment in 1:17.625s.
Daniel Ricciardo, in his second race back from his hand injury, bolts again to P2 with a 0.391s gap to Verstappen, but he is replaced shortly after by Piastri.
After some very impressive practise outings, Albon is really struggling with speed in Qualifying, as he can’t get further P11 with his first attempt. The frustration for the former Red Bull driver is immense, as he says on the radio, “there must be damage or something.”
With five minutes to go, Albon, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Alonso on used tyres and Tsunoda are in the elimination zone. The AlphaTauri driver hit on his way out of the pits a piece of equipment who had been unfortunately left out, but is able to resume the session as nothing happened.
On his last flying lap Ricciardo takes P2 with a purple third sector, but Hamilton bolts to P1 in 1:17.571s. Another late improver is Albon, who jumps up to P9, whereas in P10 Carlos Sainz advances with a margin of only 0.058s over Zhou in P11.
However, it’s time for even more stewards action, as Albon’s time is cancelled for track limits by cutting Turn 2, allowing the Alfa Romeo driver to advance to Q3.
Out in Q2: Gasly, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon.
Even more penalties might come our way as Williams is investigated for leaving a rear jack in their box that Tsunoda hit.
Once again Perez is the first driver out on track amidst the praise of his fans, followed by Verstappen and Ricciardo. The Mexican driver sets the first time in 1:17.788s, a time bested by Verstappen, Ricciardo cycles into P2.
The Ferraris then take the provisional front row after their first attempt, with Leclerc 0.067s ahead of Sainz. Perez and the Mercedes drivers in P5 and P6 were all running on used tyres.
Photo credits: Scuderia Ferrari
With five minutes to go, Zhou signs his one and only timed lap of the session on new softs, a 1:18.050s that brings him up to P9 ahead of his teammate.
Last on track for the final timed lap of the day were the Mercedes, whereas the first to complete an attempt was Bottas, to return in P9.
Neither Sainz nor Leclerc are able to improve their previous times, but not even Verstappen manges to reach the front row in spite of a small improvement. Piastri takes a step forward to go P6, but he is usurped by Hamilton at the end.
Russell was a disappointing P8 after strong pace in final practice, ahead of Bottas and Zhou.
It’ll be a second pole in Mexico and 22nd overall for Charles Leclerc, and he will line up next to his teammate Carlos Sainz. Verstappen will however be just behind the Monegasque driver in third, starting next to his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
